My Two Cents on Photographic Society

We appointed the new EXCOs for my CCA last week. I’m not ready to let go, but it’s what I’ve got to do. Comparing this CCA with my previous wouldn’t be fair, because I’ve only spent 1.5 year in this one. It’s not much, but not little either. The 12 months as an EXCO were full of ups and downs. Teachers switching, members leaving, running a CCA isn’t easy.

It wasn’t easy being a Chief Editor (CE) either, I must put it out there. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my fellow CE, Pang Ern. I never got the chance to thank him properly, but I feel that he needs to know how much I value him as he had helped with a lot of the event photos, especially when I did not have time myself.

I’ve never considered my editing skills to be great. In fact i was surprised to land my role as a CE. Like Pang Ern, I wanted to be a CP, as I have greater passion in taking photos. But as the days passed, and us learning as we went along, I slowly understood the importance of the role we were in and took it more seriously. (Very seriously, if you asked some people.)

It may seem like we don’t do much during CCA, but that’s cause we carry out our duties at home. The photos you got after every event, were taken by the photographers, but when it came down to selecting the photos you saw in specially curated links, it was only the 2 of us doing the job.

Some events were more lax than others. The photos taken were pretty much okay, thus our workload was manageable. But when it came to multiple big events, like at the start of this year, the stakes were higher. Really high.

These photos were going to be published on the school website and Facebook page. Covid didn’t help with the situation either. We had new rules regarding picking of the event photos. And I particularly remember having a hard time doing so. Not because the photos were bad, but because majority of them didn’t follow SMM. And that caused a major shortage of photos for a particular event. We ended up only submitting around 10 photos, and the teachers were at their wits’ end as well.

What I’m trying to point out, isn’t the fact that SMM wasn’t adhere to. It is the volatility of the job and its flexible nature. Although the transition from our seniors to us was smooth, nothing could have prepared us for what we had to encounter. What was once thought an ‘slack’ job became one of scrutiny and massive responsibility.

We were told to delete the photos which did not adhere to SMM. After many nights sleeping on the issue, and getting periodical headaches every afternoon (lol it went away after i resolved the situation), I decided to raise my concerns to my teacher.

Initially, I wasn’t sure how to proceed, because on one hand deleting the photos may seem like getting rid of ‘evidence’, and on the other hand, not deleting would just bring greater harm to the school’s reputation and the students who were present in the photos. I also didn’t want to be seen as a whistleblower for bringing this issue up. My teacher understood where I was coming from. He didn’t ask me to delete the photos, but instead left me to decide what to do with them, depending on my conscience. The conclusion we both agreed on, was that the events then were poorly planned and managed. As a result everything boiled down to the CEs having to filter through all the photos afterwards.

As for the photos, they’re somewhere in my storage. I couldn’t bare to delete them, because they are indeed memories of the events captured by the photographers. Maybe when all this is over, they can be shared again, with the right people.

That’s just a glimpse into being a CE, one small part of the moral dilemmas we face doing our jobs. We also often chased photographers to submit their photos timely, and in the correct format. It sounds easier said than done, really. It’s not that we like to chase them for the photos; but we often are kept in the dark about the photos until they ask for time extension. It’s a lesson we both had to learn the hard way. And one which almost cost me 2 friendships. Like what I told my friend, there is a line between my role as a CE and a CCA member. One which I would never blur, because then, the due process of photo submissions will be delayed, leading to more issues. I apologise to those who I gave little to no leeway when it came submission of event photos. I hope looking back, you guys understand my intentions.

Well, overall, the experience was mostly good, since majority of the events were cancelled due to Covid. But that doesn’t mean our roles were useless in any way. Pang Ern embarked on his FlowMotion, and I contributed by running the IG account among other stuff.

To end off, I would like to thank the other EXCOs who have been in this together till the very end. Thank you for correcting my mistakes when I overstepped. Thank you for helping to run this CCA for the past 12 months. And thank you for making JC life more enjoyable.

To the new EXCOs: There are things which are best done together. Open communication is very very important in order not to let anyone feel left out. Don’t make the same mistakes we did. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. All the best.