Camera Clubs - yay or nay?

dlh

dlh

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In an attempt to get out of the house and actually get using my camera I'm considering joining one of the local camera clubs.

Can anyone who has taken the plunge let me know what I might expect and has the experience for you been an educational one?

Cheers :)
 
never been to my local one, they are film zealots though, and will stone me for having a digital!

there are a few here who use camera clubs...im sure they will have some relevant comments for you..
 
I'd love to join one as I don't really know many people local to me who are into photography, and I yearn for more real life chat with other photographers :lol:

It is said that quite a few camera clubs don't embrace digital though, but I'm sure that for one that doesn't there will be another that does.
 
I'm a member of a local camera club and the majority of members and submissions are taken with digital cameras.

They hold regular competitions and themed nights, such as low light, still life and model workshops.

They also have presentations from guest speakers as well as the more experienced club members. The topics our club covered this year ranged from a presentation of images of the local town from the 19th century through to the 1960's, a slideshow of a large selection of images (wildlife, flora and landscape) from a club member (professional) to a guest speaker's holiday pictures of Italy (:shrug: )

The try to get guests to judge the mounted A3 competitions and for me the best one we've had so far was the President/Chairman of Huddersfield Camera Club. He was an ex-photographer and picture editor for the Daily Mirror. I could quite happily spend an afternoon in the pub listening to some of his tales :)

Our club also owns a screen calibrater(sp?) which members can hire for £5 a time, saving us the cost of buying the same model at ~£180 iirc.

They also have occasional club outings from Christmas lights to country houses and even a day's course on landscape photography.

All this is in addition to getting the chance to meet other photographers and look at and even try their kit over a pint.

Hope this helps.


Chris
 
Chris, which camera club is that, it sounds ace :D West yorkshire isn't too far from me :)
 
Hi Marcel,

It's Wakefield Camera Club. They meet on a Monday night and it costs £20 a year to join plus £1 per night that you attend. There's a summer break from late July through to early September when they just have Photoshop Tuition.

http://www.wakefieldcameraclub.org.uk/
 
Thanks for your thoughts Chris.

My nearest camera club looks quite good and appears to embrace digital from point and shoot through to dslr. Unfortunately they meet on a friday which isn't a good night for me.

Looking slightly further afield is the Chelmsford Camera Club with about 70 members. They appear to have included digital competitions this year so there is hope for them. Think I am going to pop along for a few weeks to have a look but am quite worried that I'll be out of my depth completely.

Guess I can hang around at the back and hope that there are others like me in attendance :)

Oh and click here for a look at their website.
 
Great way to spend winter nights. Amazing range of guests which can only inspire. OK there are the occasional bores but you will get so much out of a club if you get involved. :thumbs:
 
I joined my local club in September but have only managed three of the evenings so far due to doing shiftwork. Seems pretty good though, good mix of interests and a fairly even split between print, slide and digital. Evenings range from guest speakers, competitions, the usual stuff I guess but they don't organise any daytrips or practical events outside of the weekly programme. Not knowing any other photographers it's a bit of a shame because I think I'd enjoy that!
 
I know that my college does a night class, but its more of a club with all the people being in to it for a hobby and theirs no tests or that it just being able to use all the equipment E.g enlargers, studio lights, backgraounds ect ect. We come in the morning after and all the enlargers are f**ked :bang: so I'm not a fan. My new saying is "Blame the night class" when ever anything goes wrong.
 
I'm a member of an all digital camera club, and like some of the other posts find it very rewarding. We have a monthly photo comp guest speakers ect. One of our speakers who we have back at least once a year is David Rrowley. He was one of the Photoshop experts in Digital Photo magazine a year or so back.

Link to web site
http://www.davrodigital.co.uk/
 
Have to agree with Chris L, local Camera Clubs are a great place to meet and socialise with like minded indaviduals. A place where you can improve your camera work and along the way help other improve theirs. Of late our club is going from strength to strength, with new members joining all the time it's becoming a place which has a goldmine of knowledge.

Yes all the information you might need is available of the internet, so much so that one wouldn't really need to look any further, but some of us do still like to include the human element, the banter and the comeradery.

Those elements which you don't get from a computer screen, like time spent and the effort put into producing your images for 'Print Night' Competitions, along with the feedback/crituqie received on the night and if your lucky the comendation from our peers that your efforts have been worthwhile. The face to face discussions (some heated) of this passion we have called photography is such a bonus and one that can only really be had week in week out if you seek out your local camera club.

Give it a try, whats the worst that could happen. :shrug:
 
Well... I have never felt so intimidated in all my life by a group of older citizens. Not that they did anything wrong but I just felt totally out of place.

Meeting starts at 7.30pm so I get there at 7pm just cos I wasn't sure where it was. A few people around and I help carry some bits and move some chairs. By 7.15pm I was getting worried and wondering if I'd turned up to a meeting of the British Legion. At 7.30pm when they started actually collecting money I was still the youngest in the place by a good 20 years (and I'm 36!). The place was full and not a single younger person in sight. At this point I quietly made my way out of the building and came home.

