Joe Petolino, 2022

Joe joined PACC in the Spring of 2016 and soon after that he answered a call for a print competition assistant. Later that year, he joined Stan Chism as a Print Co-Chair for 2017, and soon took over as Print Chair, where his "can do" attitude and technical talent led to a number of innovations. In response to some competitions running overtime, he put together a quick web app to display a countdown timer during print competitions. Dan saw the potential to use it for digital competitions as well, and with his help it eventually turned into the projection app that is used for all of our competitions today.

In the fall of 2017 Joe organized the first of what would become an annual exhibit of winning prints from PACC competitions at the Rinconada Library in Palo Alto.

In January 2018 Joe initiated a series of Photoshop Workshops, to complement Dan's Lightroom Workshops.

In April 2019, there was a small emergency with our competition database, when our web host discontinued support for a software library we'd been using. Joe was able to port the database over to the new library which he has been maintaining ever since. He also helped out with the transition of the PACC website to the Club Express platform, devising ways to integrate the competition database server with Club Express. This gave us, among other things, the competition Showcase website pages, which provide automatically generated galleries of winning images for each of our competitions, and the Showcase Exhibition page, which produces online exhibits that match PACC's physical exhibits, but live on indefinitely.

After 5+ years as Print Chair Joe has passed that baton but he continues to serve on the website committee.

About Our Team:

The image Joe chose is Our Team, a street portrait of two boys in Ubud, Bali, taken in 2009. They appear to be very close, maybe brothers, and the inscription on the shirt seemed appropriate as a title. When looking back on the many excellent portraits among Laurie's submissions, Joe felt it was obvious that Laurie had a real talent for capturing the personality of his subjects. Joe hopes that this image embodies a little bit of the spirit of Laurie Naiman.

Joe Petolino

Dan Hartford, 2021

Dan Hartford was recognized in 2021 for his generous contributions to the club over many years. Dan became the Chair of Digital Competitions in 2011, only a year after joining the club, and continues in that role today. Members also appreciate the extensive Lightroom tutorial he has made available on our website, and his ongoing program of interactive Lightroom workshops.

As our club's longest sitting Board member, Dan has a wealth of valuable experience about how our club operates. His focus on keeping the club running smoothly plays a big part in our success.

About Alone in Skibbereen, Dan says:

When I was asked to select one of my images to be my selection to represent my being awarded the Spirit of Laurie Naiman Service Award for 2021, this image immediately came to mind. I did add another dozen or so to my short list to select from, but this one remained at the top of my list for several reasons. One reason is that Laurie himself helped me refine it to its essence. Another is that although the gentleman in the image is a heavier than Laurie, the white hair and other aspects of the subject in some ways reminds me of Laurie. And last, but not least, the look and feel of this image is very consistent with, and in fact is inspired by, the spirit of Laurie’s photography.

Alone in Skibbereen

Dan Hartford

Jim Colton, 2019

When the Palo Alto Camera Club established the Spirit of Laurie Naiman award in 2019, Jim Colton was the obvious first choice. Jim served as club co-president in 2016 and 2017, at a time when renovations to our meeting space required the club to find a new meeting location. Jim established a strong working relationship with the City of Palo Alto and negotiated free use the Embarcadero Room at Rinconada Library, a big step up from our previous space. We continued to meet there until 2020 when the Covid-19 Pandemic ended in-person meetings.

After his role as co-president ended, Jim continued to spearhead our club's volunteer efforts for the City of Palo Alto. Providing volunteer photographers for City functions is part of the reciprocity that maintains our Palo Alto co-sponsorship status, which allows us to use City facilities at reduced cost.

Many club members have appreciated the opportunities to show their work at the exhibits that Jim arranged and coordinated every year at the Palo Alto Art Center and at the Mountain View Community School of Music and Arts. Jim's wonderful exhibit layouts were works of art in themselves!

Jim is also well known as a generous mentor, and a highly creative photographer who continually embraces new ideas and techniques.

About Modern Day Monk, Jim says:

When Laurie had helped me with a number of photography issues I got to see many of his photos. They often had a bit of whimsy or surprise to them, something unexpected. I chose the Modern Day Monk for that very reason. I wouldn't have expected a monk to have an iPad and indeed he didn't. He borrowed it from a tourist so he could take a photo of his fellow monks. I think of Laurie whenever I see this image.  

Modern Day Monk
Jim Colton