About our Programs

The Focus Camera Club (FCC) aims to motivate, promote and develop an interest in photography, both within its membership and the community. The FCC has bi-weekly meetings running from September to May, as well as events and field trips throughout the year that are set up for our members to learn and enjoy this hobby! Membership also has privileges by having discounts and special offers provided from Ivan’s Camera (St. George Street in Moncton) during the year.

Meetings

Meetings are typically held every second and fourth Thursday night at the Rémi Rossignol Building (60 Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur Street) in Room D002 (main floor) at the Université de Moncton. Meetings start at 7:00 pm and last approximately two hours, with a snack break around 8:00PM. Members are invited to arrive at 6:30 pm for social time prior to the meeting and/or to ask any questions to the Club executive, etc. Feel free to bring friends if you are making a presentation to the club, or anyone else who is interested in photography. Non-members are allowed to attend two meetings before they are asked to join the club.

Meeting are usually a mixture of learning sessions with members and external guest speakers, viewing club members’ photographs or viewing club contest entry photographs, enjoying workshops and hands-on learning, and so on.

Note that if the university is closed on our regular club meeting day, for any reason (snow storm, Christmas or spring breaks, etc.), the FCC meeting will not be held. Meetings are presented in English, but if you want to ask questions in French, that is never a problem! Dress code is casual.

For more information check out our past guest speakers and current List of Events.

Sharing and Learning

Throughout the year there are various presentations about composing photographs and camera settings, as well as interactive ways to help members learn by “seeing” or “doing” or “sharing”. These sessions include the following:

Basic Composition series

The Basic Composition series will describe different ways for a photographer to compose their photograph, and show examples of the different types, to help you learn how to create a good photo when you’re out with your camera. There are many types of compositions, such as Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines, Diagonal Lines, S-Curves, Symmetry, Patterns, Angle of View, Framing, Geometric Shapes, Odd Numbers, and Minimalism.

The Why Series

The WHY series will cover when to use certain features of your camera, such as “Why shoot in manual mode?”, “Why shoot in RAW format?”, “Why use a flash?”, etc.

Print Expo

It costs $5 for each member to participate by submitting one photo. The club will have all of the photos printed 8”x10” and have them matted and then put on display for everyone to get a good look at them. The purpose of the Print Expo is for each member to look at the photos as if you are a contest judge, looking for good composition, “wow” factor, good techniques (in focus, abstract blur, etc), and other guidelines to help make a good photo.

Photo Critique

Members can submit one photo which will be critiqued at the meeting (if time permits). The critiques are intended to help everyone learn what makes a photo good or not-so-good.

Fix this Photo

Three photos are provided for all members to download. Each member “fixes” the photo any way they wish – crops it differently, changes it to black and white or sepia, enhances certain colors, adds vignettes, etc. The photos are then re-submitted to be shown at a meeting. It is then interesting to see how different each photo can be – even if the same photo was used from the start.

10 minutes of fame

10 minutes of Fame allows any member to make a mini presentation on a favourite topic or show various photos to the group and talk about them. The photos can be to showcase your hobby (ex. different breeds of horses or drone photography); to talk about a vacation you had (showing photos taken during your trip); to showcase a theme you enjoy (flowers, trees, bridges, etc), or anything else that is of interest to you.

My 5 Minute Video

My 5 minute Video allows any member to show various photos to the group in a video format, so that you do not need to talk to the group (in case you are shy). Your video can have text to help explain the photos, or it can be without text (but should at least have a title slide to explain the topic). Music is also optional. The photos can be the same as described above (hobbies, vacations, themes, etc.) A PowerPoint slide show may be shown instead of the video.

Photo for View

Photo for View is to help members get to know everyone else in the club. Members can submit 3 of their photos which will be projected on screen.
Any member submitting photos for “Photos for View” are asked to also provide a photo of themselves (preferably a head shot and preferably at the beginning of the year. Deadlines for all submissions are posted on the website Calendar.

Contests

The FCC online Membership form asks you to self-identify your level of photography –

Advanced (typically people who often use manual settings on their cameras, or are able to produce high quality images).
Intermediate (people with a bit more experience than a beginner, but still learning manual settings on their cameras).
Beginner (people who are new to photography and using point and shoots, cell phone cameras, or still learning their camera settings on their cameras).

There are numerous contests each year (each contest always has a specific theme). See the members-only section for details on this year's competitions.

Of the club contests, three provide individual awards at the end of the year: See Club Awards for more details

(1) Freeman Patterson Award: Series submission – different topic each year

(2) Ken Dunphy Award: Landscape photography

(3) Brian Townsend Illuminator Award: Photos that show emotion and tell a story in one photo

The themes of the club contests are announced at the beginning of the club year in September.

