Far more weirdos online......
I'm the President of my camera club in Kingston, Ontario. We have around 75 members, ranging from the age of 21 and up to about 80. We have a quite busy programme for the year and the members include everybody from complete beginners to professional. We're lucky to have a good college in the city that has a good range of courses for all levels. Our activities are programmed to give the members three main things..... feedback and constructive criticism of their work, a higher technical knowledge of the craft and the ability to compare their work with their peers.
Clubs generally try to give a balanced program to cater for the different levels of knowledge and skill..... and this is what sometimes puts people off. Some of the more knowledgeable ones (and perhaps the bigger egos) don't attend 'basic' evenings and the beginners sometimes steer clear of the higher levels of lectures/presentations etc.
Then there's the problem of critique..... if members can't handle constructive criticism of your work, they shouldn't join. I've seen experienced members, including one semi-pro, put pictures into competitions and fail to score a hit with the judges - and promptly throw their toys out of their pram and leave the club. Clubs in the UK tend to join various regional groups and are invited to compete (IMHO there's too much emphasis on competition among UK clubs - scoring points over their neighbouring town becomes more important than the showing of their work). Then, of course, we have some members who don't put pictures into competitions and don't contribute much at all to the club - we just accept their subscription and don't push them too much.
So yes, there are a few of what I'd call the 'Beige Cardigan' brigade..... I remember one in the UK who was getting on in years and only ever used his Leica that he'd (probably) picked up as loot somewhere in Europe in 1944. Whatever the topic of the evening in the club, he'd try to start a discussion on the quality of his Zeiss lens. "Weirdoes", though? Nah - no more than in any other club that tries to cater for all ages. I'm sure you've come across the occasional oddballs in your school, workplace, pub?
By the way, feel free to check out the activities of my club, the
Kingston Photographic Club.
06-09-10, 09:42 AM
