Dear Unity/AAJA VTF,
Another successful Unity Convention. But not without a few hiccups.
Thank you to all of you who donated prints for the AAJA Silent Auction. The Auction went well. AAJA sold most of the framed autographed photos. The Auctions made thousands of dollars for future AAJA journalist.
We had some great speakers for three days. Thank you to speakers: Dai Sugano, Andrew DeVigal, Ben de la Cruz, Richad Koci Hernandez, Conner Jay, Abe Mendoza, Val Hoeppner, Kelvin Ma, Stan Honda, Thomas Cheng, Mark Damon, Kenny Irby, Michael Yamashita, Alex Wong, Greg Yamamoto, Darrell Miho, John deDioas, Nataline Guillen, and Nick Ut.
Several volunteers helped make it successful. Corky Lee, Susan Choi, James Yee, Carlos Gonzalez, Leila Navidi and Karen Zhou.
Special thanks to sponsors Nikon, Canon, ThinkTankPhoto.com and Sandisk.
We met a lot of student photojournalists who showed their work. Also had a few fun private photo parties at a Korean BBQ, Indian Buffet and pizzaria.
Unfortunately, Corky Lee had his camera and camera bag stolen during the Auction. Corky is the man in charge of the Silent Auction for years. He has done more photography of Asian American issues than any other photographer. If anyone is interested in helping out Corky with about $4,300 with of gear stolen:
Corky Lee
92-31 57th Ave. #4M
Elmhurst, NY 11373
corkylee_photo@yahoo.com
Next year’s convention is in New York City from on August 21-24. If you have any ideas for speakers, please let me know.
Paul Sakuma
AAJA Photo
www.aajaphoto.org
Facebook: AAJA Photo
psakuma@aol.com