Re: Newbie At Home in 3D Club

[P3D <PTWW@xxxxxxx>]

Erlys Jedlicka writes:

>It's not easy to feel at home in a new club, particularly if you went
>out of your way to get there and are wondering whether you want to
>continue. For me the biggest thing that happened when I first went was
>that someone in the Vista Camera Club said to me, "I loved your slide of
>the ocean. Do you have any more like this? If so, I would like to see
>it! Please bring it next time." 

Erlys, that's a terrific story.  I bet the person who said that to you
is a perfect example of the ideal head of a club welcoming committee...
someone who has that rare but wonderful ability to always say the
nicest, most thoughtful things.  I am not one of those precious few, :(
so I confess I would be a poor choice for the committee.

Dr. T expressed a different perspective:

>At the end, in my mind, a stereo club is much more than a social gathering.
>It is place where stereo photography is worshiped.  I would expect people
>to either join because of their incurable interest for stereo photography,
>or, if they don't know what stereo photography is, come back, not because
>they liked the social atmosphere but because they were fascinated by the
>stereo images that they saw.

I realize Dr. T would leap at the opportunity to join any stereo
photography club...probably  even a "polar bear" club that held its
meetings in the icy waters of Lake Erie...or the one where you have
to stand barefoot on red hot coals while viewing the stereo images. {:-o
The mere mortals among us, however, can probably satiate ourselves
with the fascinating stereo images available through a variety of
other sources.  Compelling images, in and of themselves, are not
sufficient to sustain a club, IMO.  We should not deny what we are:
social animals.  I had an experience with a (non-photo) club very
much the opposite of what Erlys described.  I desperately wanted to
contribute my time to a group whose cause had become extremely
important to me.  I attended one of their meetings, and they were
all so caught up in themselves and the importance of what they were
doing, that not a single one so much as made an introduction.  As
passionate as I am about the cause, I've never gone back to that club.

Dr. T, would you quit the Detroit club if you were involved in so many
postal circuits that you had a large box full of stereo images arriving
in your mailbox every day...and the postal circuits included photo
competitions?  I think most of us would prefer to continue to attend the
club meetings, even if it meant we couldn't handle quite such a large box
of stereo images every day.

Paul Talbot


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