Chinaman Loc: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Looking for some new, interesting, out-of-the-box ideas for my camera club meetings.
We have the usual open and themed competitions, studio portrait, still life sessions, macrophotography, getting-to-know-your-camera sessions, guest speakers on various topics, members presentation on photography, computers and photoshopping, weekend outings locally and further afield, competitions against other clubs locally and internationally. We've had specific challengers where members shoot with a cheap disposable film camera, shoot a list of given objectives, learn to judge images. We have an audio-visual group, visits to a camera shop and printing shop, equipment from manufacturers to play with.
The club has a website, blog and forum (not regularly updated and poorly utilised - that's being looked into) and I plan to have a newsletter for members.
Thanks in anticipation.

Ambrose Loc: North America

A few thoughts:

"Tight deadline competition". One hour before your meeting, you send out an email to anyone participating with a fictitious news story. Anyone participating has to get an image for that story before your meeting. When everyone arrives, you vote on who got the best shot.

Watch documentaries on great photographers.
Here is a excellent silent slide show you could use and discuss as the images appear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CleRW-xXsJI
Here's on on Ansel Adams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvt1ImIKi0U
Just type "Great Photographers" in at YouTube and you'll find an endless selection.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

I sponsor two scavenger photo hunts every year, one in winter and one in summer. I post a list of 12 items on Friday morning, the club members have 10 days to shoot as many of them as they can find (this gives the working members 2 full weekends time). There is a decent prize to the winner who finds all 12 items (qualification as to whether the item meets the criteria is done by review of 3 members). If more than 1 finds them all, the group itself then judges the artistic renderings to determine the final winner. It has proven quite fun.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

That is so neat :thumbup: :thumbup:

Elliern Loc: Myrtle Beach, SC

My only suggestion would be to make sure the scavenger subjects are doable by everyone. For example, no boat required to get the shot, no 2-3 hour drive to shoot a gorilla, no entrance fee required to get the shot,no underwater shot required, etc. I did not participate in one hunt because it was literally impossible for me to get 2 of the shots listed. Another hunt required an entrance fee, which I could and did do, but still did not seem fair. Just some thoughts.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Every subject used has been personally shot by me in the preceeding 30 days at no expense and all within the city limits. Thats the whole purpose of such an event, ANYONE can take the required shots by only looking around.

Elliern Loc: Myrtle Beach, SC

That is an excellent rule to follow. I am not sure what the organizers were thinking for those hunts. I thought then and still do, that it is a fun activity.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Hold a 50/50 raffle, it's not photographic. Sell raffle tics for a dollar. One lucky member takes home 50% of the pot, the club gets the other half. At the end of the year, the club buys a Ferrari with the proceeds, and all the members take turns driving it!! ;-)
SS

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

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As program coordinator of our Camera Club, I appreciate the OP's request. I must thank responders for a bunch of excellent ideas.

Our Camera Club (membership approx. 45-50) holds "official" meetings on first Tuesdays when a brief business meeting is held and the monthly program is presented. On Third Tuesdays an informal " Critique Night" is held. Prior to that evening those wishing to present up to three images for constructive criticism / judging will have emailed those images as attachments to the volunteer "M.C." of Critique Night who downloads them for orderly projection and discussion.

All our meetings are open to the public. Members are encouraged to bring friends who are...or seem like they might be...interested in photography. It is from invited visitors as well as via our well-maintained website that most new memberships are signed up.

The following are " First Tuesday" Programs that have been presented during the past five-or-so years.
The presenters represent club members, professional photographers, and a variety of uniquely experienced and knowledgeable advanced amateur photographers from our region.

" Available Light Photography",
"The Simple Home Studio", "Still Lifes",
"Underwater photography" (presented by a professional "underwater photographic Safari" guide)
Photoshop and other image processing applications, (demonstrations)
D.I.Y. Photographic Accessories,
"Flash Photography"
"Home Studio lighting"
"Photographing Our National Parks and Monuments" (presented by SD DNR staff photographer ...results of his " bus driver's holidays")
"Introduction to HDRI"
"Using the Histogram"
"Image Composition - Provide for Options"
"Tips on Photoshop Workflow"
"Judging Photography Contests"
"Tips from a Portrait Studio" (presented by a professional studio portrait
photographer)
"Using Color, Texture, and Pattern"
"Flower Photography"
"Photo-Musical Essay"
"Keep ImagesTack Sharp"
"Train Photography"
HDRI from a single RAW File
"Nikon Capture" workflow
"Bird Photography: A Nuts 'n' Bolts How-To Primer"
Packing for a Photography Road Trip
Photoshop Workflow (Intro level)
"Panoramas...The Traditional and The Easy Way"
"Producing a Photo Essay"
"Basics of Composition" (Intro. level)
."SHARP PICS WITHOUT A TRIPOD"
"Bird Photography: A Nuts 'n' Bolts How-To Primer"
"Pros and Cons of Workshops-and Why I'd Go Again In a Heartbeat!".
"Train Photography at Night"
"Image Software Comparisons/Demo (4 stations, 20 min. each live demo.)
"Basic Workflow in Lightroom"
"Basic Workflow in Photoshop"
"Basic Workflow in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) for JPEGs and TIFFs"
"Basic Workflow in Gimp"
"LINEAR EXPOSURE vs. Non-Linear Exposure" (Intro level)
"D.I.Y. Float Wraps.(vs. trad. mat w/ glazed framing)"
"Sunset Photo Walk." (Start at Library -usual meeting site)
"Creative/Artistic Augmentation of Images"
"Using Topaz Plug-ins"
"What Scratches My Creative Itch?" (Presented by official South Dakota
DNR photographer)
"Greatest Advances in Photographic Technology" presented by a serious
collector of antiquarian cameras and lenses.
"Comparison of Different Printing Media" Demo of wide range of printing
materials and surfaces
"Promoting Our State With Photography" presented by Senior Photographer
for the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development"
"A Photographers Views on Alaskan Travel" (presented by official South
Dakota DNR photographer)
"Why 19th Century Rules of Exposure Work for Film and JPEGs...and Don't
work for RAW images!" (presented by teacher of photography courses
and workshops)
"Back to Basics - Use of Box Cameras Today" (presented by photography
historian and collector)
"The Secrets of Successful Pasque Flower Photography" (presented by an
avid flower photographer)
" Photography on Assignment" (presented by a photographer for South
Dakota Magazine)
"PHOTOSHOP WORKFLOW: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Way to
Process your Photos." ( real-time projection of basic techniques)

