It takes a particular type of person to volunteer because volunteering, whether it be for a playgroup, scouts or a larger association means that you put in a lot of personal effort.
I’m into my third year as a committee member of the AVPA and this year I have been responsible for helping in the organisation of the Awards Dinner. I’m also now the Vice President which makes me sound important, but ultimately I will continue working to support the association members.

In organising the night I have had many opportunities to talk to members from around Australia. One very lovely member who is literally in the “back of bourke” is making a special journey from Mourilyan, Queensland to attend. Dean & I will be hosting him as our guest – we haven’t met him but as I have written in a report for the association, the reason I joined the association was a sense of belonging. In that report I wrote about a blog post from one of our members Joel Buncle (Couch Media), who is undertaking a film course in America. He talks about “Spirit”. Joel writes that spirit is “something that is so strong here, it unites people, it brings them together. This is the best part about spirit, what one person could not achieve by himself a large group is capable of completing.”

As committee members we are not only here to provide and increase the benefits to our members, but to encourage the “spirit” of belonging. The association is inspired by members from all sectors – corporate, broadcasting and special event. Their “spirit” is what drives the association to continue to grow and flourish, & it will be the future of collaboration and camaraderie that will make belonging to the AVPA worthwhile.

I’m looking forward to celebrating the wins of my friends & colleagues…roll on Red Scooter

This year has been an amazing one for us. Not only have we been able to bring the Still Motion crew to our Australian shores, we are proud to be involved in the growth of the industry. In conjunction with my Sydney colleagues, we brought some of the worlds most recognised video producers, plus many talented local artists together this July in Sydney. This event was an amazing first for the Australian video producers community – a dedicated conference designed to inspire, motivate and push the professional and creative limits of our industry to a new and exciting level.

Exposed Down Under // 2010 from Peter Szilveszter // Living Lens on Vimeo.

One of my favourite clips that focused on the Editor’s challenge that we ran showed the full on effort & pressure that each person competiting was under. The winning prize was a Canon 5D MKII camera and was won by Lorna-Jean, a very talented producer with the Abraham Joffe Videographers. Second prize was an Edius software program won by Josh Lamont from Moments Captured and 3rd prize by Luke Middlemiss from http://www.playbackproductions.com.au/.

A running diary of the event is recorded in our Exposed Down Under blog http://www.exposeddownunder.com.au/?page_id=1240

Our next event will be run next year and we look forward to greater collaboration amongst our industry professionals.