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01/23/2006 08:47:27 PM · #1 |
Hi there!
A friend of mine and I have been looking around at local photography clubs here in Portland and so far we haven't found any that really fit what we're looking for at the moment.
Soo.. we've decided to start one ourselves. We have a few ideas already but I was wondering if any of you have experience with either attending a photography club or running one.
Advice is always great, ideas are welcome too. We're very much starting at the bottom here and I'm especially interested in what you all think a photography club should provide so we can get an idea of how to shape the club. I realize everyone will likely have different thoughts on this but if there's a majority of interests or expectations that would provide a good basis for us to look at as we get things running.
Also, if anyone has ideas on places we might look into using for meetings that would likely be free (besides our homes) or effective places to advertise the photography club that would be wonderful too!
We're still in research mode before we go public and the more information and ideas we can absorb the better.
Thanks!
- Sia
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01/24/2006 02:37:24 AM · #2 |
No responses to be had eh?
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01/24/2006 03:05:27 AM · #3 |
Check out //www.meetup.com
Browse the various photography meetup groups in different locations. Your city/state may already have one, if not you can always start a new meet-up group.
I'm a member of the Toronto Photography Meetup Group which has over 860 members, not all are active but a big percentage of members participate in events. We go on photoshoots in different locations, we also do a monthly social, usually at a pub. We just concluded our first major gallery exhibition (I sold 2 of the 3 prints). We've done a few workshops, (lighting, portraiture, matting, printing, etc), and an on-going print-swap. Lately we've been doing mini challenges just for fun and also for learning. Our members range from dedicated hobbyist to professional wedding photographers, and a mixture of film and digital shooters.
The group is just over 2 years old but we've grown so fast in the last year. I myself joined only last May. It would help if you network with active photobloggers in your area, that's how word goes around that your group exist and encourage or invite them to become a member and participate.
Good luck with it!
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01/24/2006 05:05:06 AM · #4 |
Depending on what you're doing in your meetings, you could always go to a cafe or restaurant for your meetings, there might even be a place that has a couple of tables that are a bit distant from the others. Of course you'd be paying for food and drink, but not the venue per se.
If you want low-cost venues, try local schools and churches, they might be willing to hire out rooms for you without charging you too much. If you have enough members that you can't fit in someone's lounge room, then getting everyone to kick in a couple of might not be too much of a drama.
It all depends what you want to do. I sort of started a club without really intending to - after having been on a couple of photography courses, I decided I wanted to go out more and practice so I'd improve and not forget everything I'd learned. I mentioned it to a couple of friends just in general conversation, and was surprised when they said "hey, if you're going to do that, let me know when, I could be interested"... then a couple more heard, and suddenly on my first wander out I had five friends with me.
Other friends heard about it, and some of my friends invited other friends of theirs, who then later invited other friends and suddenly I had a mailing list of about fifty people, although about a third of them only showed up once or not at all. Went out on shoots every month or two, whenever I or someone else got inspired to organise something. We didn't have normal "camera club" type meetings, but every now and then we'd organise a night at my place to eat pizza and compare the photos we'd taken. Because it was non-competitive, there was lots of idea-sharing happening too. It's faded a bit for various reasons (ill-health on my part didn't help)... if it picks up again later, cool, if it doesn't, well it was fun while it lasted, especially since I'd never actually intended to form a club, it just happened. We didn't charge any fees and didn't have any expenses - it was all spread by word-of-mouth.
Anyway, it's an alternate approach to think about. You never know, you might have other friends who aren't shooting much now but get inspired to get out more.
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01/24/2006 05:12:18 AM · #5 |
i think starting your own club sounds fun. i joined a new club early on in my neighborhood last year, so i have some ideas for you.
1) our club is associated with a larger artist's guild. they have regular events that make it easy to promote the club. you should look for art schools or the like (places that teach classes for adults, not just kids and students) to see if there are guilds or art leagues or whatever in your area. contact those people and see if you could make a "subgroup" for photography in affiliation with them. it gives you a broad base to work from at the start.
2) don't be afraid to be organized! the woman that runs our club is sometimes too "flexible" when it comes to assignments and challenges and it gets frustrating. we had a show this month and the topic changed 3 times -- i wasn't made aware of the last topic switch, so i got photos blown up that have nothing to do with any of the others. and i found out when we were hanging the show that it was a juried competition, which was frustrating. i would have gone a totally different route had i known all of that. so, make a plan and stick to it.
