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CMGA

CMGA Annual Membership Meeting: November 21, 2009

The 2009 CMGA Annual Membership Meeting was held on Saturday November 21, 2009.

Before the meeting, there was time to chat and meet up with fellow CMGA members from across the state. Attendees enjoyed hot coffee and a delicious Continental breakfast catered by Luis Lista and his team at Elizabeth Park's Pond House Cafe.

The membership meeting was then called to order. The key points dealt with at the meeting were as follows:

  • Presentation and acceptance of the Treasurer's Report and budget for 2010
  • Announcement of the 2010 CMGA Annual Symposium - "Greenscapes: Variations on the Theme" - to be held on Saturday March 27, 2010. Full details and application forms will be available in early January 2010.
  • A new slate of CMGA officers was elected, as follows: President - Bill Overton; Vice-President: Jay Beausoleil; Treasurer: Roger Gregoire; Secretary: Fran Maynard.
  • New CMGA By-Laws were adopted.

      • More than 120 CMGA members and their guests attended the meeting - a record attendance for this event. There was some lively and interested discussion from the floor during the meeting, and some close questioning of the role of the CMGA Board.


          • The Minutes of this meeting - and of all CMGA Board Meetings - have been posted on this website and are available to CMGA members. If you are a website member, CLICK HERE to view the Minutes of these meetings.
          If you are a current member of CMGA, and would like to access pages not accessible to non-members, join this site and log in.
          To join this site: Go to the upper right corner of the Welcome screen. Click "Join this site", then "Create New User", and follow the directions.

Many thanks to CMGA Guest speaker
Steve Silk
(pictured at right)
for his inspirational and informative presentation entitled
"Flower and Garden Photography"

Steve Silk

Guest speaker Steve Silk

Immediately following the business meeting, guest speaker Steve Silk introduced his garden photography workshop presentation entitled "Flower and Garden Photography".

Steve's hour-long presentation was packed with information and tips on how to improve our garden photography. Why do our garden photos never quite turn out the way we had envisioned them? It seems that these photos are often the result of our emotional response to a scene (isn't that gorgeous! Where's my camera!). What is needed, Steve explained, is a calmer intellectual response, taking into account lighting, vantage points, composition, the balance between order and chaos.

Steve's presentation gave graphic illustrations of all of these points - showing the incorrect as well as the correct way to take photos of our favorite garden scenes. Steve's easy-to-follow tips and explanations will send us all out into our gardens with cameras and renewed determination to improve our garden photography. And we'll remember: "Simple is always better"!

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