SPE’s Passage through Portland

Abstract

42nd Annual SPE National Conference Portland, Oregon March 17-20, 2005 The theme of 2005 National Conference of Society for Photographic Education (SPE) was Passage, which proved to be an open-ended metaphor for journeys both tangible and impossible to measure. Following a very successful Photo-Lucida conference just blocks away at Benson Hotel, SPE conference opened on March 17, 2005 at Hilton Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon. Overlapping by a day, PhotoLucida conference was based around five days of portfolio critiques, without any ancillary events, lectures or presentations, save for usual spate of openings and receptions timed to coincide with conference. A comparison to SPE conference deserves mention, especially in light of growing significance asserted by portfolio reviews at SPE over past several years. The assumption is that SPE is a professional organization whose mission is to further education, but mission statement in conference guide reads, in part, the society construes in broadest sense. SPE concerns itself with practice and analysis of photography and related media, as its use as an art form and an instrument of social consciousness continues to evolve. However, as organization evolves its primary goal often appears to be less educationally intentioned and more like a warm annual reunion of photo community family, as educators, students, vendors, critics, administrators and artists spend much of long weekend socializing, learning and hawking their wares, with a bit of networking thrown in. In process, it has become a catchall for expression, in which photographic education mission isn't always in evidence even though provides underlying bedrock of organization. It is easy to imagine that any gathering with this many students and faculty couldn't be anything but educational in many ways. Of course, there are many bars that might make exact same statement at times. Attendees were greeted by members of Carpenter's Union picketing hotel over a labor issue, and one sign that I was in Portland and not Philadelphia was that picketers I met were polite and friendly, and several even asked for my advice on digital cameras before explaining their labor conflicts. From a logistical standpoint, this was one of best-run conferences I have attended. Through efforts of staffers assisted by a legion of trained volunteers, events were competently managed and by all accounts conference was a success. From ease of registration to bustling Exhibits Fair, which had 93 companies and educational institutions represented, conference ran smoothly for 1009 registered attendees. Similar to several previous SPE conferences, much of success was due to well-oiled machine of Jeannie Pearce, Mary Brown, Kelly O'Malley, Ashley Peel Pinkham, Hannah Frieser, Jennifer Pearson Yamashiro, Travis Linville, Lincoln Phillips and Natalie Nadozirny, who, after years of working together, provided teamwork that created relaxed and assured tone of event. Importantly, this marks a turning point, since team is breaking up a bit, with Pearce, Brown and Frieser all stepping down from their current posts. The rebuilding of both finances and trust of organization go hand in hand, and support of key corporate sponsors has remained steady, even during times of financial shifts in industry. The current health and size (approximately 1800 members) of organization is largely due to those efforts. In fact, I questioned a large number of attendees about their experiences and feedback was almost universally positive. Space was only problem--as every presentation I visited was at or near to standing room only. The conference is now larger than most available hotel conference locations, but not large enough to warrant convention facilities. …