Now I'm not ageist at all (ok it sounds like it but I'm not) but I was hoping for a little more spread of ages than I got. I just felt completely self conscious and out of place.

Feeling a little disappointed by the experience.
 
Sorry things didn't work out for you, do you have another club you could try? My club has an age range from 16 to 60 so I'm quite lucky in that respect.
 
I joined a local camera club a month ago, quite a few older members (and I'm 50) but 90% are into digital. Last week we visited the local fair and this week was a photoshop competition. I am really enjoying getting out and meeting people, so a YAY from me.
 
I'm having a serious think about going along to a meeting of the Chester Photographic society, after a rather poor run in with a different club, i might fit in with this one.

especially as they'll lend you a top of the line monitor calibration device for a tenner and create pukka printer profiles for a fiver :D
 
Sorry to hear about that dlh. I know they can't help all being the age they are, but they could have at least made you feel more welcome..
 
I'll look around for another club but I was hoping not to travel too far and my nearest club actually meets on a friday which is no good for us part time fathers.

Don't get me wrong, they didn't exactly gang up on me and kick me out :D
 
Marcel said:
Sorry to hear about that dlh. I know they can't help all being the age they are, but they could have at least made you feel more welcome..
Click to expand...

Maybe giving the old guys a chance by actually staying at the meeting for an hour may have helped. :shrug:

Usually find that there a two way thing.
 
I understand what you're saying, but I know if I was in a group of over 50's and one person came in who was evidently outside the usual age category, I'd realise that he would probably feel like a bit of an outsider, and go out of my way to welcome him.....

But I'm only 29 at the moment (although I feel over 50 :D)
 
My experience is similar to dlh's, add on the fact that I went with a Minolta D7i and I was like a fart in a spacesuit :(
 
dlh said:
I'll look around for another club but I was hoping not to travel too far and my nearest club actually meets on a friday which is no good for us part time fathers.

Don't get me wrong, they didn't exactly gang up on me and kick me out :D
Click to expand...

I can see it now '...Whats that digital thing you have young man ...'
Just as you turn to comment, a walking stick sweeps your left leg away.
You find yourself flat on the floor, being force fed Werthers Originals....;)
 
chewyuk said:
I can see it now '...Whats that digital thing you have young man ...'
Just as you turn to comment, a walking stick sweeps your left leg away.
You find yourself flat on the floor, being force fed Werthers Originals....;)
Click to expand...

...by elderly geezars with beige cardigans on?

I've thought about joining a camera club from time to time, but I really don't get much of an opportunity to get out in the evenings at the moment
 
I think you'll find you're already in a camera club... this one.
 
If there isnt one in your area or they dont like new folk for what ever reason you should try setting up your own. I recently did it with a reptile group, i posted on a website if there were any clubs in my area and there wasnt but i got chatting to a fella and after meeting him we decided we would set one up together. A meet was arranged to discuss it more and 20 people turned up, within 3 meets we got sponserd by a reptile shop, we are endorsed by the Manchester Museum and in the first week in march 2007 they will have display on at the museum during the science week. (none of my work though!)

http://www.madreptilegroup.co.uk/

Sadly im one of those people who doesnt have to try that hard to get on peoples tits so i no longer have anything to do with them :lol: they tried to set up a committee to do it all properly and i didnt like the idea they had already chose committee members before it went to vote, so told them what they could blow and moved on.

But if i can do it, anyone can. It takes a fair bit of effort to get the message out but once you have a couple of people at the first meet, bounce a few ideas off people and you will be suprised how much effort people are willing to make if you take it seriously. I know if there was one in the Manchester area id turn up :thumbs:
 
Chris I'd be interested in coming along to the wakefield club one night (I'm only in Heckmondwike) do I need to let anyone know before hand?

I will have to see how I feel before committing to this coming monday though as I only got out of Hospital on Tuesday and I'm still not 100% mobile yet.
 
Hi Braeden,

You can just turn up any Monday night and pay a £1 on the door and give it a try. You can attend as a non-member 3 three times in total before they expect you to pay the £20 annual membership fee. If you take a look at the link I posted in my original post you can take a look at the program to decide which nights could be of most interest to you.

Even though my wife and I are members we don't attend every meeting and I've never felt any pressure to do so by the other members.

Best regards,

Chris
 
dlh said:
Well... I have never felt so intimidated in all my life by a group of older citizens. Not that they did anything wrong but I just felt totally out of place....
...Feeling a little disappointed by the experience.
Click to expand...

Stick with it!

I mentioned earlier I'd been to three meetings of my new club, it was only on the fourth one this evening that I'm getting to know people. And yes, I am also definitely the youngest but everyone shares the same enthusiasm, which is the refreshing thing!
 
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