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Camera Clubs - What do you look for?


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#21
Uncle_Bean

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Back in the 1980's, I belonged to 4 camera clubs. All of them had the same format: two meetings each month, with one of those meetings being a presentation given by a professional photographer on a particular subject, the other meeting being a competition among club members. The competitions alternated between "General" (any subject matter) and themed subjects. Categories included black and white enlargements, color enlargements, and color slides. Members were divided into Class A or Class B, depending on how many points they accumulated in previous competition winnings. The competitions were judged by pro photographers in the community who graciously gave their time.

Inherent problems existed with the competitions, most of which were minor and drew few complaints, but some were pretty major and caused lots of friction.

Minor problems included the fact that judging, by nature, was subjective. If a judge liked landscapes, then he/she tended to pick those as winners, even in the general competitions. We even had one judge at a competition say that he didn't like any of the entries in a category, and he didn't want to give any awards. We told him he had to choose, but the insult had already been made to the people who submitted.

Major problems existed in a couple ways. One problem was that one of the clubs I belonged to was extremely light in members who had earned Class A status (frequent winners in previous competitions with enough points accumulated to move up to Class A), and extremely heavy in Class B. One of our competition rules was a member had to automatically move from Class B to Class A when enough points were accumulated. Staying in Class B was not an option. This only made sense, especially with how light we were in Class A competitors. At the end of the year, some of the Class B competitors had accumulated enough points to move to Class A. As chairman of the Competitions Committee, I was quite pleased to announce the names of those people who were going to move up in the following year. Although our awards consisted merely of points, and ribbons for 1st place, 2nd place, etc., I assumed it was considered prestigious to advance.

At the end of the final meeting of the year, one member approached our club president, and said that although he had earned Class A status, he didn't want it. He was afraid that the competition would be stiffer for him, and he didn't think he would win as many ribbons. The president called an emergency competition committee meeting that night, and instituted an immediate rule change that made advancing voluntary. As committee chairman, I was livid. Obviously, this wouldn't help our situation of the extreme imbalance between the number of people in the classes. Why would anyone want to advance then, if given the choice? A rule was changed merely because of one person who didn't want what he had earned. A rule was changed merely because of one person who wanted to be selfish, and not give other people in Class B more of a chance to win points. A couple weeks later, we had our annual banquet, and I announced my resignation from the club for the following year.

Imagine Ansel Adams, or any photographer for that matter, saying, "Thanks for the recognition, but I think I'll pass. I won't win as many ribbons."

Another major problem was that members complained that the same people were winning over and over again. When the photos were presented one by one at each competition and shown in front of everyone, you could just about guess who submitted which photo, and which ones would win. I guess there was no avoiding this. But members were so intense on winning those points and ribbons, they didn't feel critique and comments from the judge had any worth. It was all about winning. I guess this is related to the problem I described above. As a result, some members actually stopped entering photos in the competitions. It's a shame that I had to resign from the club because of a membership consisting of childish attitudes and behavior. It's photography, for God's sake, not Who Wants To Be King Of The World.

#22
KurtCopeland

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Try'em out and see what YOU like. Depending on where you live, there could be a few or even dozens of groups.

 

One good way of finding one you like is looking on www.meetup.com  Just put in your zip code and search for "photography" and, for instance, in Dallas, there are dozens of groups. 

 

I love online forums such as this one but, as mentioned previously, there's nothing like being there in person and immersing yourself among other like-minded folks from which you can learn.

 

Good luck finding a group you enjoy!