Members' weekend 2024 in Bad Alexandersbad

Around 70 GDT members assembled in the Upper Franconian spa town Bad Alexandersbad for the third annual members' meeting from April 26th to 28th. It was a weekend of reunions, getting to know one another, and exchanging ideas with like-minded people, bereft of the bureaucratic structures typical of a regular members' meeting. The comfortable accommodations at the Evangelisches Bildungs- und Tagungszentrum were entirely at the GDT's disposal as there were no other weekend guests.

Most participants arrived on Friday in perfect weather. This was fortuitous because the first task was to remove the previous year's photographs from the picture frames and replaced them with this year's entries in preparation for the GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2024 vote on Saturday. Thanks to many helping hands, this task was finished quickly. For the first time this year we added short captions which turned out to be rather helpful when judging some of the motifs.
We talked shop, debated, and laughed until late in the evening.
On Saturday morning, there were several short member-led excursions as no local tour leaders were available this year. In 2026, when the members' meeting is scheduled to take place in Bad Alexandersbad again (see date below), Christopher Meyer, leader of the Munich and Southern Bavaria group, will take on this task. On Saturday morning, groups of photographers swarmed out and took great pictures in the forest, at a small lake, and in the Luisenburg Rock Labyrinth. Many of the photos can be admired on social media.
A talk entitled A life for wildlife photography - My journey, faraway lands, and wild animals by GDT veteran Konrad Wothe followed. Konrad gave a knowledgeable and charming account of the various stages of his life as a photographer, including his time as Heinz Sielmann's cameraman and several projects undertaken together with Fritz Pölking.

Another highlight of the day was the awards ceremony of the GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2024 competition hosted by Stephan Fürnrohr and Sebastian Vogel. The overall winner, Dieter Damschen, received enthusiastic applause for his enchanting picture Winter flood in a riparian forest. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the pre-selection jury consisting of Sandra Westermann, Martin Stock and Bernhard Schubert as well as the competition organiser, Marc Hesse.

The good weather continued and a lovely day ended in a relaxed get-together with almost all participants. Most members planned to depart on Sunday.
After breakfast Sunday morning, the regional group leaders and the executive board met to discuss various current issues. One of the topics was communication among the executive board and regional groups via the communications platform Rocket.Chat, which will soon be made available to all members. The new member David Slawik, representative of the youth group, suggested making more posts about the association's day-to-day activities in order to showcase the exciting offers, events and opportunities for interactions within the GDT.
In conclusion, it was a successful weekend all around and everyone is looking forward to the next members' meeting.
In 2025, we will meet somewhat further to the north. Time slots currently under consideration are 11-13 April and 25-27 April. The exact date and location will be announced in due time.

And in 2026, the members' weekend will once again take place in Bad Alexandersbad from April 10th to 12th.