Any LF Photographers in Northern CA (Santa Rosa area)?

[mossbloom]

I'm new to Cotati, just south of Santa Rosa and 45 minutes north of SF. The local camera club is 100% digital. I'm also new to LF, and would be delighted to meet other LF photographers in my area.

[karl french]

Come join us at a meetup one of these days.

http://www.meetup.com/SFBayAreaLFers

[Lenny Eiger]

I'm new to Cotati, just south of Santa Rosa and 45 minutes north of SF. The local camera club is 100% digital. I'm also new to LF, and would be delighted to meet other LF photographers in my area.

Hi there. I live in Petaluma, just down the road.

Drop me a line....


Lenny
707-763-5922
eiger@eigerstudios.com

[mandoman7]

I'm in Healdsburg, about 40 min. north.

[Kuzano]

Hope you find the people you are looking for. I have come rather discouraged with photo clubs as a way to meet the need for people of like minds to help each other, particularly on anything outside of digital. Glad to hear there are still specific groups as for LF and film. The general run of community photography clubs seems to be moving to digital.

Not meaning to hijack the OP thread, but I think this is a pertinent discussion to a sad testament about Photography Clubs for general photography.

Unfortunately, it seems the politics of Photo Club Gatherings tend to push a lot of clubs to primarily digital offerings. Short times on submissions, and the move to want to project digital images on competitions onto a screen.

Some (perhaps many) clubs have done away with competitive judging and critiques on hanging submissions. In our community of 85,000 population, the advent of digital has grown the club to a very active membership well over 100 members. But LF, MF and hanging photographs have pretty much been stomped into non-submission (or read submission here). A handful of that relatively large group may still shoot film.

The politics in the club moved into a "nasty" place and I walked away. I keep hearing this about other clubs as well.

This club also no longer does the annual weeklong treks into the Steens Mountains Canyon area that used to derive much new work presented to the club. In fact most advertised outings are done as seminars, which benefit just a few members of the club financially. Those people also seem to be shooting digital now, whereas most of them have been career photographers long enough to have been film users for some time, prior to digital.

Please note that I simply find this sad, not that it is unanticipated, or typical. Just sad!

[Lenny Eiger]

Not meaning to hijack the OP thread, but I think this is a pertinent discussion to a sad testament about Photography Clubs for general photography.

Unfortunately, it seems the politics of Photo Club Gatherings tend to push a lot of clubs to primarily digital offerings. Short times on submissions, and the move to want to project digital images on competitions onto a screen.

Some (perhaps many) clubs have done away with competitive judging and critiques on hanging submissions. In our community of 85,000 population, the advent of digital has grown the club to a very active membership well over 100 members. But LF, MF and hanging photographs have pretty much been stomped into non-submission (or read submission here). A handful of that relatively large group may still shoot film.

The politics in the club moved into a "nasty" place and I walked away. I keep hearing this about other clubs as well.


Kuzano,

i would say a couple of things. The first is that I have seen this as well. The general photography groups seem to have a lot of folks who having been doing photography for weeks vs experienced types, they have no idea what is possible with the medium, they haven't studied anything but their camera's manual. The idea that one would have a competition is simply idiotic. I was asked to judge one of these and I looked at their site before I said yes. I figured that I would give almost all of them somewhere between 2 and 6 out of 100. I would just look mean to everyone. Art is simply not a competition. We are all brilliant and stupid, regularly.

The other thing I would say is that the Bay Area Large Format Group that Karl mentioned is great. I've been to a number of outings with them, including one overnight camping one. This group is filled with the nicest people. It seems that if people (uhhh, that's us) are foolish enough to lug all of this gear into the outdoors, they tend to be friendlier, and more open. We all share our favorite techniques. The newbies are respectful, don't act like they know everything already and the more experienced types are happy to help them. It's a great way to compare equipment, see which loupe or tripod, tripod head or camera you like best. There have been a lot of great talks, I have made a bunch of friends I really like. I'd say if anyone is thinking of joining a group, find one that is focussed on large format.

Lenny

[Jim Fitzgerald]

My good friend Bill Theis lives in Cotati. He is an accomplished large format photographer shooting color and black and white in 4x5 and 8x10. He has a show at the library up there. I'll get you some details. Bill is a super guy.

[Vaughn]

Let me know if you make it north to Humboldt County (Eureka/Arcata)

[tgtaylor]

Be aware, though, that "artists" are perhaps the most egotistical group that you will ever come across. Not all, of course, but quite a few. So choose wisely.

Thomas

[mossbloom]

Thanks! I just signed up!

Al

[mossbloom]

Wonderful! Thanks!! I think he's on the cover of last week's local paper!

Al

[Kuzano]

Lenny,

Sorry if my rant appeared to cover all groups. I was primarily aiming at fairly generic camera clubs that try to cover the whole spectrum of photography... basically community grouped. I don't aim my comments at specialized groups. In fact I generally find Large Format groups the most accommodating of the "group" mentalities. Hope this clarifies my comments a bit.

I'm sure the OP will find very helpful information from the groups he has been referred to. I wish him the best of experiences.

[mossbloom]

I guess it's just a matter of shopping around. I have a good friend who's a member of the Palo Alto Camera Club, and loves it: great bunch of people. But he does most of his work with a group of six like-minded photographers, which is what I'm looking for. The real craft of photography (in my book) is found in wet-chemistry work--or in the least with film. I'm constantly amazed at how much interest there is in film in this digital age.

[Lenny Eiger]

Lenny,

Sorry if my rant appeared to cover all groups.


You sure don't have to apologize to me. I'm in agreement with you about those groups. Everyone with a cellphone is a "photographer" these days. Every image posted to Facebook, regardless of the medium, is a "photo." The world I grew up in has disappeared. It's pretty disconcerting. I don't want to hijack this thread somewhere else... just my 2 cents.

Lenny

[Alan Gales]

You sure don't have to apologize to me. I'm in agreement with you about those groups. Everyone with a cellphone is a "photographer" these days. Every image posted to Facebook, regardless of the medium, is a "photo." The world I grew up in has disappeared. It's pretty disconcerting. I don't want to hijack this thread somewhere else... just my 2 cents.

Lenny

Amen.