jkm757 Loc: San Diego, Ca.

The camera club I belong to (Tuesday Morning Photography Club) is looking for new members. Unfortunately due to members moving away and sadly other members passing away, club membership has declined recently. The club meets at 9:30AM on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. The first meeting we meet at a designated location to photograph and the second meeting we meet at the Photo Arts building in Balboa Park where we discuss club business and show photos from our monthly outing. Our next meeting will be at 9:30AM Aug 22 at the Photo Arts bldg. If you've ever thought about joining a camera club or are just looking for an opportunity to get out and photograph more often, please come by this Tuesday and check us out.

agillot

I lived in San Diego abt 52 yrs , moved away 4 yrs ago , was member of a photo club , they meet at the old fire house next to the spanish village at 7 pm once a month . They also have less people now .

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Good luck on your membership request; our club is having the same situation.
Might one of your problems be that you meet during the day, pretty much negating the chance of working folks joining?

jkm757 Loc: San Diego, Ca.

Hi, agillot. The Photo Arts building used to be the original firehouse in Balboa Park. Sounds like you were in Darkroomers. I know they meet on Wednesday evenings.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

Maintaining and growing my photography Club’s membership is an ongoing problem. But getting members to engage in club activities and outings is also a big problem. Taking photos with phones is such a ubiquitous activity today that people don’t seem to want to make it into a serious hobby or avocation.

Stan

jkm757 Loc: San Diego, Ca.

Good morning, John. Before the Covid lock down club membership was never a problem. One of the things we discussed at our last meeting was changing the time and day we meet.

jkm757 Loc: San Diego, Ca.

During the Covid lock down all the clubs started having their meetings on Zoom. Only two clubs went back to in person meetings after the lock down was lifted. Seems like most people would rather meet up online instead of in person which is disappointing.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

The problem with a morning photography club is that it’s mostly limited to retired people.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I’m in a pretty active club. We meet twice a month during the “club year”, September through May. We went back to live competition meetings, (3rd Thursday), last year and we’re going back live with our first Thursday meetings, (guest speaker), this year. We’ll also keep broadcasting on zoom for those that can’t make it in person. Besides the regular meetings we also have several meetups to shoot or for classes year round.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

The biggest problem that I see with local "photography clubs" is the lack of detached judges for competitions. The local club to which I no longer belong favored birds-in-flight over all else except for very stylized flower photographs. They also were members of PSA and applied antiquated "rules of composition" to make decisions. To say the judges were biased would be an understatement.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

There are probably any number of reasons a person would want to be in a camera club, but for me, it would be so that I could have fun with like minded people doing something we enjoy and hopefully learn some things along the way. Once I am no longer enjoying it, I'm out of there. I have other ways to spend my time other than doing something I don't enjoy and isn't bringing me any benefits.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

Camera clubs are, I suspect, facing the same problem as other groups namely that the membership is aging out. If you look at other areas such as birdwatching , or gardening or whatever, very often if you are 65 years old, you're going to be the "kid" in the group. Younger people, who are doing these sort of activities, are not meeting at the clubroom for the slide show, but are connecting via digital media, just as we are doing here on UHH. People mention Covid as one of the causes of this increased isolationism, but this was going on long before Covid. Robert Putnam wrote an important book titled Bowling Alone where he discusses how America used to be a country of communites with people of like minded interests coming together in social groups such as the Eagles, Elks, Moose, and even on a local basis such as our local ladies club, "the Chat n' Nibble". Putnam's book was written before the rise of the internet. He attributed part of the cause to people staying home and watching television instead of getting out and interacting with folks. The rise of the internet allowing connecting without togetherness has only exacerbated the problem Putnam pointed out decades ago.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

I notice that many camera clubs are focused on competitions. Frankly I'm sick and tired of everything being a competition. I am not talking about sports, but regular life things. I turn on the television to watch a Home and Garden show and we can't have a simple show about how to do this or that. No there has to be a dead line withonly so much time to complete the project. You know that there will unforseen issues found which will require extra time and money but in the end all the obstacles will be overcome and the couple will tour their new house with the wife throwing her hand over her mouth and saying "Oh My God" , Oh My God/ This is so beautiful while the host or hostess of the show smiles benignly upon her. Now I see there is a show featuring a cooking competition among children. Frankly, I have no interest at all in watching kids cook and even less in watching them doing it fast. All this is to say that I would have no interest in a camera club that was about showing one member's superority over another in the terms of photographic ability. I would rather just look at each other's work, take some field trips, have a Christmas get together, and perhaps do something like a scavenger hunt. I have been reading lately how lonliness is a pervasive problem in this country and especially among men and boys. The health risks of chronic lonliness has been shown to equate to a health risk similar to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. A camera club whose most important attribute would be that all members will feel welcomed and included and then beyond that will learn some things and will enjoy themselves while doing it would be a great thing.

Archboo3 Loc: Central Florida

The problem may be your in San Diego where it’s legal to piss and shit any where you want and you have climb over drugged passed out to get anywhere

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

We also lost over a third of our members during Covid.