President's Message December 2020

Hello Members of the International Leica Society,

I want to start by thanking you for your support as we continue to address the changes and challenges of 2020.  This is possibly the first year in decades that LHSA has not been able to have an in-person meeting.  I hope we are able to change that in 2021, but this is of course out of our hands.

I am very excited to serve as your President.  I have big shoes to fill as we transition our leadership team for a second time in five years and continue the progress to ensure LHSA is a vital part of not only the Leica community, but the photography community.

As you know, we truly have become an international organization.  Our 2020 webinar series has been attended by members from over a dozen countries, with hundreds tuning in to learn about photography technique, travel photography, and of course the amazing series on Lightroom provided by our Vice President Brad Husick.

As we move forward, our challenge is to convert our nearly 15,000 social media followers to paid members of our organization to ensure the organization’s sustainability for years to come. While this has been a challenging project over the past five years, achieving this goal is more realistic than ever.  With the support and assistance of Leica and the Leica leadership team, we are now able to communicate directly with new camera buyers.  We will soon have the entire archive of the LHSA, including thousands of historic documents, online for our membership to research and review.  A subcommittee of the board is currently working to overhaul our website into a modern hub for membership and information.  And we continue to provide programming online and hopefully soon in person.

There is tremendous value in being an LHSA International Leica Society member.  That value is built on a foundation of projects that have been built over the long history of our organization.

We are lucky to have strong friendships in our LHSA community despite the adversity of a pandemic and other difficulties, and fortunate to have the tools to keep them strong, even at a distance.

I want to challenge each of you to encourage just one friend to join LHSA.  If each member reading this email encourages one friend to join LHSA International Leica Society, or posts a request for folks to join online, or gives a registration to one family member interested in preserving and promoting the history of Leica and the joy of photography, we will be well on our way to developing the membership we need.

If you do recruit a new member, send me an email and let me know.  You can reach me at keith@lhsa.org.

Finally, I want to start my term by thanking Richard Rejino.  Richard is our Executive Director and works tirelessly to make sure the goals of LHSA are moving forward.  Our organization owes him a great debt of gratitude.  I’d also like to thank Brad Husick for serving with me as Vice President and leading the virtual yearly meeting this fall.  The meeting received rave reviews and was the next best thing to meeting in person.  Finally I want to thank the entire Board of Directors for being willing to give your time and energy to this cause.

Here is to a fantastic 2021!

Keith Sbiral – President, LHSA – The International Leica Society