On My Mind … - camera clubs support - Editorial

PSA Journal, August, 2001 by M. Jack Worthen

Every day the Society is being challenged to make significant decisions and implement new programs that will lead to new and exciting, creative opportunities for its members. When PSA's first Executive Committee successfully incorporated the Photographic Society of America, they could not have known what PSA would be like in 67 years. The one thing we do know, and I suspect those men and women also knew, is that for this Society to prosper, it must have the support of camera clubs and camera club councils throughout North America and overseas, in addition to an active and supportive individual membership base. In those years when the Society experienced a much larger membership, camera club activity was at an all time high too. During that period a strong relationship developed between PSA and the camera clubs. It is this long and successful association that has been the backbone of the Society.

Realizing the necessity for PSA to preserve this alliance, we find it important to provide camera clubs with additional ongoing creative programming support. With this in mind we have established several fresh areas of help from which the clubs can draw.

The continuing annual program for all PSA member groups has been the PSA International Bulletin Contest (IBC). A Society worldwide chapter/ club/council activity, the IBC has fostered and promoted the use of a newsletter as a means to tie a club together. This annual contest has singled out and featured those extra special bulletins with awards and commendations. The annual Camera Club Bulletin Contest activity continues to be outstanding. Jerrie V. Paschal of Austell, GA is chairman of this program.

The Camera Club Committee maintains a Newsletter/Bulletin Advisory Service for chapters, clubs and councils providing help and advice on how to make club bulletins more effective and better serve the aims and goals of the camera club. Eleanor J. Edmonds, APSA, of Houston, Texas chairs this service. Newsletters are generally considered the most important tool clubs have in maintaining membership and are unlikely to be replaced anytime soon by electronic news boards.

Each issue of the PSA Journal has a Camera Club column with articles of special interest to clubs and councils. Matthew W. Daura, APSA, of Bellaire, Texas writes and edits this column with occasional articles from guest contributors. Club program chairmen would be wise to follow these articles as they impart good ideas on solving club problems and provide valid answers to many basic questions on running a camera club.

The PSA Camera Club Committee has reintroduced an effort to select a representative from each PSA club or council to funnel Society information to club/council members and in return, to convey each group's short and long range suggestions and needs to those responsible within the Society. Data from these cards has impacted how and in what areas the needs of camera clubs will be served by the Society. There are some clubs and councils not returning their information cards. Those groups will continue to receive PSA Camera Club Committee mailings, but stand a good chance of the wrong person receiving the information and consequently, it may not be passed on to the club membership.

Programs for camera clubs provided by PSA Divisions continue to be popular and provide an ever-growing resource for club program directors. These are: Recorded Lecture Programs, Travel Program Library, Stereo Subject Slide Sets, Tape Slide Shows, Recorded Lecture Programs for Clubs, TOPS in Photography Program for Clubs, Camera Club Guide, Interclub Contemporary Color Slide Competition, International Club Slide Competition, International Club Slide Competition Slide Sets, National Club Nature Slide Competition, International Club Print Competition and Club Judging Services. These services are listed in the Services & Activities pages of the Jan., April, July and Oct. PSA Journal.

In the past several years, we've added other programs which involve camera clubs with activities within each group's community. PSA's Outstanding Photographs from Young Photographers (OPYP) is now in its fourth year. From the onset, this program was designed for camera club participation together with chapters and councils. Kathleen Z. Braun of Grafton, Wisconsin is director of this program. OPYP provides students incentives and goals to involve area high schools in a national program to encourage and exhibit pre-college-age photography.

Hand in hand with newsletters and bulletins, the Internet has fast become a very effective way to get the word out and make it continually accessible. It has become so important that a new annual PSA website contest has been established to highlight those groups maintaining outstanding sites. No entry fee is charged; only a PSA current membership is needed. For details on the 2002 contest, go to http://www/psa-photo.org/ cccwpc01.htm and register your chapter, club or council.

A pilot program, the Interclub Slide Circuit for PSA Member Camera Clubs in Region #21, which includes the State of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, is underway. Each club selects seven slides and the total combined slide set is circulated from one PSA club to the next, evaluating all of the slides except its own. The top slides along with honorable mentions are selected and award certificates are presented. If you would like to participate in this activity, discuss it with your PSA Region Director.