Soundings (11/23/10)

Posted by Stowe Talbot 
 
 

Flag Salute & Invocation by Mimi Ferlin

Visiting Rotarians: Bob Bronlaw

Guests: None

Rotary Club trivia: Rotary Club of the North Pole, Alaska

Announcements

Student of the Month:  Savannah Smith.  She was accompanied by her parents, David and Desiree, and her grandfather Tony Robles.  Her adviser from Squalicum, Arimis Johnson, said that Savannah is a great person, who among her many accomplishments started the recycling program at Squalicum, is a soccer star, has a 3.9 GPA, and is just a major contributor to the whole Squalicum HS community.  Savannah came up to talk, and said she is grateful to her parents for her upbringing, and thanked our club for receiving the SOM award.  She said she has also volunteered for WWU, the Humane Society, and the "small potatoes gleaning project".

Orphalee Bill and Stowe attended last Saturday's District 5050 Foundation dinner in White Rock, BC. We were recognized for our financial contributions to Polio Plus; in total, the District clubs raised over $100K!

Grape & Gourmet, Bill says net proceeds about $52,000.  Say tuned for dish washing schedule.  Wednesday night Dec 1st, Anna will host the final G&G "wrap-up meeting" at 5pm at Big Fat Fish!

 

Bucks in the Bay

  • Bill Gorman thankful he doesn't live in Seattle - I-5 was totally blocked up for 6 hours last night due to the snow storm;
  • Ophalee thanks Bill and Stowe for attending Foundation dinner with her last Saturday;
  • Steve Spitzer for trip to Amsterdam, experienced his first bicycle traffic jam!
  • Dannon Traxler happy bucks for missed meetings, and gave a plea to find a hunting partner for her father who will be visiting the week before Xmas;
  • Brad Cornwell in memory of Jim Zervas, he was a great designer and local icon;
  • Gordon Plume grateful for article in paper about an upcoming project;
  • Lynn Templeton sad for passing of Alta McClellan (Hardware Sales), a wonderful person;
  • Scot Swanson for son Drew;
  • Steve Kimberly for birth of grandchild;
  • Desiree Smith happy for WA State's 529 "Guaranteed Education Tuition" program (daughter Savannah will be attending Evergreen College next year);
  • Pete Rittmueller will be in Eastern WA next week;

Sergeant at Arms by Pete Ritmueller
Frank Imhof not a viable hunting companion for Dannon's father, fines for Mimi's cell phone, Oregon fans, Husky fans (beating Rick Nueheisel's team!), dish washing, cold weather and turkey trivia.

Program
New member chat by Mark Bergsma.  Born here in Bellingham in 40's, father was a sea plane pilot who instilled in him a sense of adventure.  Summers fishing on John's Island in the San Juans.  Attended WWU visual arts program, then worked in Portland in the printing industry (custom photo finishing house doing color prep work).  Mark then returned to Bellingham to fish.  His father gave him an expensive Canon camera in 1979, and that's where he got more serious about becoming a professional photographer. 

In 1990 he opened up his own gallery next to the downtown parkade.  Being in retail was a learning experience.  Later he had a gallery at Bellwether project.  By 2008 he had tired of the retailing aspect of the business and closed his shop to focus on the photography. His new goal now is to work with color on video projects - for example he has worked on a project with Max Kaiser at Handcrank Films.  He recently purchased a new Mac and the video editing software called "Final Cut Pro" to be able to work with films. 

See Mark's websites: www.markbergsma.com  and www.beyondcaptureimaging.com.  

Mark is also a fan of these photographers:
Art Wolf (http://www.artwolfe.com/)
Peter Lik (http://www.peterlik.com/)

Mark recently installed a large-scale photographic piece in CH2MHill's new Bellwether space; it was printed on canvas so no need for glass. 

Mark's sister is Jody Bergsma, a well-known, local watercolor artist. Mark says she is now starting to paint abstract pieces as well.

Respectfully submitted,
Stowe Talbot