Photography Club Ideas - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

06/21/2013 08:38:32 AM · #1

HI. My husband and I run a photography club with around 25 members, most of whom are beginners. We are in our third year and I'm trying to come up with some interesting new ideas to do at the club. So far we have had guest speakers, run regular competitions, have an end of year exhibition, run some teaching sessions on photography techniques, editing and camera functions. We also have regular outings on weekends which have included a scavenger hunt, a weekend on a farm stay and night photography. We meet on a Tuesday evening, so it is dark and we are inside. Does anyone have any cool ideas they've used or been a part of they would be willing to share? Thanks :)

chesire

Canon EOS-60D

06/21/2013 08:44:22 AM · #2

Since you're inside, how about a hands on studio shoot seminar/session?

Either bring in a model who needs a portfolio or shoot each other, but have a simple stool, and the lights and background already set up and let people go at it. You could project the photo's very quickly (I actually shoot directly to my computer and project as I'm shooting sometimes) and everyone critique themselves.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

06/21/2013 08:47:19 AM · #3

thanks for that. We have taken our studio lighting in before :)

Devinder

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

06/21/2013 09:35:19 AM · #4

climb a mountain and the best shot gets voted on and printed for the club.

Sorry, not much of an idea ...

Lytro Illum Light Field Digital

06/21/2013 09:36:14 AM · #5

lol, wish we had a mountain!!

yakatme

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

06/21/2013 10:28:45 AM · #6

I am a member of a very active and well run camera club. The most popular event is our monthly "clicktique". This is a photo contest with a theme, similar to DPC challenges but with fewer rules. We bring in two prints and the club brings in two outside judges to score and critique the entries. We also have a monthly digital photo contest in which two images are entered online to be voted on by the members.

We have gotten the attention of a lot of businesses both, local and nationwide, who are sponsors. So sometimes there are prizes for the clicktiques and there is always a photography book for the winner of the monthly digital challenge. At the end of the year (July for us) the total points accumulated from both contests are tabulated and winners of different categories and types get some pretty decent prizes.

For the contests we have two groups: A for pros and advanced amateurs, and B for beginners. To try to keep it fair we have specific rules to move someone from group B to A if they start dominating B.

We also have guest speakers fairly often. National Geographic photographer Tino Soriano gave a presentation earlier this month and the communications director for Zoo Miami, wildlife expert, and photographer Ron Magill gave an excellent lecture on some of his photographic adventures last month.

You can take a look at our activities and happenings on our Meetup page. On our website you can find a lot of information about the two contests that I mentioned as well as a lot of other possible ideas.

Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR

06/21/2013 11:36:49 AM · #7

thanks will take a look :)

NewtoNikon

Fujifilm X-T4

06/21/2013 03:40:30 PM · #8

This might be a bit laborious in terms of effort, but the majority of camera clubs in the UK belong to a regional federation, which in turn is part of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain. (PAGB). The PAGB website has a link to all the Federations HERE. Then you can go to each club within the Federation and maybe on their websites, they have a programme which you can get ideas from.
As I say, it's a long winded process.
And to answer your question we do a couple of things now that we didn't use to. An 8 x 10 night. 8 members speak for 10 minutes on a photography topic of their choice. Secondly an "On the night competition". Members come along to a meeting and one person has prepared a list of about 10 subjects. The other members then have a limited amount of time - usually 90 minutes to go out and take pictures matching the subject list. The best 10 images by each member are sent to the organiser so that they are then viewed and judge the following week.

ShaneBlake

Nikon D7100

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon

06/21/2013 05:17:09 PM · #9

go to LensRentals.com and get some of the more interesting lenses and let everyone use them. might have a surcharge for that night to offset the cost...

i'm thinking things like tilt-shift, true macro, very wide fisheye, 1.4 (or faster) primes, super zooms...

make it a contest to see who gets the best photo of the night w/ each...

get the lenses in the more popular mount, then have a couple people willing to share their body for the contest... if you have enough $, you could do both canon and nikon...

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

06/21/2013 05:50:37 PM · #10

Originally posted by kudzu:

Along the same line, you might see if you can rent or borrow a telescope or microscope with camera mount and do some group astro- or micro-photography.

What about a group session shooting in colored light, either studio lights with gels, or maybe some fluorescent objects under ultraviolet.