Camera Club Or Not

Early last Year i joined a camera club but but after a few months i noticed it being a bit clicky and the older members doing mostly what they wanted with mainly film and not Digital (I except that film is not dead). I found this quite annoying as they were'nt giving any new members who were into Digital much help. So i left, then early this year i was asked to go back as a few of the older members had left and that the club has gone Digital and are interested in getting new members and support. So i went back but then i found that a lot the evenings were becoming repetitive. The same speakers talking about the same thing as the year before. During all this time i have been a member of Pentax User and i've found that i have received a lot more help and friendliness from this forum than i did at the camera club. I do realise that a lot of people have reaped the rewards of a camera club, but it's probably just not for me. I'm interested to know how many of you are members of a camera club or now like me find the facilities from this site more rewarding.

Luckily I found a great one that meets a few miles from here. Always new topics being discussed. Old and new (as well as old and young) members willing to share knowledge and help those who have questions.
There are a few others in the area that are quite cliquey with members quite full of themselves.

Although quite honestly, I find this user group has a wider range of knowledge and its membership more knowledgeable than most of the people in the camera club.

Plus, I don't have to wait for a meeting that occurs once or twice a month to get my questions answered. More still, I am one of only two Pentax users in the group... so that somewhat limits their ability to help.

If you have other groups in the area, you may want to try them as well. I do find that actually being face to face with someone on a field trip or in a room can help a lot. I am really a hands on type of learner sometimes.

I help to run ADAPS, which is probably one of the largest clubs now in the North West.

We make an effort to welcome new members and provide a varied and interesting programme. I'm doing a Saturday Photoshop Beginners session this week, for example, which is a free extra for members.

For keeping in touch between meetings we have our web forum on our site at www.adaps.org.uk and you'll find on there a forum competition just like the one was here! (it's open to non-members by the way)

A club has to want to be open and welcoming for it to work and hopefully we achieve that. There are quite a few Pentax Users these days.

I wish I could find a club here - just to see what it is like really. I'm not sure where there is one in my area though - I haven't been able to find one. The chances are, living on the edge of a posh area (het Gooi) that if I did find one it would be clicky too, but who knows?
I think I'd probably take more photos as a member of a club, and learning hands on is always better for me.
However that said, I learn a lot from PU forum.

What's all this clicky business? It's cliquey, from clique.

G
No 2 Pedant (No guesses as to who No 1 is)

You are of course right Oh Great Isle of Man Pedant Wasn't awake enough, when I wrote that - just followed the OP. Now I have a had a coffee or three I see my mistake.

Your too picky with cliquey now i need a sickie I'm a poet and I didn't know it

"Cliquey" is not limited to Camera Clubs, it's endemic amongst any number of clubs with a mostly static membership, particularly in those of middle-age and above.

The turning club I joined was a particularly bad example, so I left. The club is the membership, so if that's fresh, helpful and innovative, the club will be too.

Ray.

Which probably equally applies to all organisations and groups of people.

We have one in the Hague, an international club for folks of all nationalities...bit far if you leave in 'the east' - I live just outside Den Haag and to get to the club is a pain in the proverbials....

A bit far for me sadly. Den Haag is a pain to get to from Soest, either by car or train, otherwise it would be a good one for me to try.

I agree. I was warned about this sort of thing when I looking for an archery club. The one I finally joined is great, so I wondered why I had been warned. Until I got to shoot at another club on the Wirral, then I realised just how cliquey some people can be!

Back to the original question. I don't have the time to attend a camera club, but the help I get from this site is great!!!

As Current President of my own club (LCPS) I must add that a club is only as good as its members and the amount of work each individual is prerpared to do to support the club, anyone joining a club should offer to help, even if this is just organising the room, tables/chairs setting up equipment etc, even offering to make the tea occasionally. Of course theres always "that" sort of club where someone will think your out to steal their job that theyv'e been doing since the club formed, typically found in the "Clicky" clubs, in which case find another

I was head of my own club once.
till I got mad at myself and kicked me out...
but I was ok with that.
I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would let me in, anyways.

I like this new word 'clicky'.

I've been asked to teach at an FE College's photography evening class (traditional dark room stuff to my astonishment) but I've also been warned that it isn't a class/educational experience but a govenrment subsidised 'camera club' for middle aged men. I think I'll give this clicky job a miss.