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Based in the Peak District National Park, this club has access to lovely local scenery
When was the club founded?
Bakewell Photographic Circle, whose name subsequently changed to Bakewell Photo Club, was founded in September 1941 by John Marchant Brooks, a local estate agent. He formed the club with a small group of fellow enthusiasts. The blackout regime during World War II facilitated indoor practical work and lm processing. And of great help to many in the town, the new club photographed small family groups free of charge for the photos to be sent via the British Legion to their menfolk serving overseas.
What does your club offer to new members?
We have a reputation locally as a very friendly club and prospective new members are always very welcome, irrespective of age or experience. Our programme is available on our website and we offer the opportunity to come to a couple of meetings at a small charge, which will be credited against a rst subscription. Except for visitors we don’t charge additional meeting fees so that overall costs to members are kept low. And we have an extensive range of lecture topics and workshops appealing to a range of interests.
Describe a typical club meeting
In normal times we start at about 7.30pm, with a cuppa at about 8.45pm. Meetings usually nish at 9.45-10.00pm. Every season we have a range of specialist external speakers on a variety of photographic topics. Based on feedback, we have recently included more interactive meetings where members brie y cover topics of their own choice – such as images requesting ideas for improvement, or a speci c photographic topic of interest to others, or discussion about equipment or techniques. These have been very popular, providing unexpected opportunities to understand more about each
other and our interests, and to chat more informally about our photography. We also have a series of competitions through the season; this year, again on the ‘interactive’ theme, we have tried some member-judged rounds as well as the traditional externally judged ones. The logistics were initially challenging but the rewards and enjoyment have been tremendous. The coronavirus lockdown didn’t stop us from running our recent annual best image competition in electronic format; the judge, David Gibbins, recorded his comments synchronised with viewing the images, which worked amazingly well. The resulting les were made available to members as .mp4 les on Google Drive for viewing at their leisure.
Do you invite guest speakers?
Yes. Our programme secretary identi es renowned external speakers and we cover a wide variety of photographic topics designed to improve our skills in traditional subjects and to extend our comfort zones. We are very successful in attracting speakers from afar who come to the Peak District for their own photography.
Do members compete in regional or national competitions?
Yes they do, and some have developed an enviable reputation. However, our key objective is that members enjoy their photography and the club, and we don’t put pressure on members to engage in competitions if it isn’t what they want.
How many members do you have?
Approximately 25, which we would like to grow. We have initiatives to involve local schools in joint projects, and would be interested in hearing from any local schools who may have a photography club as we suspect we could learn a lot from each other!