Our monthly meetings last for approximately 2 hours and normally consist of two sessions with a 15 minute break for tea or coffee and a biscuit. A typical meeting normally involves one or more of the following:
| Critique session |
| Speaker (internal or external) |
| Practical session |
| Photo walk |
Critique Session
A critique session involves commenting on and providing constructive criticism of digital images or prints brought in by members. It is an interactive evening in which everybody in the audience is encouraged to participate.
Each member is invited to bring up to three images on which they would like advice or comment. The photographer is encouraged to describe the problems or issues with the images and then other members make suggestions for change. The three images can all be different or can be versions of the same image which have been processed differently.
Speaker
The members of our club have a wide range of photographic interests. Each year we invite one or two external speakers to provide further insight into specific areas of interest. Previous speakers have included Chris Palmer talking about printing, Tom Way about his fine art wildlife photography and Andrew Whyte on night photography.
It is always interesting to hear our members speaking about their photographic interests or trips, so we encourage members to give talks ranging in length from 10 minutes to a whole evening.
Practical Session
For practical sessions, members are asked to bring a camera (and tripod or other equipment as required). Practical sessions normally have a theme. Previous sessions have been on portraiture, colour combinations, macro and many others. The club provide the subjects according to the chosen theme. During the session, members are free to take photographs as they wish. The images are normally processed individually at home after the meeting. A session is scheduled at a subsequent meeting in which members can show their best efforts and everybody discusses the results of the session.
Photo walk
Once a year, normally in July, the club has an outdoor evening in which we go to a location in or around Kingsclere and then go for a walk with our cameras. For the walk members tend to split into small groups depending on their photographic interests and what attracts their attention during the evening. The walk ends at a pub where we all meet up again for a drink and chat.