3) give the members something fun to do. most probably aren't aware of the "fun challenge" concept and think of photo contests as something big and fancy that's out of their league. find a few of your favorite DPC challenges and make up a few of your own specific to your area, but have an "assignment" each month.
4) local libraries often have meeting rooms that you can rent for free as a "community organization." that's a cheap place to gather. some even have a/v hookups where you can get on the internet or put up slide shows of member shots.
5) try some educational stuff. our club has a calendar and each month a member is going to give a little talk about some technique or something they are interested in. most of the duds in our class are still film people, but i'm slowly workin' on them. i've given a talk already on the lensbaby (woo! love the lensbaby!) which went over pretty well. i am scheduled to do one on adjustment layers in photoshop in a few months too.
hope this helps! :) |
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01/24/2006 05:13:26 AM · #6 |
oh! forgot one!
6) find places for the club to display their work. local coffee shops and restaurants are always looking to change up their art, and it's easier to market yourself as a group than an individual. you can sell shots for sure, but if nothing else it's a great way to promote the club.
:) |
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01/24/2006 05:38:05 AM · #7 |
I belong to a small town photo club. It consists of 3 pros, a bunch of very advanced amateurs, and a handful of newbies that are just kinda getting going. This club has been going for about 7-8 years now after a dissolving of the previous club. The previsou club ended up getting too competitive with each other and that created problems.
The current club does have photo shows but not awards other than a "People's Choice" and there is a private member "vote" where the members each vote on thier favorite pic from each photographer that enters in the show for constructive criticism at the next meeting.
One of the places we have a show 2x a year is the civic center. We have a great community college that lets many groups hold meetings for clubs & interest groups for no charge. The club meets once a month and every other meeting or so we have a program that might include a member's "show & tell" of a vacation, or an actual talk by a pro about different things. One that comes to mind was "competition prints and presentation"
There are Dues of 10 bucks a year which pays for fuel of some of the program presenters or goodies at the Christmas gathering. It's a pretty fun, no pressure group of people and it works well for a small town club.
Hope that helps!
Edit to add: The group also plans outings a few times a year where everyone who wants to meets at a destination like Bosque Del Apache or Moab or something closer to home like the nearer mountain in the fall.
Message edited by author 2006-01-24 05:40:04. |
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01/24/2006 08:40:13 AM · #8 |
I started a company sponsored club where I work. PM me if you have any questions.
some bits of advice:
1. Find a handful of people that also want to be part of the club to help put it together, get it up and running and run it. Otherwise you will burn yourself out.
2. Create a good business plan. make a list of what you want the club to do for people, how much dues will be, what will the club spend their money on, make a list of club rules...
3. Find a good location to hold the meeting. A local resturant that can dedicate some space to you once a month works really well for our club.
4. This is important, be sure to cater more to the beginner photographers. Our club has several very talented photographers and that intimidates the beginners. A lot of the discussions can also go right over their head. You need to make the beginners feel comfortable or they will leave.
5. I end every meeting with a tutorial on a random topic, and start every meeting reviewing the homework assignment given out the previous month. I try to make the meetings about learning something new and not just normal club business stuff.
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01/24/2006 07:57:40 PM · #9 |
Wow thank you!
You guys have had some very helpful insights! My friend and I are going to go over them and see how we can include the ideas you've given into what we're looking to do.
I will definitely be back with more questions as time progresses I'm sure, best to avoid any pitfalls you guys may have seen or experienced if at all possible - forewarned is forearmed or some such! So if you think of anything else, let me know I can always use the advice.
Thanks again for all the good information, I really appreciate it!
I'll catch ya up once we get things off the ground. :)
- Sia
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01/24/2006 09:03:59 PM · #10 |
For later on, once you have gotten a Club started, here is a page that tells of Club Competition Rules, a Constitution & Bylaws, and a whole bunch more information about how we run our Photochrome Club. It may be that some of this stuff is really 'old' since our club has been around since 1943. Still, it's a framework. No sense in re-inventing the wheel.
Also on Photochrome are Digital Competition Rules and, I'm not sure it's up but soon: how we run our Print Competitions.
Good luck. Photography Clubs are great places to swap ideas and learn local stuff.
I hope you let us know, from time to time, how you're doing. |
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