Tucson Photography Meetup
I've been organizing a new meetup.com group for Tucson-area photographers. Our first meeting will be early next month. So far we have 11 members signed up, and about half have RSVPed that they'll be there. The other half have said maybe. So we may have about 6 people, or maybe 12, or perhaps just 2. I know there'll be at least two, because I'm going, and member Dave is hosting it at the church where he is pastor.
We don't really have an agenda for the first meeting, other than to decide what it is we want to do or be. We've kicked around some ideas - comment and critique sessions, lighting seminars, model shoots, photography hikes and more. I think there will be two constants at each monthly meeting: a C&C session and a photography challenge. Beyond that, we'll probably try something new at each meeting until we find stuff that we all like.
Most of the members have written to me saying that they're thrilled someone has finally stepped up to start this meetup. I've also heard a variety of interests and skill levels from the group. There are some fine art photographers, some very technical photographers, a very few commercial photographers, and a lot of hobbyists. It should be fun to get everyone together and mix it up.
Anyone out there in VOX-land have any experience with photography groups? Good or bad experiences you'd like to share? The only photography groups I've ever been part of have been iStock 'lypses. And that's a hell of a yardstick.
Comments
I joined my local camera club about 3 years ago. They are a wonderful bunch of people and have kept the club going for at least 40 years. Unfortunately, I'm the youngest by about 25 years! I reckon the average age is 70+ and they are almost all slide film users. There are one or two who have gone fully digital but most are sticking with their 35mm equipment. Understandable given the age group, expense of new digital equipment and learning curve for the computer side.
We have speakers who give slide shows or talks but the practical evenings fizzled out many years ago. I really enjoy talking to them and seeing their work in our competitions. Not quite as active as I would like but then they've been there and done that. We're trying to get some new members this year so perhaps some fresh blood will re-kindle the activity levels.
I think that as a group with a common interest, you are bound to get along pretty well to start off with. The critiquing element may be where it falls apart as I've found that people can be very sensitive. Maybe you could do anonymous critiques so no one person feels 'got at'.
We have a Federation of camera clubs which lists the speakers available and various exhibitions, competitions, awards to work towards etc. If you have such things stateside, maybe you could tap into their resources/system.
Good luck and I hope it goes well for you.
I've been on several mentor series treks, but those were with professional photographers heading up the group. The draw was getting access ahead of time to places and attractions when they aren't open to the public. That's how I got to the top of the Empire State Building when it was closed. Some instruction was given, but it was pretty basic so the beginners weren't left behind. The biggie was special access, which is fairly easy to get for an organized group with credentials. I would think meetup has those credentials with the guy who started eBay behind the site. And you:-) As part of the iStock team, you kind of sound like the one with the technical and organizational experience.
There are meet up groups in various countries within flickr .
The singapore group meet up once a month to socialise and at other times we have outings (inpromptu or otherwise) to go shoot stuff or a simple interaction session on photoshop techniques. It helps that people usually check into flickr more than once a day because we store our photos in the portal so there are always postings on what event is on and where. We even managed to plan an overseas trip and also a meetup with malaysian flickrites in Melacca :D
I second the comment by Gala98 that because there is a common interest, its tough not to get along pretty well. It also helped for us that we have a group with very diverse interests and equipment expertise.