A new exhibit at NorVA, new ways to display photography and expanded learning, are all innovations that the Photography Club is looking at as it enters its third year.
The club meets a at 7 pm tonight at NorVA. Regular meetings are held the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.
The NorVA Centre is the home of the photography club’s new large-screen television. Purchased through a grant last year, it will allow the group to screen documentaries and review each other’s work.
“It’ll be a rolling picture frame as well at NorVA, so the pictures of members of the photography club will continue to scroll through,” said club organizer Dan Dillon. “Rather than having just one section of the wall, this will be a transitioning kind of digital photo frame.”
On a regular night between 15 and 20 members come out for meetings. A typical night will include a lesson, and a project assignment related to that lesson.
This year the club will look to online sources such as KelbyOne Training and Lynda.com to expand their training options.
Over the two weeks between meetings, club members practise the skills they’ve learned, and the photos that come from it form part of the discussion for the next meeting.
“We’ll look at images, critique them, talk about them,” said Dillon. “Constructive criticism is what we go with. Taking that criticism and using it in their work is quite empowering for club members.”
Two years ago the club developed a website, which has proved a challenge to maintain.
Dillon said the club will talk about creating a Facebook page this year, with members posting their own images to the page. “Those weekly images … nobody’s getting to see them,” he said. “What I would like to have is that everybody is participating, or sharing, or collaborating. If everybody takes a little chunk of it, then, in theory, it becomes more successful.”
Upcoming projects include taking pictures at Culture Days, something the club does every year.
The club will also participate in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk. Held on Saturday, Oct. 3, the photo walk is “a group online that’s going out and photographing their location to give a perspective of what it’s like to live in their specific region of the world and share it with everybody around the world,” said Dillon. The Flin Flon club has participated for the past two years.
The Photography Club welcomes new members. “They would have to have some form of digital camera,” said Dillon, adding it can be anything from a smartphone to a high-end camera.
The club has between 30 and 40 paying members. “That went through the roof last year,” said Dillon. “Last year we did a little bit more publication and promotion and events, and people just came out of the woodwork. It was great.
“It’s been a success so far, and hopefully more people will come out.”