Our club is a member of the North-Central Camera Club Council (the N4C) and our members are thus eligible to enter the monthly (September through May) contests of the N4C. Check the N4C website <http://www.n4c.us/> for further information.

"EARLY SHOW MASTERCLASSES"
These slideshows of the works of notable photographers from the 19th and 20th Centuries are presented for the growing numbers of early arrivals to our club meetings from 6pm to 7pm before the usual beginning of Camera Club Meetings at 7:00pm.

SLIDESHOWS/MASTER CLASSES THAT HAVE BEEN SHOWN:
Alfred Stieiglitz
Edward (Eduard) Steichen
Paul Strand
Matthew Brady
Edward Weston
Alfred Eisenstadt
Robert Capa
Steve McCurry
Imogen Cunningham

MASTER CLASSES COMPILED AND " IN THE CAN";( Not yet shown)
Ansel Adams
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lewis Hein
Brassai
Larry Burrows
William Eugene Smith
Margaret Bourke White

MASTER CLASSES IN PREPARATION - (Works in Progress)
Dorothea Lange
Lee Friedlander
Eliot Elisofon
Richard Avedon
Irving Penn
Albert Watson
Martin J. Dain
Wilhelm Hermann ("Bill") Brandt

The " Early Show" period (6:00pm to 7:00pm) is also being considered for presentation of a series of introductory/beginner level classes on digital photography to be open to the public.

our club holds a Winter and Summer Photography Contest. Every member may submit one color and one B&W image for each contest. Judging is the "event" of the December First Tuesday meeting. The results are announced and the submissions are projected at a local pizza restaurant where our "Winter" and Spring Banquets" are held on the second Tuesday meetings.
There are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. place Cash Prizes in the Color and B&W categories.

In South Dakota there are two yearly photography events that draw attendance from many camera clubs in SD as well as from many other states:
"The Annual Black Hills Photo Shootout" is held in the Fall.
http://www.thephotoshootout.com
and
In the Summer a Saturday get-together of members from SD Camera
clubs is held at or near a selected site with a variety of scenic
photo-opportunities.

There is a Regional Rennaisance Faire and many of the participants and employees hold local "dress" get-to-gethers. Some expressed an interest in building a portfolio of their own images. Our Club stepped in and offered to send their organization TIFFs of all images for the opportunity to such a gathering of willing models ofcall ages! They scheduled their availability to coincide with our meeting and a good time...and many great images...were had by all!

I hope this may provide some useful ideas for camera club programming.
Dave in SD (camera club program coordinator)

fstop11 Loc: Huntington Beach Ca

Take a look at our monthly News letter and Calendar for 2014


http://www.psoc.net/

kitcar Loc: Liverpool.Merseyside. UK

40 years ago I enrolled for a 3yrs C&G course & @ half term break the task was to produce 6 acceptable prints of 6 designated subjects. To make it fairer for the 2 ¼ square users the 35mm users had to only expose 12 frames. The prints on presentation also had to be accompanied with the film. It certainly made you think.
How simple were those rules?
An exercise I don’t think would go down well in the digital age.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Indeed!

Spindrift62 Loc: Dorset, England. U.K.

I also did the C & G Course and took the 6/12 acceptable print task. On the face of it, it seems really easy but in practice it was probably one of the more difficult challenges. Not only did you have to consider the subject matter but with restricted exposures available virtually everything had to be done in camera and done correctly straight off as processing was limited to developing and cropping only. (No dodging, burning etc.) Strangely we all seemed to be able to get 4 shots but the last two were absolute s***s to achieve. It is a great test of photographic ability.

DaveHam Loc: Reading UK

Have you thought of workshop type projects for some of the more difficult aspects of photography such as night time photography with ambient light or use of multiple flash and wireless?
We get a lot of interest in those aspects from clubs and associations.

crimesc324 Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Do a round robin, have each member stand up and give 1 thing that either they do or learned to help them take better photographs