The Photo Club Revolution!

 

If you don’t know me, let me say by introduction that I was named President of the Garden Photographic Society starting June 1, 2020. We began online competitions in September 2020 (with a new virtual platform), but that is not what this blog post is essentially about.

I joined the Garden Club in 2017, and there were plenty of people at the club meetings, both on competition night and program night. By 2019 I started to notice a steep decline in membership. This was also happening at other local photo Clubs. I then had a conversation with a former photo club president, who had led a local CACCA (Chicago Area Camera Club Association) club for eight years. He also noticed a decline in local club membership also, and not just due to an older membership. His analysis rang a bell with me: HURT FEELINGS (after competition night).

Yes, the tendency of our competitions to be overly Nature-oriented, jokingly referred to as the “3 Fs”: Fur, Feathers and Flowers, has left many members disappointed and hurt when they brought a terrific Landscape, Architecture, Portrait, Street, Sports, or Creative Art photo to the competition, only to be snubbed and beaten by anything with a feather. Yes, the Garden Club is a "General Photography Club", and not a "Nature Club", but many of our judges still suffer from the “3 Fs” unconscious bias, or just don’t understand how to judge a good creative image. A pretty bird shot is a lovely photo, but often requires more technical skill (and plane tickets) than actual ARTISTIC VISION AND RISK.

It’s time for a REVOLUTION! After meeting with the Garden Club Board, we decided to change our competition categories to separate the Nature category from the others, so that judges’ bias is also separated (there are only so many qualified judges). Are you willing to join me in the next photography club REVOLUTION? Let’s take our club back to the artistic risk takers, the bold experimenters, going where no photographer has gone before (and leaving behind the predictable)!

Get out your Street, Architecture, Portrait, Wedding, Sports, Landscape, Abstract, Creative Blur, Film, and yes, your “3 Fs” Nature & Garden shots and join us in being UNPREDICTABLE! Please go to http://gardenphoto.org and then Downloads to download the New Member Form and join the REVOLUTION! (Instructions on how to compete online are on the homepage).

Here are the competition categories that we’ve decided on:

Color Open (any "non Nature" image)

Monochrome (any subject)

Pictorial Nature (any Nature subject, no shooting or editing limitations)

Special Subject (varies by month)

The “Special Subject” category will change monthly, with the type of shot to be announced far in advance. Some examples for this are: Still Life, Human Portrait, Part Mono/Part Color, Abstract, Food, Natural vs. Man-made, and Unusual Angles in Architecture.

After the judging we enter into a discussion with the Judges as to why they voted the way they did for each shot, with feedback from the creator and other club members, as a teaching moment for all of us (including the Judges!) This is a terrific learning opportunity for our members!

To Join The Garden Photographic Society: Dues are $30 single member/$45 family/year. Fill out the New Member Form and send it, with a check, made out to “Garden Photographic Society”, via your bank, favorite online payment service, or US Mail, to Howard Frank (howard@tcscorp.com) at 8338 Monticello, Skokie, IL 60076.