Each member is allowed to a specific number of entries per contest. The FCC website has an easy way to upload photos for each category but all submissions must follow a specific naming convention. It is recommended to check the submission page a day after contest images have been uploaded successfully. Please use the “Contact us” page if having you are having problems submitting photos.

Judges have many years of photographic experience, and in some case have taken courses on how to judge photographic images. Each photograph is rated on:

(1) Theme To ensure photos portray the intended theme,

(2) Technical aspects (composition, focus, exposure, etc.)

(3) “wow” factor or impact.

(4) Points will be taken off for flaws

It is a great idea to submit the maximum number of photos allowed per contest. Scores are posted 1-2 weeks after each contest which enables you to determine where your photos are ranking among your peers, as well as strengths and weaknesses each photo may have (for example technical aspect might be good, but wow factor could be better). The contests are for friendly competitions and to motivate you to learn more about your camera and various techniques and genres. Contest results are not posted after the 7th or 8th contest to keep you guessing as to who will be the winners and runners-up on awards at the end of the year. It must be noted that the same image cannot be submitted in more than one contest.

No matter what you feel your level of photography skills are, participating in contests helps you to learn new techniques and gets you out to do more photographic “shooting”. Nobody will negatively criticize your submissions, and it is a great opportunity to ask for comments from the people sitting next to you if you want some feedback about your photograph. Deadlines for club contests are listed on the club calendar

Contest scoring:

For Advanced members, their best 18 scores out of a maximum 24 photos (3 photos per 8 contests) are used for calculating rankings.

For Intermediate, their best 15 scores out of a maximum 24 photos are used for calculating rankings.

For Beginners, their best 9 scores out of 24 are used for calculating rankings.

This method allows you to miss a contest without penalty, or to not have to worry about a few low scores if there is a contest theme you find difficult to get good photos. All members will always have a chance for placing in the Top 6 for the year (if that is your goal). It also allows members who join in late fall to also still have a chance for placement in the Top 6.

Hands-On” sessions and club outings

Throughout the year there are “Hands-On” sessions and club outings. Hands-On sessions are usually technical in nature, where the leader of the session explains settings on your camera, etc. There is also usually a fee associated with these sessions. Examples of past hands-on sessions include Hopewell Rocks night photography with Kevin Snair, Pixel Stick photography, July 1st Fireworks, and workshops or field trips led by experienced photographers. Club outings may have a fee involved (for bus transportation) but is usually a fun event where everyone is on their own, but still can ask for pointers from experienced photographers in the group. Examples of club outings include Foam Fest, River Glade Motocross, Scavenger Hunts, etc. To sign up for any of these sessions or outings, look under Events in the top menu, under Upcoming Events.

FCC Facebook Group

If you are not already a member of the Focus Camera Club Facebook group, please ask to join.

Members who post their photos taken during any club organized outings or event will have a chance to win a free 8”x10” matted photo (any photo of your choice – doesn’t have to be a photo that was submitted to the FB group). Members are also encouraged to post photos that they would like to share with others.

To encourage you to get out with your camera to experiment and get to know your camera, photo challenges are also announced bi-weekly.

The Facebook group is sometimes used to invite members on outings, etc. Some events will be listed here, especially if there is no limit to the amount of participants and no fee to the event.

Important note: Do not post any photos to the Focus Camera Club Moncton Facebook Group or in Photos for View if you plan to use those exact same photos as club contest entries as all photos should remain anonymous when being judged.

Presenting to club members

The FCC is always looking for photo presentations at club meetings.The photographs can be submitted as a video (so that you don’t need to talk too much to the group) or as individual photos so that you can talk about each photo being presented.These presentations can run anywhere from 5, 10 or 30 minutes.The FCC would also like to have some prepared presentations on-hand in case another presenter is cancelled at the last minute and therefore would have something to fill any time gaps. The presentations can be a special project you are working on, or any vacation/travel photos you have taken, or anything else that might be of interest to the club. Anyone interested in showing their photos can submit their name and a short note of their topic to be presented via the Contact Us page on the website.

Calendar of Activities

Members should visit the Club Calendar often as this is where upcoming activities are added and/or updated.

The following icons are used to help find things easier on the calendar:

Miscellaneous

Anyone knowing of, or willing to lead, any activity that club members would enjoy, please send an email to FocusCameraClub@gmail.com or mention it to the field trip coordinator at a meeting.

Please share the FCC website with anyone who likes photography so that they can see what the club is about. The link can be shared via email and/or by posting it on Facebook.

Members can feature their own website, blog, Instagram account, etc. on the web page (found under the Members menu). If interested, fill out the form at https://www.focuscameraclub.com/galleries. Members should also submit a profile photo (if one had not already been provided beforehand).

There is an informative (and free) Canadian photo magazine (hard copy) called that anyone can receive at home. Subscribe at http://www.photonews.ca/index.php/subscribe/