Page 9 - Cape-Camera-September-2023

September 2023 Cape Camera

Board members Francois Roux, Simon Fletcher and Jill
Sneesby under the spotlight during the Members’ Forum.

Transgressions and the “Naughty list”
Congress news (continued)
It was explained that judges in a salon may not dis-
• Multiple clubs per member: it becomes complicated qualify (DQ) an image and MUST score it as presented,
to audit a members’ entries submitted under different without scoring low because they have doubts that it
clubs. Apart from the individual PDI log, there are also may have been manipulated. All possible DQs must
the print log, the Premier Club log and the Top Achiev- be referred to the Salon Director, who should gather
er award for the best salon performance in a club. all facts, including a RAW file, before recommending
o The Board adopted a new rule that all salon en- a DQ. He/she must then submit the DQ images to the
trants must select a primary club and only enter Salon Committee (Corine Ross, Simon Fletcher, Fran-
salons for that club — and all points gained will cois Roux, Jill Sneesby and Philip de Lange). Because
only be allocated to this primary club. The first sa- local salons can only be hosted with PSSA patronage,
lon you enter for the year dictates which club you’ll the highest decision-making body regarding DQs is
enter for the year. the Salon Committee.
o A member may not receive a club bronze med- The exceptions are DQs for duplicates, monochrome
al for the best performer in a salon hosted by his images in colour categories and vice versa, non-pay-
non-primary club if he entered under another club ment, or images that have been disqualified previ-
name — even if he is a member of the host club. ously. These DQs must be made by the salon director
o For club advancement purposes all salon accept- before the images are sent to the judges.
ances will be taken into account, irrespective of The most common transgressions are for manipu-
which club the member entered for. lation in non-manipulated categories, image title
Members were reminded that if their personal details changes, or the use of non-allowed items in compos-
ites (this would also cover AI elements and all items
change, they have to update the changes on Pho- not photographed by the entrant).
tovaultonline (PVO) as well as the PSSA database, be-
cause these two databases are not linked. First transgressors will receive a warning letter ex-
Q. Can the cost of salons be reduced as it is be- planing the reason for the DQ. People with 1 transgres-
sion only can be taken off the list after a specified time,
coming very expensive? If lower, there may be e.g. three years, provided the mistake is not repeated.
more entries, thus income is the same. A second time offender will also be barred from
A: The cost to enter salons via PVO is per photo entered. judging in salons and should be taken off the Judges’
Members can therefore save on costs by entering fewer List published on the website. In addition to the sanc-
images. The club that hosts the salon receive the bulk tions highlighted in the slide at the top.
of the entry fee to cover the cost of running the salon
and to earn a small income. PSSA does not own PVO but
negotiate a fee for the use of the platform with the own- ceive the Marike Bruwer Trophy.
er to cover his expense for storing our large number of Q. You should be able to retain the use of your
photos in the Cloud. This also enables clubs to use the Honours title (e.g. APSSA) even if you are no
TOP system for judging and PVO for club competition longer a PSSA member.
entries.
A: Honours are not qualifications — they are honorary
Q. What happened to the Marike Bruwer trophy? titles bestowed on you by PSSA because the organisa-

A: The number of entries had gradually dwindled and tion acknowledged that you reached a standard worthy
there were only 15 entries in the last competition. A to become an Associate of PSSA (APSSA), etc. If you
Visual Art category will now officially be part of the PSSA are no longer interested in being a member of PSSA, it

salon (national and international) and the winner will re- does not make sense for you to retain ties by using a title

9 Cape Town Photographic Society