[BarryE]

I think it would be interesting to see if anyone has any views on camera clubs/societies. I was a member of a local club a few years back. It was very popular (currently a waiting list to join). It attracted big name speakers, eg Joe McNally. So it clearly worked for many. Somehow, it didn't work for me. Why? I felt it was rather too fixated on competitions. The speakers were interesting, but the competitive bias grated a little.

I don't recall how many members attended each meeting, my guess was 125-150 ish - so it was popular. The numbers meant integrating for new visitors was a challenge, partly because at the breaks this number of photogs spilled out into the reception area in their regular groups and the room heaved with folk. There was a loooot of gear talk, something that doesn't register with me, and "clever" Photoshop etc., wheezes.

I think I was looking for something else. Somewhere to chat about photography - the aesthetics, the process, even the 'art' (trying hard not to be pretentious) - over a beer or two. More informal and relaxed. It's probably me.

I've looked around at other local clubs and they all seem to be similarly organised. A pity.

Anyone come across other societies/clubs that don't fit the norm?

[boriscleto]

I found the camera group I'm part of through Meetup.com. Not sure if it operates in the UK or not...

There is a camera club here in Syracuse, from what I've heard it's much like your experience...

[stevebrot]

I think they can be very helpful, though finding the time to be an active member was my challenge the last time I joined one.


Steve

[Apet-Sure]

We have a club here in Goldsboro. Average attendance was 20 or so back when I was active. (Dropped out due to illness.) Membership was 100 or so. It was very friendly and low key. Some members were excellent photographers and some were beginners, but all were welcome. They would project people's images on a big screen for comment. Some would submit images specifically for critique. Each week they had one member give a short talk on a photography topic. When I first joined and they were asking for my basic info, they said "Canon or Nikon?". I said "Pentax". They said "Oh."

[Cerebum]

I am in the "Love" camp. My camera club, Lancaster, is one of the oldest in the UK (est 1889) but we aren't huge, about 60 members. We have club nights where we do Macro, Portraits, street, light painting etc. We also have speakers on a variety of subjects. I stopped doing competitions because the judges were ridiculous (we had a spell where one after the other was inconsistent, full of **** or both). After a while I missed participating so I started entering what I liked rather than what ticked the boxes, much better. We have gear that can be borrowed (including a 1932 Leica ii) and some of us are involved in mentoring. We have special interest groups including street, portrait, landscape, film, video and infrared. We also have a healthy post meeting pub scene. Our season runs from September to may but we also have events through the summer. Competitions are good when you get a good judge, they give you genuine guidance but some talk utter rubbish, waffling on when they clearly don't understand the image. Photography can be a lonely pursuit. Sometimes it is really nice to be with like minded people

[ramseybuckeye]

I found the camera group I'm part of through Meetup.com. Not sure if it operates in the UK or not...

There is a camera club here in Syracuse, from what I've heard it's much like your experience...

I was a member of a couple of meetup groups and they were pretty good, it was all about meeting up and taking photos in an area, or building, or maybe sharing tabletop setups to do macros, etc. Different ranges of experience, mostly good stuff. I moved away from the area so I'm obviously no longer in those groups, a couple actually kind of broke up as "meetup" made it tougher to use, according to the organizers. The nice part about it was that it got you into some places not normally open to the public, like closed buildings or areas of building that were normally no accessible, and you might go to a nature setting that you did not know. Everybody learned from each other, as long as they were open to it.

[DeadJohn]

I tried a weekly local camera club for a few months. It didn't work well for me. I don't "loathe" them but I'll wait a few years before trying again.

• Roughly 33% of meetings were competition. This was all about grading by some guest judge with minimal feedback. My main motive to share photos is to foster discussion, not to earn points. I like dialogue about what other photographers may have done differently with respect to composition, settings, or processing; that rarely happened.
• In order to become a full participating member, I needed to go through an ill-defined process with a "mentor" who always seemed too busy to communicate with me.
• I was helping other clubs with astrophotography classes. Those clubs were too far away for me to regularly attend. The local club, though, seemed uninterested in astrophotography.
• The Sunday morning photo gathering was unwelcoming to new members.

