Photo assignments/projects/sharing evenings

[Paul Heester]

Last night club members were discussing many different aspects of our club including new ideas. One of these were along the lines of a photo assignment or theme, whereby members are given a brief and have a set time to produce images. We would then have an evening of sharing these images and discussing them amongst ourselves. Importantly there would be no judging/scoring/winners, it would just be a general discussion of the theme and how members interpreted it. This was broadly agreed to be a positive idea for members of all levels.

With this in mind I was reminded of a recent YouTube video from Ted Forbes who has been setting weekly assignments and then viewing the results people submit to him. His enthusiasm for each week has been increasing and the results submitted are really interesting, people certainly interpret the themes in many ways. A recent example of an assignment is "Low Angle photography" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS8QaCtGKKA& and here are the results of the public - https://youtu.be/S9W5oR0r9F8

What do other people think??

There are plenty more videos of the same series and his channel overall is impressive covering many products reviews and well known photographers, worth a view.

[Rose]

One of the most enjoyable evenings at Mid Somerset Camera Club this year was called "It's important to me". We were asked to bring along one digital image, and not necessarily a photo we would consider putting into any competition. We were each asked to speak for no more than 2 minutes on what the image meant to us. Not only did we get to see a great selection of different images, but we all learned a bit more about each other in the process. We've decided to do it again next season

[Steve B]

Hi Paul

I was sorry to miss Wednesday night's discussions (due to holiday). I really like this idea and support the non-competitive element to it, which is already achieved through the panel-on-a-theme competition already in the calendar in any case. Perhaps something we miss in our presentation and competition nights is the opportunity to collectively discuss the images we are seeing and bounce ideas around. I suspect we will be amazed at the variety of ideas that members produce with just a single subject or theme to work with, which would provide creative inspiration for all of us.

It's been a while since I watched a Ted Forbes video, and agree his material is well worth reviewing - especially as a guide to the secrets behind the success of well-known and some lesser-known photographers.

Steve

[Mike Farley]

Hi Paul

Thanks for posting this. Not having been at last week's meeting, I thought I would wait to see the reactions of the others who were there before commenting. That not yet being forthcoming, I'll join Rose and Steve in expressing my opinion.

Those Ted Forbes videos look good and I agree could form the basis of a themed appraisal evening. Members could view the relevant video and optionally the resulting submissions for further inspiration. Personally, that is not the way I prefer to do my photography and generally I look for images as they occur rather than shooting to order. Rose's suggestion of bringing in shots which we like works better for me. Increasingly, I am finding that some of the work I am producing is not what will do well in competition and there is little value to putting it in front of a judge.

[toms]

Hi All,

My thanks for openly discussing how we can all improve and enjoy our photography without the worries surrounding competition. This surely is what camera clubs should be about and as Rose has mentioned, her club seems to have gelled more as a result.

Keep up the suggestions and we have enough scope within next year's programme to actually so something around themes.

Regards,

Tom

[GrahamL]

I wasn't able to make this meeting either but fully support the club doing something on the lines of Rose's suggestion. Would be a very refreshing approach and would avoid the over-judgemental character of many club competitions and the negative feelings that follow.

Cheers,

Graham