Club History

The Bay Area Photo Club has operated continuously for about 35 years.   It met in the church (now a day-care) at the corner of El Camino and Reseda until 2004 when the church was sold. After that, the club settled in the County building in Clear Lake Park for several years until 2008 when it moved to the TAACCL (The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake) building on NASA Parkway across from the Johnson Space Center.  Membership has ranged between 25 and 100 members, with average attendance at meetings being 20 to 35.

The club has always met on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of the month.  The starting time is 7:30 but recently we've been encouraging people to arrive at 7:00. The first meeting of the month is called the Honors Program and members bring photos to be critiqued and judged by a panel of 3 judges.  Photographers advance through the club's star rankings from 1 to 7 by getting Gold awards at the club and outside acceptances of images at approved venues.  Nightly judging is based on a progressive scale (by the member's star level), each image earns the photographer an award of Gold, Silver, Bronze or no award.

The critiques at the Honor's Program have always been a unique and valuable aspect of the club.  Visiting members from other photoclubs invariably mention that their clubs only assign numbers, and don't provide spoken critiques.  Until 2001 when the membership was lower, members could bring 2 assignment images and 3 open images. As the club has grown, we've had to lower those limits and today members can bring 2 images total, 2 assignment, 2 opens or one of each.

The second meeting of the month is called "Program night" and over the years, many interesting presentations have been made. These include professional photographers, astronaut photographers, equipment and technique demonstrations, hands on studio shooting, equipment and photo swaps and social events.

In 2003, the club started "first Tuesdays" as informal learning meetings, mainly focusing on the transition to digital photography that the club members were going through.

Club dues have been $24/year since at least 1981.

For most of the club's existence, there has been a "meeting after the meeting" that was open to all for a social gathering after the meeting.  When we met at the church, the meeting after the meeting was at the Taco Cabana on Bay Area Blvd.  Nowadays we meet at the Boondoogles Pub on NASA Parkway.  Four to eight people usually attend these.

Field trips have always been an important aspect of the club.  These trips typically are weekend events and participation ranges from 2 people to a dozen or more.  We always try to end the event with a social gathering at a restaurant for a meal.

In 2002, club member Marty Kaminsky formalized a proposal that had been kicking around for a few years to change the name of the club.  The name Clear Lake Photographic Society was the most popular alternative name but a vote of the members, while close, defeated the proposal.  A common comment against the change was that the "club" name was more inviting to new members.

For many years, the December second meeting was a holiday party, hosted over the years by Ivy and Marty Kaminsky, David Sapire and Gerard Vacca. Since 2005 the event has evolved into a January recognition dinner where members Golds and accomplishments from the last year are reviewed at a clubwide potluck.

In 2003 the web name bayareaphotoclub.org was registered and the web site begun by Kyle Rhorer, who maintained it for many years. In 2008 and 2009, club officer Doug Haass undertook a major renovation resulting in the site you see today.

In 2006 the club registered as a non-profit under the name Bay Area Photography Club.

The club presents Photographer of the Year awards. For a short while, there were three awards: Slide Photographer of the Year, Print Photographer of the Year and Photographer of the Year, the latter award being presented based on the results of the assignment contests.  Before that and after 2000,  the recognition was limited to Photographer of the Year, based on assignment scores.

2008 Photographer of the Year - Steve Schuenke 
2007 Photographer of the Year - Larry Patrick 

2006 Photographer of the Year - Steve Mayeaux 

2005 Photographer of the Year - Peter Janecke 

2004 Photographer of the Year - Joe Butler 

2003 Photographer of the Year - Mark Bartosik 

2002 Photographer of the Year - Clifton Grim
2001 Photographer of the Year - Jim Guerra 

2000 Print Photographer of the Year - Clifton Grim 

2000 Slide Photographer of the Year - Jim Guerra 

1999 Slide Photographer of the Year - Jim Guerra 

1998 Photographer of the Year - Marty Kaminsky 

1997 Photographer of the Year - Ivy Kaminsky 

1996 Photographer of the Year - Ivy Kaminsky (first presentation of a plaque) 

1995 Photographer of the Year - Marty Kaminsky

by Clif Grim