Celebrating 75 years.

As the Photographic Society of America (PSA) celebrates 75 years of existence, it is good to recall events and it is good to remember the tremendous work carried out by the original founders of our beloved Society and, just by coincidence it is 75 years since I made my first pictures.

Whilst the Society still appreciates the tremendous work of the Founders and early developers there were also, in each division, members working together in an inventive way with mutual assistance and instruction and this, surely, was where the Society's strengths lay. In those early days our correspondence was almost entirely by "snail mail." It was slow and rather expensive. International phone calls were prohibitive although when 4" tapes came along some of us swapped thoughts that way.

During those early times we were consulted by manufacturers and I recall trying out a batch of a proposed color slide film which failed, a stereo camera which was a success, and a pair of extension speakers, which turned out good for show sound.

A type of international photographic friendship spread into all operative fields of PSA and is one of the reasons for the Society's success, and I think it still exists to some extent although some members appear to be so busy they have little free time.

But, at age 92, I have a new laptop, new camera, new printer, new car and I am still "fighting" and hope to continue to contact and see PSA members--and that, folks, is where PSA's strength lies.

Ray Wallace Thompson, Hon. PSA, FPSA