Kidlington Camera Club

Meetings
Monday evenings at 7.30 from September to April.
Foresters Hall, Marlborough House, 69 High Street, Kidlington OX5 2DN - adjacent Tesco, see map.
(no mail can be received at this address)
Our room is on the first floor and is accessible by lift.
The bar adjoining the hall is available for refreshments (no tea available).

The Club
Founded in April 1961, Kidlington Camera Club currently has over 40 members with a wide range of ages, backgrounds and interests. We aim to encourage involvement and enjoyment of all forms of still photography in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and are always pleased to welcome visitors and new members. Your first evening is free of charge so that you have a chance to try us out without obligation. You are also invited to attend on an occasional basis if you prefer.

You can see some of our members' work on the gallery and winners pages.

In September 2003 we started meeting at the Foresters Hall, see map, which offers better parking and more time than the pressures of our previous location at Gosford Hill Community Education Centre.

Programme
The programme includes a varied range of subjects to interest everyone as well as social activities and outings. The new season's programme comes out in late August of each year but you can start taking photographs in readiness for competitions under the selected subjects for next season.

Competitions
Regular features of the programme are the annual competitions, the titles for which are selected by members' votes in January of each year ready for the following season. Although entry into competitions is by no means compulsory, they are conducted on a friendly basis and most of us see them as a way of showing our work to others and at the same time obtaining constructive comments which help us all to develop our skills. They also give us an incentive to go out and take photographs.

The Newcomers competition gives new members a chance to put forward their shots without being up against those more experienced, although the competition rules only state that an entrant should have been member of a camera club for three years or less and do not call upon authors to state how long they have been taking photographs.

You can view competition winners and competition rules here.

However, everyone is very welcome to come and enjoy looking at and talking about photographs without any pressure to compete.

Cameras and Media
Members use wide variety of equipment and media and all are welcome.

Our Lottery award in 2005 enabled us to purchase a digital projector and laptop and we were for the first time able to include projected digital images in competitions, namely Newcomers and the all-media Spring Competition. As a result of the success of that trial we agreed that for the season 06-07 projected digital images would be included in almost all competitions. Finally at the AGM in April 2007 a vote was carried to end support for slides in competitions.

Slides have finally been overtaken by digital imaging, represented by projected digital images (PDI) and prints. So as not to exclude the few remaining slide users completely, committee members have agreed to offer a slide scanning service to those who request it, with the proviso that the author is present at the time of scanning. Digital images for projection have the attraction of being considerably cheaper to produce than prints or slides, but by modifying the rules on the maximum number of entries to each competition section it is hoped that plenty of prints will still be forthcoming to ensure a good supply of material for our exhibitions. Whether you print at home or use a commercial processor, it still makes no difference how your photographs are produced as all methods are valid as long as the resulting image is your own work.

Subscriptions 2011 -12

First evening: free of charge
Visitor: £3 per evening

Annual subscription:
Adult (over 18): £35
Junior (13 - 18): £17.50
Associate junior (under 13): £5

Committee 2011 - 12

Chairman - Phil Kemp
Vice chairman - Kim Benson
Secretary - Mike Conley
Treasurer - Joan Bellinger
Competition Secretary - Tony Andrews
Programme Secretary - Chris Smith
Members - Sarah Blizzard, Joy Rawlins, Terry Pollard

Social Secretary - Norma Potter (non-committee post)
Website - Jill Grain (non-committee post)