[Lord Lucan]

I don't recall how many members attended each meeting, my guess was 125-150 ish - so it was popular. The numbers meant integrating for new visitors was a challenge .... There was a loooot of gear talk,

125-150 ?! They must have used a theatre for the clubhouse. And you are in the UK. I was in a club which was one of only three in a large UK city and we typically had 20 attending the weekly meetings, sometimes only 10, although it peaked to about 30 around 2005. Competitions monthly, otherwise a speaker (no-one famous) or projects like getting photos of local historic buildings (separately, not as a group). Some of us gave talks ourselves, I did some. When I first joined, integrating was relatively easy because the club's oddball promptly latched on to me and that helped as an introduction to the others.

We did not take the competitons seriously, at least I didn't - just regarded it as a way to see each other's pictures. We did not talk about gear except incidentally. In fact I could not tell you what the other members' gear was because they did not bring it to te meetings, and there were only occasional outings on which I can honestly say I did not notice what they used. We were more likely to discuss subjects and composition. One of my talks was on the history of photography, and another was on First World War photos.

That was until I moved away 10 years ago - perhaps things have changed since.

[mattt]

My "camera club" is a coffee clutch of myself and 3 others. One is a digital artist, another is keen on street, and the third is the senior "technology" man using Linux and eschewing film after suffering it in the 80's....Always a good chat, and no word about competitions

Short answer to your dilema... find a few like minded souls to do photo walks, and drink a cup of coffee with and leave it at that. Just remember, if you miss a coffee meet up you might be elected president (that's the on going joke with our group).

[BarryE]

125-150 ?! They must have used a theatre for the clubhouse..

They do. Staged seating. Theatre lights, etc. I've watched many a concert there ...

---------- Post added 06-19-21 at 10:06 PM ----------

My "camera club" is a coffee clutch of myself and 3 others. One is a digital artist, another is keen on street, and the third is the senior "technology" man using Linux and eschewing film after suffering it in the 80's....Always a good chat, and no word about competitions

Short answer to your dilema... find a few like minded souls to do photo walks, and drink a cup of coffee with and leave it at that. Just remember, if you miss a coffee meet up you might be elected president (that's the on going joke with our group).

Yup, that's become my thinking.

I appreciate I might be about to tread on toes with this observation, so excuse me if I get modern terminology not 100%, but I do feel that the clubs I've investigated could do with a healthier "gender (?)" (see what I mean ) balance. When I sat high up at the back, I would amuse myself, especially when judges were rambling on, with counting the members, like me, who suffer from a less than perfect head of hair. I find that the majority of photographers I follow nowadays on Instagram tend to be woman. When I've discussed this with my wife it comes as no surprise to us. Competition can be such a turn off when not appropriate. Absolutely fine in sport (love that), but in photography/art? No.

[ChrisPlatt]

Back in the early 1980's I attended a local camera clubs regular weekly meeting.
A group of mostly older men definitely did not made this newcomer feel welcome.
Based on this admittedly limited experience I decided camera clubs are not for me.

Chris

[Wheatfield]

We have, or had anyway, a couple of camera clubs here. I never really got into either one. One of them was very competitive, and I found there was substantial brand snootiness, which was also part of the competition, it seemed. The other tried very much to be about photography, but I ended up giving more free seminars than being a regular member.
Concurrently to that, there was a group of about half a dozen of us that regularly went shooting, the group size varied greatly, but it was always about the photography, food and beer. That was my kind of group. Unfortunately, death and people moving away took it's toll, and the group sort of petered out through attrition.

Now I am a simple internet troll on Pentax Forums.

[DWS1]

The formal clubs I have been associated with were very competitive not only with images but more so with having the latest and greatest gear. Most of the members thought a little too much of themselves to my liking.

[MarkJerling]

There's a local club here. I've been asked to join several times but thus far I have resisted as I can't see myself having to photograph a specific thing / group of things for a monthly competition, not with life being so incredibly busy already.
I'm already involved with a few running and cycling clubs and while a member of a 4wd club, I never get time for that.

So, yes, time and arbitrary competitions gets in the way of me wanting to join such a club.

[c.a.m]

There are four camera/photo clubs in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. I am a member of the Camera Club of Ottawa, which was founded in 1894.

My club is relatively modest in size, with 80 members. The program features a good balance of speakers, organized photo outings, workshops, competitions, and critique nights. The atmosphere is collegial. Gear and equipment, if mentioned, is incidental.

The 'competitions' are intended to draw out the best work of the members, and they are friendly events. Judges tend to be fairly constructive.

- Craig