The club's activities are planned in advance and detailed in the club's syllabus or programme. A new syllabus is published every 6 months, with one covering the Spring and Summer months (March through to August), and the other covering Autumn and Winter (September to February). This page explains more about the different activities that happen regularly at our meetings.
Normally we meet on Monday evenings at 7:30pm, but occasionally if we have planned an evening out, or if we are sharing a meeting at another club then we may meet sooner. Very occasionally we may arrange a visit to a place of interest that necessitates meeting on a different day, but such events are rarer. Usually, our meetings take one of the following formats:
Monthly Competition
These evenings are always popular with our members. For non-members thinking of coming along, our monthly competition evenings are a good introduction to the club, as you will see a wide variety of images produced within the club. Our internal competition is competitive but friendly, there are no prizes or trophies as the emphasis is on sharing feedback and encouragement. The format of the competition is explained more fully on the Competitions page. Our monthly competitions normally take place towards the end of the month.
Regional & National Competition viewings
The club is affiliated to the ICPA (Inter Club Photographic Alliance - a network of 17 local camera clubs and photographic societies across East Lancashire). We're also part of the L&CPU (Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union), which in turn is a member of the PAGB (Photographic Alliance of Great Britain). Each of these bodies hold their own individual and / or club competitions in print and digital format, usually with separate categories for colour, mono and nature photography. The top images entered into these competitions are circulated to clubs in a rota system over the following year, which means we get to see, and be inspired by, all the very best images from other clubs.
Guest Presenters
Hosting experienced, and often award-winning photographers, to share their expertise with us is a great way to learn and be inspired. As a member of the L&CPU, we can attract some outstanding photographers to the club that would otherwise be outside our budget. These evenings are again very popular and we usually make arrangements to host guest presenters four or five times a year. Sometimes we work together with other local clubs to share resources, and this allows us to attract the very best photographers from across the north west (and sometimes beyond!).
Member Presentations, Demonstrations, Critique Nights and "How I Did That!"
We also encourage our own members to present their work to the club if they wish, and this can be on any theme. In addition, several times a year we devote evenings to sharing some of the knowledge and skills we've built up within our own club. Topics to fill these evenings are sometimes generated by members' comments and questions in advance, and other times our more experienced photographers will take the lead to share their skills. Often these evenings are centred around image editing on the computer. We also run critique nights, which are for discussing images that aren't perhaps the finished article, with the aim of providing constructive advice on what to do next.
Inter-Club "Battles"
We have several annual competitions, known as "Battles", in our calendars with other local clubs, which are always eagerly looked forward to. We have annual batles with Blackburn and Ribblesdale Camera Clubs, then later in the year we do battle with Padiham and Colne clubs. In between these events we participate in a long-distance battle with Backwell Camera Club, based in Somerset. These takes a different form in that we take it in turns to host the event, recording the judge's comments onto DVD along with the images for the other club to view at a later date.
Evenings Out
During the summer months, unlike some other clubs, the club continues to meet. We see the summer as a good opportunity to get out as a group with our cameras, and with the lighter nights, there are plenty of interesting places to go to within a reasonable distance of the club. In recent years we've visited Astley Green Colliery, Bolton Steam Museum, Heysham, Salford Quays, Liverpool Waterfront, Crosby beach, Ribchester, the Panopticons at Burnley and Haslingden. For these evenings, in order to make the most of the daylight, we usually meet at 6:30pm.