High Noon at the Camera Club!

A few months ago I decided that it would be nice to show my art nude pictures at my local camera club. Rather than just going in and taking the photos I decided to ask the club committee if they thought there would be a problem. So I sent in an email with my URL and asked them to have look.

At the next meeting I spoke to some of them at the start and they said that while they didn’t have any objection, the hall that they rented had specified in the lease that there should be no nude images shown and therefore I could not show them.

While I was a little put out by this it was not their fault and so I felt it was not really a problem but would limit the work I could show.

However, at the end of the meeting the chairman stood up and effectively called a meeting of the club. While not mentioning me by name, but staring at me, he said that someone had asked if they could show nudes and gave the reason why they could not. By then it was obvious to anyone looking at him that he was talking about me.
At that point it descended into an inquisition as to why I had to shoot “that kind of picture”. To cut a long story short the club decided that implied nude was ok. I was however, furious at being bush whacked in such a manner and being forced without any warning to justify my art.

I was seriously inclined to tell them where to stick their club.

A week later I decided to give them another chance and took along this picture of Kate with her hair hanging down. At the meeting the club membership was decidedly frosty to me, and even though I came third in the competition I was still not comfortable.

Last night I decided it was time for a showdown. I took two photos in, both of Linx. The B&W is one of the best I have taken and the A3+ print is outstanding. I was expecting it to be a disaster. I was very wrong. From the start many of the members came over and told me that they were glad I was staying and glad I was prepared to stand up for myself. Both male and female members told me they thought the photos were fantastic. The critiques given to my photos were gushing in their praise (which is very much appreciated) and forceful description that they were ART and could not possibly be seen as offensive. While the colour one didn’t rate particularly well, the B&W one won the B&W contest. I feel vindicated.





I dare say that not all the clubs members are happy at the outcome; some of them gave me rather grim looks afterwards. But, the majority gave me their backing and that is good enough for me. I will continue to show my work at the club while staying within the limits set, and I’m happy to be able to stay a member.