A summer break from weekly group meetings affords Sidmouth Photographic Club’s dedicated committee a chance to reflect and also to prepare for the new programme, beginning in September.

Summarising the most recent season, Club Chairperson Brian Sherlow comments: “The 2023/24 season was hugely successful for Sidmouth Photographic Club. We welcomed many new members who brought a broad cross section of photographic skills, knowledge and abilities. It was extremely gratifying to see them integrate into the club and get actively involved in all aspects of the programme. One significant change that these joiners introduced was a shift in the membership demographic, with the club profile now younger and more vibrant and with more working age members. We look forward to this trend continuing as we launch the 2024/25 season.”

Club Secretary Mike Hawkridge expands on this: “SPC is really keen to attract younger members to the club. Starting this coming season we will have a Young Person’s discounted subscription rate which is half the normal subscription fee. Mobile phone photography is now a well-established genre of photography and especially for younger people their phone is usually their camera of choice; the images they produce can be stunning. Sidmouth Photographic Club would like to embrace this talent and we hope that by offering a discount to people between 18 and 25 we can encourage young people to think seriously about joining our club, regardless of what type of camera they use. We can help them develop their talent and evolve a long-lasting interest in photography and the club would undoubtedly benefit from their different photographic perspective.”

Looking ahead to the new season, the club are excited to pre-announce some new features on the horizon, including a public exhibition of their work in November, the launch of a creative photography group for members and an increased number of online presentations featuring top-tier photographers. SPC continues to adapt and evolve and it hopes these initiatives will continue to grow membership numbers.

This month’s images shown are from the club’s final internal print and digital competition of the season, which was held in May and judged by Pedro Landers from Launceston Camera Club.

More information about the SPC programme of weekly meetings and activities can be found at www.sidmouthphotoclub.org