The Seven Ponds Photography Club meets at 7pm on the first Friday of the month year round and at 7pm on the third Friday of the month September through May.
The PURPOSE of the club is to improve the quality of the work done by ALL its members. This is accomplished in two ways:
1. The first meeting of the month is the educational meeting. It generally consists of presentations that would be of interest to all the members. In addition there is an image show where members can show their pictures and ask for comments from fellow members. Also a part of the meeting is dedicated to the mentoring committee for their work with members desiring additional assistance.
2. The second meeting of the month is the competition meeting. Members are invited to submit digital images that are reviewed at the meeting by experienced photographers acting as judges who review and provide suggestions on what is good and what may be improved with each submitted photo. This is done in a group setting so that all attending can benefit.
Education Night
The speakers are chosen to present programs that cover a broad spectrum of subjects.
A feature of these presentations is discussion. At the end of the presentation members are encouraged to ask questions about everything. The speakers are to have no secrets.
There is an image review which could be of images of a specific assignment or photos in general that the photographer would like to have appraised by the members at large.
The club has an extensive mentoring program that is open to any and all members. The meeting provides an opportunity for all mentors and their protégés to get together and discuss common issues and share experiences.
Competition Night
Members are requested to submit their digital images for the competition one day in advance of the meeting.
The monthly competition is structured with comprehensive rules.
Monthly competitions are held at two levels in five categories: assignment, monochrome, color general, nature, and color creative. Images may be submitted to any category. The nature category is governed by strict definitions that basically mean a picture of something not touched by the hand of man. The club sets out a regular list of assignment subjects at the beginning of the year.
Judges are experienced photographers and judge each image not knowing what member or level the entry represents. Therefore, there is no tendency to be biased towards any member, should they be a beginner or an advanced member.
Careful records are kept for each member so that a member may advance to the next level through achievements and improvements in their photos.
Critique
The purpose of the critique, which follows the judges evaluation, is to set out how the picture entered might be improved. The evaluations are not harsh because it is not the role of the judges to discourage members. But the commentary is specific because improvement requires criticism.
The Sure Way to Better Photographs
Photographers who want to improve the images they make require two things:
1. Exposure to lots and lots of good photos.
2. Exchanges of advice and information with other (successful) photographers
Books are helpful to a point. Seminars are helpful also, but again only to a point and they can be relatively expensive.
The real answer to ongoing improvement is membership in a camera club where we learn by association and through club critiques and eventual competitions. We learn by taking lots of photographs in a variety of situations, with a variety of subjects that are evaluated and discussed at club meetings where we can get direct feedback as well as learn from judging of photos taken by others.
