Photography News | Issue 64 | photographynews.co.uk
Club profile 28
Fstop Foto Group Meet the clubs Our new feature kicks off with theUK’s newest camera club.We catchupwith its founder, SteveMundy
Club biography
Membership Current membership is 40 Subscription
“We decided to dispense with the subscription model and make a simple charge per week of £5. This keeps us focused on delivering content that members really want” Woodlands Park Village Centre, Manifold Way, Waltham Road, Maidenhead SL6 3GW Facilities Large meeting room with an adjoining kitchen for hot drinks Specialist groups “We currently do not have any specialist groups, but this is something we are looking to formalise in the near future” Annual exhibition An annual exhibition is still under consideration as it is early days in the life of the club Contact Steve Mundy admin@fstopfoto.group Web address fstopfoto.group Meeting time and place 7.30pm on Wednesdays at
Photography News: So, Steve, tell us why you decided to set up a new club? Steve Mundy: My brother, Dave, and I had been members of Maidenhead CameraClubformanyyearsbutwere becoming increasingly frustrated by the stale nature of the camera club scene. There was a significant difference of opinion with the club’s chairman over the handling of an incident, which proved to be the trigger point for us leaving the club and starting our own. In our view, the camera club scene has not developed and moved on with the times. There is the same old programme year after year with the same competitions, judges and speakers. Too many judges have lost touch with contemporary trends and mark solely on ‘camera club competition image’ rules, with inconsistent comments and scores. The club is forced to book speakers to fill the programme, but many are very poor presenters with poor images and, surprisingly, many
of theworst are judges showing their own work. The quality of speakers overall has certainly dropped over the years. More importantly, there is typically very little opportunity for learning and development, or for showing images that are not competition images. Fstop Foto Group was created to address these perceived failings. Our key aims were to better engage with members, offer a format for developing everyone’s photographic journey, and to review and enjoy members images in an open environment. A key item for each meeting is a ten to 15-minute slot where one member is invited to present their images on whatever topic they choose. This has proven to be a real hit, with a number of incredible images and experiences being shared that would never see the light of day in a traditional club. We try to schedule in a development topic every couple of
weeks, which started off with Dave and me sharing camera, subject and processing tips and techniques. To our delight, we soon found unknown skills among members who were happy to run a session on their particular interest, which has proven to be another big hit. These have included panorama images, multiple exposures, intentional camera movement and composites, with many more in the pipeline. PN: How long has it been going? SM: Our first meeting was mid- October, so we have been going just over four months. PN: What was the first step? SM: The first step was to talk to a number of people to gauge interest in joining another club with different aims. We were convinced by our idea, but it is always good to do some market research. The main challenges were then to find a venue with availability in the general area. Fortunately, we found
Incredible images are shared that would never see the light of day in a traditional club
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