Shortly after leaving school I began longing for the environment of the “group darkroom” that really only occurs in photo schools. Craft and creativity both thrived when surrounded by people similarly working to hone their craft and explore their own creative voice. For the last 18 years I’ve operated almost entirely in isolation. A rural environment is often lonely for an artist.
A month ago I took advantage of my position as a public librarian to start a photography club. My hope is that it would provide an environment where people interested in the craft and creativity of photography could gather to discuss their work and the work of others.
Here is how I’d planned for this to work:
- Meet 2x a month with a single monthly theme
- Meeting #1 – Share and discuss the work of other photographers that used the monthly theme in order to develop ideas on how we’d like to approach that theme in our work.
- Meeting #2 – Share and discuss our own work on that theme.
- Pick a new theme for the next month, rinse & repeat.
So far, it hasn’t been a success. The informational meeting brought in 14 people. The first meeting brought in 3 people, and the second meeting brought in 1.
I’ve got all the meetings through the end of the year already scheduled and planned, so if nothing else, I’m going to continue this project until the end of the year for myself.
Additionally, I have this blog I’m not using for anything else, so I might as well use it to collect my thoughts, feelings, struggles, and successes.
THEME #1: Natural Light & THEME #2: Shadow & Silhouette — Coming soon