By participation, you are asked to view and discuss other member's of the group's photos, by way of critique, via the Club's "Discussion" facility, just as they will be viewing and discussing yours. If you have difficulty with this, there is ample assistance available if and when needed.
Over time, your own photo and camera skills will definitely improve through this process. And of course, by way of our Monthly Theme, our in-house monthly photo competition, we can encourage all members to stay active and get out there, learn new camera skills and simply get involved with things that they probably wouldn't even normally dream of.
This is not a club that sits on its hands. If you want to improve your photography, then you need to get involved and participate.
Involvement incentive:
When you first join the group, which has been steadily growing since October 2007, you begin your membership as a B category member. Please, we do not consider this as an indicator of your prowess as a photographer and therefore, by no means do we want you to feel inferior.
To advance to A status, you must take part in our Monthly Theme (MT), where the winners and runners-up acquire points. To get to A status, you require a total of 200 points, but you must accrue these points over a 12 month period (from Jan. 1st to Dec. 31st) or they will be lost and zeroed off to start afresh the following year. It is not as difficult a task as it may sound, as one member accumulated over 1,000 points (A1 status) within his first 12 month period. 2,000 points will get into the 2,000 Club.
The more members we have actively discussing and critiquing each others' images, the more fairer, and helpful the outcome will be.
You are also asked to help out with the judging of the MT. This is not a difficult task, but there is help if and when nedded.
You don’t need to be an expert to do a photo critique, simply give an opinion as to what you would do to improve it if it were your image. Unlike the kind of lack luster comments one tends to get from other club sites - "Awesome!", "Top shot!", "Cool photo!", etc., etc. We don't want those sorts of comments here. What we want, is not only to know that we have taken a good photo and why you think so, but also some good old constructive criticism that can only help us improve our photography and camera skills. Not forgetting of course, that the critiques are simply personal and collective opinions and should not be taken to heart or taken offense of.
Of course, if you have an image that you are very proud of, it is advisable not to put it up for public scrutiny, as the result could bring about so many conflicting ideas as to how you can improve it, you will probably have second thoughts as to how you really feel about it.
Wherever possible, the topics of our MT are thoughtfully chosen, so that all members have a chance and the ability to get involved.
The FLASH, as mentioned above, is our own club Blog, it offers many interesting tutorials along with our MT archives and their reports, links to member's web sites, etc. and it is definitely worth spending a bit of time browsing through the Index. You never know what you might find or where it might lead you.
No, this club does not sit on its hands, nor are you expected to be at the coalface 24/7.
But like anything else, the more you put in - the more you get back in return.
Therefore, if you are interested in improving your photo and camera skills, then why not “get down and dirty” with us? You will improve your camera skills and possibly make some lifelong friends in the process.
Please let me know via my contact facility if you are intetrested in joining this friendly but dynamic group. You'll not be disappointed!
Last amended: March 7th, 2010
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