Photography News Issue 64

Photography News | Issue 64 | photographynews.co.uk

29 Club profile

PN: Can you give us an idea of the skill level within the club? SM: Many of the members are at the relatively early stages of their photographic journey, and are delighted with the level of involvement and tuition available each week. We are fortunate that we also have a good spread of intermediate and advanced members, too. PN: Do you have competitions? SM: Given the failings of the standard club competitions, we decided on a different approach. We set a monthly theme to focus the efforts and the mind, with one of our experienced members setting the theme and sharing some examples. The members then have a month or so to take their images and submit them for an evening’s critique. The author introduces their image and gives a little background, then it is critiqued by two experienced members with the opportunity for the author to challenge their views and for the rest of the members to offer theirs, too. Clearly this format only works for a smaller number of members/images, but it has proven to be incredibly well received so far. This generates much more

our current venue very quickly and snapped up the Wednesday evening slot that was still available. We then had to purchase equipment (we started with nothing so a projector and a screen were the two immediate requirements), create a website to provide a focal point for members, and purchase the relevant insurance protection. PN: It is obviously still early days for the club, but are you happy with the response you’ve had so far? SM: Yes absolutely, the response and engagement has exceeded our expectations. It is still early days but the initial response has been incredibly positive, with a membership of 40 after only a few weeks, and that is on an invitation-only basis without any outside publicity. Almost all of our members were also members of Maidenhead Camera Club, and many still attend their evenings, too, but an increasing number now only attend Fstop Foto. We will do some publicity soon to attract more new members, but we have no desire to grow too large as we want to retain the open and interactive environment.

engagement within the club, but still allows a balanced critique of each image. It is specifically not a competition so there are no scores or winners, but rather an open learning environment. PN:What about practical evenings and club location trips? If not, do you have or intend to have such activities? SM: We recently ran our first full- on practical evening concentrating on flash and table-top photography. We provided a number of flashguns, a studio flash set-up and some LED torches, along with a selection of subjects and backgrounds for the members to try out. This has prompted requests for dedicated sessions for camera flash, studio set-up and portraits, which we are currently putting together along with several other ideas. We have also run a separate full day training course on introductory Lightroom, with another one on LR and an introduction to Photoshop in the works. Regular club trips are another very popular activity. Recently we

have been to Windsor Castle and Highcliffe beach, with the next one scheduled for the British Wildlife Centre. We also have our first extended trip in April, with Steve leading about 15 members to West Cornwall for five days. PN: What are your long-term aims for your club? SM: Our aim is to provide a mechanism for members to learn and develop on their photographic journey in an open and inclusive environment… and to have fun along the way.

Calling all clubs

Do youwant your club featured in PhotographyNews ? Your club can be big or small, old or new, online or bricks andmortar, connected to a company or not, packedwith beginners ormemberswith strings of letters after their names. Our

We have run a full day training course on introductory Lightroom, with another one on LR and an introduction to Photoshop in the works

door is open to everyone. Please email the editor at

willcheung@bright-publishing. com in the first instance andwe can go fromthere.

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