Originally posted by Pentaxian359 Such an interesting thread, I read the whole thing before going to work this morning, and I was almost late!
I admit to being a member of the local camera club, and I've come to realise its really a love/hate relationship. I'm going to list bullet style points as I think its easier this late at night
It was only when I noticed your profile showed you're in Melbourne that I realised you weren't talking about my club
, as the grade progression, shot of the month, committee issues, cliquiness, even membership numbers etc all sound so familiar.
In the last couple of years my club has tried to address some of the issues you've mentioned, and I think there have been improvements but I think there's still room for improvement.
There's been an increased emphasis on helping beginners which is good to bring in fresh blood, however I think maybe it has been at the expense of offering something for more experienced photographers, as I think that risks people learning how to use their cameras and take good photographs, then leave the club if too many activities are geared around learning the basics.
I think I've reached the point where I'm actually fairly comfortable that I can produce a decent image if I put the effort in, so I don't really have anything to prove taking on subjects completely out of my area of interest, and in fact they're distracting from the kind of photography I really want to do.
My club does have an open category every month, but it counts for less than set topics, but perhaps I should focus on that as then I can do whatever photography I like.
I think the real challenge with a camera club is to make it valuable to all types of photographers; beginners, experienced, competitive, non-competitive, professional, amateur (my club had an issue one year when someone came up with the bright idea of selling members' images to raise funds for charity - without getting permission from the photographers first - huge red copyright infringement flag, and fortunately it didn't happen.)