Membership
How Do I Join Gwent Photographic & Digital Imaging Society?
Please print and complete the Application Form on your Welcome letter and give it to our Club Secretary, Alan Weybourne. Your membership will be confirmed as soon as possible. There is no need to pay a fee at this stage. We will ask you for the joining fee once your membership number has been allocated.
Please also note: Due to constraints on available seating space we reserve the right to add your name to a waiting list if conditions demand. However, it is our aim to accept you as a member as soon as possible.
Membership Fees
Our Membership Fees are made up of an annual fee and a weekly subscription. We adopt this method so that everyone pays an amount directly determined by the number of times they attend the club.
Annual Membership Fee
Annual Membership payment is due each January.
Individuals pay £40 per person.
Married Couples pay £34.00 per person.
Students pay £25 per person.
Weekly Subscription
Members also pay £1 at each meeting they attend. This covers your refreshments and a raffle ticket.
Membership Number
Once you have applied and paid your membership fee, you will be issued with your membership number. Please note; we do not meet during school holidays, so applications can’t be processed during those periods.
Fee Increases
Fees can only be amended at an Annual General Meeting or an Extraordinary General Meeting upon a majority vote by the members.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. When and where does the club meet?
The club meets on Thursday evenings at 7:00pm to 9:00pm in The Rivermead Community Centre, Fuscia Way, Afon Village, Rogerstone, Gwent. NP10 9LZ.
2. What is the club’s opinion of Digital Photography?
Gwent Photographic & Digital Imaging Society actively encourages Digital Photography. Many members use scanners to scan negatives, slides or prints and produce prints using inkjet printers. An increasing number now work entirely digitally. There are of course many people who still work conventionally using “wet” processing. All pictures are treated equally in competitions as long as the picture is all your own work. – a good picture is a good picture regardless of the way it was taken.
3. Are beginners welcome?
Gwent Photographic & Digital Imaging Society accepts members of ALL standards from complete beginners to professionals. A camera club is an excellent place for novices to learn. We were all beginners once!
4. Do you need a good camera to be a member?
A better camera does not guarantee a better picture, if a picture is well composed, well exposed and well presented who is to know what equipment was used?
5. Can anyone join?
YES absolutely! All we ask is an interest in Photography and a desire to share that interest with other like minded people.
6. Do any of your members do weddings or portraits?
Yes, some members do undertake weddings or portraits.
7. Does the club have darkroom facilities?
No.
8. Are there any women members?
Currently there are 16 female members. While the men currently outnumber the ladies we are always looking at ways of redressing that balance. Some of the best photographers in the club are women and you can see some of their work in the galleries. Please do not be put off.
9. What are your Membership Fees?
Individuals pay £40 per person.
Married Couples pay £34.00 per person.
Students pay £25 per person.
We each pay £1 on the door at every meeting we attend to go towards tea/coffee and Raffle.
10. Can I try a meeting before I join?
Yes, prospective members can come along for one month as a guest after which you are expected to join. Only fully paid up members can enter the competitions.
11. How long before I can enter a monthly competition or special challenge?
As soon you have your membership number, you can enter any competition.
12. What happens in a monthly competition or a challenge competition?
Each member can enter up to Five(5) photographs (print, slide or digital) into the competition. We then invite a ‘judge’ to give a verbal critique of all the photographs and award them all marks out of 20. Judges are normally, but not always, from another club.
13. How is the ‘Print Photographer of the Year’ decided?
After every monthly competition you will be awarded one (1) point for entering the competition. If you are placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd you will also be awarded Ten(10) points, Seven(7) points or Four(4) points respectively. Your points are then entered onto a Merit Table and at the end of the year the points are totalled up. The member with the most points for the print competitions will be deemed the “Print Photographer of the Year”.
14. How is the ‘Digital Image Photographer of the Year’ decided?
After every monthly competition you will be awarded one (1) point for entering the competition. If you are placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd you will also be awarded Ten(10) points, Seven(7) points or Four(4) points respectively. Your points are then entered onto a Merit Table and at the end of the year the points are totalled up. The member with the most points for the Digital Image competitions will be deemed the “Digital Image Photographer of the Year”.
15. Do you have to be a certain standard to enter the competitions?
No, but prints should be properly mounted. In the internal competitions the main objective is to appreciate other peoples work, learn from the informed comments from the judges and to have fun.
This year, (2011), we are reintroducing an IMPROVERS section as well as the ADVANCED section. This will allow new members to gauge their abilities. They will be able to submit a panel of ten prints to the selection committee for the club to see their standard and advise accordingly.
After all, the judging is only one person’s opinion and after a while you get to know that the judge is ALWAYS wrong unless of course your picture has won!
