So now I know why photo clubs are useless

[Daniel Stone]

One of my biggest gripes is competitions requiring digital submissions, NOT physical prints. I'm younger than many others here, but I'm firmly in the "old school" camp of looking at, and comparing, physical prints, not digital images on a screen.

Competition can be healthy, IMO. Unfortunately, in today's world, peoples skin is so thin, the mildest critique can send someone into a full-blown emotional(and sometimes physical) meltdown.

If you ain't got the salt to listen to critiques of your work, don't enter competitions

-Dan

[Graham Patterson]

Way back, when I used to have some club involvement, it was not uncommon for members to research the judge and choose their entries accordingly. Which makes sense if it is treated as a competition and not a chance to showcase one's vision.

Probably the area I found most interesting was international print folios. Granted there were comments and a ranking method, but when you are surface shipping a folio across the globe, immediate gratification didn't happen. At one time I was participating in exchanges (from the UK) with the USA, Australia, and South Africa. This was pre-internet, so the only way to see international work otherwise was in magazines, books, or exhibitions.

These days I am lucky to be doing any photography, let alone keeping up with a regular club schedule!

[jp]

our area had a photo club for a little while.. The participants were from all skill ranges in photography. It was several years ago when I was bored with digital and the participants were mostly interested in getting better at digital... it was mostly social and no contests. I met a few people who remain acquaintances. I did a cyanotype contact printing demo which was completely out of character for what the people thought they wanted to learn. The club didn't last long; sorta like herding cats. Last summer I participated in an alt process exhibit with one of the ladies in the club who thanked me for introducing cyanotypes to her! She took more classes on alt process and made a body of photography based on cyanotypes suitable to be chosen to be exhibited.. Clubs aren't all competition and groupthink. The learning about traditional stuff is possible in this setting if we meet with the right people. That said, I wouldn't have gone to more than one meeting if it were about competition and basic digital.

[jon.oman]

Shot on glass negative, I deliberately left all the imperfections. Was looking for a period look. At that time things were much more formal and people did not smile in the photos. (I collect photos from that period.)


Kent in SD

The exposures were so long, it was hard to smile. So, most people didn't.

[Bruce Watson]

The judges know little about judging.

While that may be true, it misses the point entirely.

Basing your self esteem, and therefore your confidence, on what other people think of you isn't at all helpful. It may be quite harmful depending on how deeply you go into that particular rat hole.

Do the work that you feel works for you. What other people think doesn't matter; other people aren't doing the work. You are.

[Kerosene Hat]

I got back into photography a few years ago by joining the local photos society...which is really a Camera club, and now, a Photoshop plug-in club. After doing well in competitions for a few years, I placed more value on my monthly finishes...and grew more frustrated the more I placed my own value on these competitions. Then, I realized what won-usually, images that combined at least two of the following ingredients:

- Expensive Photo vacations to exotic locales
- Heavy use of Photoshop, after effects, excessive sharpening and/or HDR
- Black and white, but little use of grey
- Street Photography a ala Steve McCurry of indigent people in exotic global locations, usually of people with brown or darker skin, aka travel poverty porn

I think the best club to be in is the one where you can make images that mean something to you, where you can experience your work and vision growing, and, ideally, where the members know the difference that bigger formats make. That last part is optional, but it sure is nice to know the difference.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

We get no comments from judges at all and no one knows who did what unless you place. So our club is not all tgat. I entrr because it keeps me ptoducing and constantly looking. I just need to remember it is the art, not the competition. No one at these things realuze the work that goes into film photography. Plannining, to completion. Digital I suspect mist spend less than 5 minutes be tween taking and printing image. One person I know pays 11 bucks to have Walgreens print their pictures. 11 a piece. I suppose if it works.

I do compete to show work however, we have no reviews of winning photographersbwork or of losing work. We don't seem to value critiques. There is a place nearby though that I am a member of that holds critiques of people's work using well known artists. Hopefully, they are concerned with the art and not how many points for fitting a certain form.

Perhaps I just need to learn to shut up and go with the flow.

[John Kasaian]

I think the important consideration is, what kind of liquor do they serve at the exhibition openings?

[koraks]

I think the important consideration is, what kind of liquor do they serve at the exhibition openings?

And, even more importantly, whether the drinks are complimentary.

[Bruce Watson]

I just need to remember it is the art, not the competition.

Yes. This. You can only really compete with yourself.