camera clubs

I would be interessted in the experience of those who are members of camera clubs. Particularly, what changes are taking place in response to the digital revolution. Has the balance changed between prints and digital projection in comps? How are images now projected? Is the projector and screen the norm, or are the images shown on a high definition monitor? These are questions now being considered at our club with a marked reluctance to move from prints to digital. How do members of clubs see changes to attract new members who are wholly into digital images with no tradition of prints? There are clubs who are now wholly digital. Do we anticipate that this will be the trend in the future. Your comments will be much appreciated.

Hi fist time posting. I am a member of Holmfirth Camera Club and we have monthly comps. one month is projected and one month is prints. We project on to a screen with with a Canon digital projecter from the clubs laptop. The print comps are normally over subscribed

I've just joined Durham P.S. in January and most of the presentations so far have been digital projection. There are competitions for projected images but also prints are requested for external competitions and exhibitions. Images are projected onto a screen via laptop and projector. Talking to some of the longer serving members they think membership numbers are up, due to the increase in digital camera use and the ease of processing with digital.

I'm currently Vice President of mine (yes I volunteered again)

The only real change in our club has been the inclusion of digitally projected images in the "slide" competitions, though this has now become more of a digital slideshow with the inclusion of two or three slides, yes its a pain manipulating two projectors but one of our members is still a slide worker and its only fair to allow her to continue to compete and show her work.
Entries to the "projected images" comps. have increased by at a guess 50% or so, entries to print comps. have dropped a little. Obviously members are saving their ink on images they are not 100% sure about and putting them in as digital files instead.

As for attracting new members I'm afraid to say my club is struggling, despite the fact we are rated as one of the friendliest in the area, having a good mix of both age and gender in members and a lot to offer in experience in both traditional and digital photography we are at a loss as to what were doing wrong
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Is my perception correct that camera clubs are no longer relevant to the younger age. They simply puts their pics on the computer, loads them onto one of the many web sites for c&c, and to enter comps. If they want to share their pics with family then it is simply an attachment to an E.Mail. There is no involvement in printing their pics. What they miss, however, is hands on help and friendship and the opportunity to help others. Comments, please?
thoramay

At ADAPS we have 90 or so members of all ages from 16 to 80-odd, and they are increasingly active in photography. The mix is probably 40% female these days.

All the stereotypes have been thrown away in the digital revolution, so for example our female members hire models and studios just as much as the male ones.

We have weekly meetings, but I also run Saturday morning workshops every couple of weeks purely for the beginners, to help them get up to speed.

Asa regards the Internet, we have people who only communicate via our website, but we ghave chat and even competitions there that they can join in for free. Very similar to our competition here, but on a two or three week cycle.

Camera clubs can be what you suggest thoramay, but, depending on who runs them, they don't have to be!

John. I was hoping for your imput. Our club is provincial with only 16 paid up members. I would think that the average age is 60 plus. This means that the members are from the age of film, darkroom etc. Unless we can attract new members, we will become financial extinct in three years.
I am getting the "I want" from the members with no eye for the future of the club. I am facing an AGM with a resolution that we have one monthly comp digital and one prints. The heavens are falling in. I am endeavouring to get a flavour of how other clubs are fareing. Guess having a large built up area to draw members from is a huge benefit. At least two of our local clubs have gone purely digital. How prevelant is this move away from prints?
regrads thoramay.

Digital is the key. Try running digital intro nights for beginners - you will get new members. Make sure you have a website that is kept up to date and include a forum to make it alive. Then your members can talk between meetings. This brings more activity. Arrange photographic outings. All these sort of things have turned ADAPS from 20 to 90 members in just a few years.

Hope that helps!

I know you are right, John. I cannot convince my club to have a website of any kind. I battle on because I want the club to have a future. If I press too hard we shall loose some of the over 80's stalwards. If I don't press for changes then we will not get new members. I refuse to join the Committee because the stock answer is "it has always been done this way". I am sure this is being acted out in camera clubs all over the country.
regards thoramay.

If you think age is a barrier have a look here LINK

Just out of interest Durham PS has eleven print competitions and a few less digital ones. Most of the print competitions have a corresponding digital one.

John

And I thought my club was struggling

Reading between the lines here it seems your club is full of older people who just dont like change, my club has +70 year olds who have fully embraced digital and who look forward to evenings of tuition in photoshop skills, if any prospective members pay us a visit we all interact with them and make them feel extremely welcome the older menbers especially, even so we have difficulty in attracting new members, we have tried Johns suggestion of digital workshops but to no avail.

You say there are two other clubs locally, are you near enough to be competing for members I wonder, if they are struggling to then maybe you should consider merging.

As for changes you wont get anywhere unless you get yourself onto the commitee.

Clubs and societies generally (e.g., archaeological societies) are having a hard time attracting and keeping new members, and generally they do attract older members more than younger ones. The key is a broad range of activities that people can engage with.

K.

I am a member of Romiley CC and we have the same problem with age group, most of the 40 members are retirement age. However with myself and a friend being on the Committee we are trying to update the club, giving more and more "modern" talks like photoshop nights (I am doing one in a couple of months) intro to the world of Flickr along with the traditional Portrait nights, still life nights, lighting nights etc. Plus the standard L&CPU slide and print nights (John will know about these)
As for the comps, the submissions are very much a 50/50 split between Prints and slides (now digital images) with a balance of people choosing only prints, some only digital and some both.
A lot of it depends on the club itself and how you are welcomed. Some are very cliquey, yet others are very open to new members. I suppose that, like many social societies (I am a member of the local theatre too) you are always going to have certain age group being members, especially today with younger members not being able to afford such groups with mortgages, families, work stopping them from joining. However as people get older they are more likely to join such groups, hence the age demographics.
I am fortunate to have been a member of the theatre since an early age, and with the CC I can pick or choose and in South Manchester there are no less than five a short distance from me. which does mean that these clubs are doing okay.

Iam in Maidstone Camera Club and we got several new members that saw our annual exhibition in a local shopping centre.

Sandy

It appears that not all of the Dinosaurs are to be found at the back of the island