Camera Club

Marc

Marc

TPer Emeritus
Suspended / Banned
Messages
34,670
Edit My Images
Yes
Wife's out for the evening so I thought I'd venture out to the local Camera Club for the first time. Thing is, I'm actually quite nervous about it and not sure what to expect. Obviously I'm not going to stroll in with the big white lens dangling away, but I was thinking of putting the camerabag in the boot of the car but walking into the place camera free.

Anyone got any useful tips for a first foray into the camera club world?
 
I'd leave the camera in the back of the car (make sure it's insured!). Most of the nights I go to at my camera club are for competitions and presentations by a speaker so it's more about showing the photos taken elsewhere rather than taking photos on the night. I think it's a bit of a shame really and I know other clubs do more studio sessions than we do.

It might be worth taking along some of your photos for the members to see but I'd see it more of a social thing to see if you're going to get on with them. First club I went to I didn't like the people very much as they were all so competitive and I got the feeling there was a lot of backstabbing and in-fighting. I joined a different club as they were really friendly.
 
Walk in camera free because from experience there will be a guy with a tatty old film SLR who will take photos that will blow yours into next week however good you are,the clubs I have attended over the years have always let the images do the talking rather than the equipment.
 
First thing I would suggest is that at some stage "ALL of the members will have had to enter the club for the first time" so embrace the opportunity.

There has been much talk about camera clubs on this site, I was a member of one a couple of years ago that despite the fact had some creative photographers (by coincidence older members) within it could not get into the 21st Century and revognise Digital Photography.

A few of us younger members (30s and 40s) recognised that the club was not giving us what we wanted and subsequently set up our own DIGITAL photography club www.webheathdpc.co.uk this was just over a year ago and the club now has a very healthy, active membership, an equal split between ladies and gents and a wide age range from a young girl who is studying photography at college (where was that option when I was at school) to a couple who would be in their mid 60's.

I think like most organisations you only get out of them what you are happy to put into them, enjoy the night :thumbs:
 
What club is it? No worries if you don't want to say.

EDIT - And as digital has been mentioned, there's only one old chap in our group who refuses to go digital. The rest have embraced it wholeheartedly and I'd guess that the average age in our club is veering towards seventy and have used film for decades.
 
digital will still be prints I think.. Only the slides go on screen :)
 
KIPAX said:
digital will still be prints I think.. Only the slides go on screen :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that was necessarilly so. We changed the name of our slide competition to 'projected images' as we can enter digital photos into our 'slide' competitions. The majority of what we show on a projection screen now is from a digital projector connected to a laptop rather than traditional slides.

It's kind of made the print competition a little redundant but I still like printing my photos anyway.
 
ranarama said:
I wouldn't say that was necessarilly so. We changed the name of our slide competition to 'projected images' as we can enter digital photos into our 'slide' competitions. The majority of what we show on a projection screen now is from a digital projector connected to a laptop rather than traditional slides.

It's kind of made the print competition a little redundant but I still like printing my photos anyway.
Click to expand...

I think you may be right. looking at the website, it lists Projected Images, Digital and printed competitions.
 
I joined my local club last week - not techie at all & not all SLR - interested in images but also competitions which doesn't do it for me... hoping for days out ... we'll see how it goes but it's good to see other folks local work as it helps with the ideas
 
And I'm back! Thanks for all the replies.

I actually enjoyed it! It was competition night and the judge was quite entertaining and diplomatic. One or two people afterwards muttered about harsh critique and I thought, you should try posting some on TP! :lol:

Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and a good mix of men and women. I'd say it was predominantly an older age group, but there were a few younger people there. It was also announced that they would be running a stand at a local event to encourage young people into local activities. There was also no talk whatsoever about gear, which was quite refreshing. It was all about the final images.

I will go along again next week and then decide for sure whether to join.
 
Cool! Glad it was worthwhile.

Thanks for letting us know.

S
 
Cheers for posting Fabs. I've got the opportunity to go to a camera club tomorrow night, still not sure what i'd get out of a club but in the spirit of 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' and given your positive experience i'll see what it's like!
 
Chewy said:
Cheers for posting Fabs. I've got the opportunity to go to a camera club tomorrow night, still not sure what i'd get out of a club but in the spirit of 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' and given your positive experience i'll see what it's like!
Click to expand...

Nothing to lose! Let us know how you get on if you decide to go.
 
Glad you enjoyed it. Be prepared for some head-shaking decisions in the competitions where the judges pick competition winners that you can see very little merit in and for some wildly differing views between different judges depending on what they do and don't like.

There's a picture of a fish wrapped in newspaper that keeps appearing in our competitions in various guises and it does absolutely nothing for me but judges seem to love it. I won print of the year last year (missed out by one place tonight damn it!) and put it in the open competition two weeks later and a different judge hated it and marked it with the 2nd lowest score.

Having said that it's great to get the feedback and to hear how someone else views your photo. It really does highlight how we all see things differently. Whether I agree with them or not is another matter.
 
I must admit I enjoyed hearing the C&C first hand. On forums you only see people's criticism after they have thought about it and then typed it. I know that the judge had looked at the photos beforehand but it was still interesting to see his thought processes as he looked at the pictures. There were a few grumbles afterwards (as I'm sure there always will be) but I think he was pretty fair.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top