First rule of camera club, don't talk about camera club.



We had the first competition of the year, I had nothing entered as I have had no time to think about such things. One change for our club this year is the slide competition is now digital slides only, in other words instead of a slide projector they now use a computer hooked up to an electronic projector. One good thing about the change is more people entered slides, one negative is the older people who actually shot slide film (including me) now have to have slides scanned in.

I figured to start this thread, it can just be an ever going discussion on local clubs.

Although I think about it from time to time, I've never joined a serious photo club. There's two big ones in the area, the RA Photo Club probably being the better of the two. I've also never entered a photo into a competition or contest.

Aaron has a small club in his neighborhood up in Port Huron and there is a club in Grosse Pointe that a member must "have a sponser" so I am fairly limited. A few of us at work are thinking about creating a club that would lay heavy on the field trip shooting instead of indoor discussions. I have never participated with or been a member of any photography clubs. Is there an accepted "blueprint" for Photo Clubs?

Phil
HockeyTown USA

There is a Photo Club in the Utica area that I joined, briefly. Their hours (Fri evening meetings) didn't suit me, so it didn't work out.

I found I could interact with more people in an on-line photo club, and I belong to several, including Light Cafe.

They let me show up whenever I want, the "minutes of the meeting" are always posted, complete with pictures, and I never miss what anyone says. The clubs Save me gas and allow me to share ideas with people on many continents. They don't make me print and dry mount my pictures. I love my Photo Clubs.

Utica...never popped up on any searches. The above club criteria is the reason we were floating the idea of meeting for weekend field trips. Maybe a Saturday at Kensington, Seven Ponds Nature Center etc...You know: sneak into the Train Station stuff. We're thinking field trips / diet cokes / and occasionally getting together to view our results. Even better we could do the field trips and use LightCafe as our viewing medium.....HMMMM The LightCafe Travel PhotoClub / Michigan Chapter... What do you think Kurt? That'll look good on a T-Shirt.

Jim: where do you live? Washington Twp, right? Would you be interested in a daily outting once a month or so just to get out and shoot with others? I have three people lined up to shoot Belle Isle in January (if there is snow) and a small group willing to trespass back into the train station. We'd be trying different subjects, landscapes, Citycapes, nature whatever. My email is plangford54@comcast.net

On a normal week I can easily be out 3 weekday evenings and Sunday morning, and I'm probably busy on average every 2-3 Saturdays with different groups so while I've looked at camera clubs I've never yet joined one. The program has never sounded compelling though - it always comes across as 'sit around inside and listen to others talk about it' whereas I'd much rather be out on a shoot, solo or group.

I suppose if I was setting up a club, it'd be quite like Eastsider's proposed travelling & online club. Meet once every month or two, weekend or evening depending on subject matter, and if it's in a church hall or similar it's been set up for a shoot - portrait, still life, 'can you see what it is yet?' macro or whatever, with members bringing or hiring together gear as appropriate. Shoot for a few hours, hang out, then share the results whenever you want online alongside your routine shooting - LC being as good a venue as anywhere for that sort of thing. More photography, more fun, more flexibility, less time commitment.

There is a Utica in New York, out by Albany.

I would say that being a member of a photo club is much like being a member of a forum like this with much less exposure.

Where do I live? Outskirts of Utica NY. It is west of Albany NY, east of Syracuse. As for not popping up in searches, google knows where it is. Include the word " map" in your search. How about a hint where you live? Hockeytown USA? Is that a real place? Google says it is in NJ somewhere! The hint "Michigan Chapter" makes me think it's a fair drive from here! Interested in an Adirondack fall foliage outing?

Hockeytown USA = Detroit

Damn , I live about 6 miles from Utica, Michigan! Yep the real HockeyTown, USA is DEtroit, Michigan. NJ?? They don't play real hockey there! A few of us are heading out in October to get coyotes or wolves. The fall foilage should be pretty well established in upper Michigan by then. A trip to Adirondack's sound inticing.

Not really, but according to some.

Hey !! Want to drop the gloves!!!!!!?

I like our new kid Ellis. I watched him two pre season games and was happy to see him make the squad. He's not a "kid" I think he is 28 yrs. old.

Today is the deadline for competing this week (Thursday)...I of course still have not gotten anything together and therefore will more than likely miss the entry time.

Who knows, it would be a good day to leave work early and get some of that kind of stuff taken care of.

Our local large format photography club isn't really a club and that's what makes it great. The meetings are relatively unstructured - everybody brings prints to share, etc. No membership fees, no elected board members or presidents or whatever, no formal competitions (that I'm aware of anyway). Sometimes someone organizes a group outing or something, and we have a mailing list. It works out pretty well. I think it's Eric Rose's fault, he seems good at keeping things organized insofar as they have to be.

Ok, it looks like this was here to get people to get their images up and ready for competition. Do I have that right? Great Idea, what happened? No action in a year?

I don't know about competition but I've had a photo show since this thread started and I'm working with SmugMug on a local photo club.

How was the show?

I was one of two photographers and it went very well for both of us. I was displaying wildlife for the most part and Terri was more into landscapes. I had one "sports" photo, which the director realy didn't want but...it sold. My Wolf Photo in UP Michigan and a crab photo from the Cayman's also sold several copies. Guess the final point is all the framing and matting were worth the effort.

Terri is currently in another show featuring the Detroit Urban Decay and it is doing very well. A small group of us been trotting around Detroit for the past two years sneaking in here and there and Terri made an incredibile portfolio of her shots. Time Magazine used a few in an article on Detroit.

My goal for this year is to get a "Camera / Photo Club" going in our county. I have an appointment to meet with the local Parks & Rec director, who I hope is open to the idea. I don't have much of a plan figured out yet, so I better get on the ball!

Anyone have a "format" for their local club?

I am not a member of the local club here. I do participate in the Dallas PPA, and enter the print competitions regularly. Big photographers here in Dallas so it really helps me stay up on my game and challenge me to do better. An easier way to get things going may be a meet up group like this one here in Dallas.

Does this help you?

Of all the places...! I've visited the US, on business, precisely once, and was in Dallas. Well, Richardson, specifically, at the Renaissance Hotel by the theater, and visiting Plano. I know you spot things you recognise more often but the number of times I see that area come up is really quite impressive!

We have a fairly active photo club that meets monthly. It has existed for years and years. Aside from the socializing, probably the best aspect is the club outings. Various club members manage to get members access to private areas that might not otherwise be available. About a month ago our club arranged a trip through a ranch on the east side of the island. The ranch extends through many ecosystems from sea level to about 9,000 feet. It was an all day four wheel drive affair that was great fun.

Thanks for the post Ben, I haven't even considered what the benefits of a camera club might be I wouldn't mind getting access to something like the ranch you described. I guess it is time to look around Vancouver and see what I can find.

In Norway we got one club for each district. I've paid the fee for 2 years now without even going to one meeting, always something in the way

Well, we have a club started and our first guest speaker is Dawn McCarthy on Sept. 1.

http://www.dawnmccarthyblog.com/

http://www.meetup.com/Detroit-SmugMug-u ... groupSetup