History

History of the 3CT Founding

Representing ten camera clubs, the twelve Founding Members of the Camera Club Council of Tennessee met for the first time on October 11th, 2011 at Dury’s in Nashville. Their goal was to form an organization that would unite and support photography clubs and photography enthusiasts across the state.  They came up with the following objectives and goals.

Objectives/Mission Statement:
To promote the art of photography in Tennessee
To assist local camera clubs
To promote socialization among clubs
To share speakers and judges
To host joint field trips
To host joint workshops
To encourage interclub competitions and exhibits
To provide information for photographers visiting Tennessee
To encourage PSA and International Salons
To take part in the PSA Council Challenge contests

Goals: 2014

Representing ten camera clubs, the twelve Founding Members of the Camera Club Council of Tennessee met for the first time on October 11th, 2011 at Dury’s in Nashville. Their goal was to form an organization that would unite and support photography clubs and photography enthusiasts across the state.  They came up with the following objectives and goals.

Goals:

Year One:                                                              Year Two:                                               

  • Get our Board in place                                        Expand our committees
  • Expand our membership                                   Look for sponsors

Get the word out on council activities            Do camera tip-related articles

Work on expanding our website                     Make it the best website ever!

Two joint field trips                                            Four joint field trips

One interclub competition                               Two interclub competitions

Create a speaker and judges list                      Course to educate judges

Create a list of places to see in TN                  Add member’s photos of places to see

Encourage membership in PSA                       Take part in PSA Council Challenge

Start thinking about workshops                       Have our first workshop

Start thinking about exhibitions                       Have our first exhibition

They reviewed and fine-tuned outlines for a future Constitution and By-laws, discussed Officer’s and Director’s duties, and last but not least, elected the people who would serve on the first Board.

President:  Sue Milligan, Vice President/Web Master: Ron Plasencia, Treasurer: Les Milligan, Secretary: Pat Gordy, Activities Director: Dee Murphy, Education Director: Jeff Roush, Membership Director: Jim Bruner, Publicity Director: Mark Wurst.

It would be January 1, 2012, before the club became official.  By then the website was launched, PSA membership confirmed, final drafts of the Constitution and  By-laws completed and voted on, and plans were in the works for the first joint field trip and interclub competition.

Have we completed all those lofty objectives and goals…perhaps not but as we enter our third year, be assured that we are still working on them.

PHOTO OF 3CT FOUNDING BOARD MEMBERS

Review to Date – January 2015

Goals:

2014

  • to expand 3CT’s membership, including sponsors and clubs in neighboring states that do not have Councils of their own
  • to bring the Website up to the Newsletter’s standard of excellence.
  • to encourage more interaction between clubs.

2015

  • to continue to expand 3CT’s membership, including sponsors and clubs in neighboring states that do not have Councils of their own
  • to hold two photo contests
  • to do a better job of communicating with our members
  • to encourage more interaction between clubs
  • to get more volunteers willing to help with council projects and lead the Council forward

As we enter our 4th year, the Council Membership has grown from the original 11 clubs spread across the State to 23! We have also offered Individual Memberships and Sponsorships to the mix.

In the first three years, 3CT sponsored six successful field trips:

  • Spring 2012 – Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including Rhododendron Creek, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Porters Creek Wildflower Hike, and Newfound Gap. (This event was hosted by the LeConte Photographic Society, 30-Apr. 1 )
  • Fall 2012 – Cookeville Area, including a walk on the West Side, Cummins Falls, Cumberland Mt. SP, Burgess Falls SNA, Rock Island, Bee Rock in Monterey, Quilt Trail in the Monterey area, Tree House in Crossville, Black Mountain, and Ozone Falls. Guest speaker: Jeff Roush. (This event was hosted by the Cookeville Camera Club, 19-21)
  • Spring 2013 – Reelfoot Lake SP, including photo ops at various points around the lake, great photo ops of the rehabilitated birds of prey, Bald Eagle, and Waterfowl bus tour. Guest speaker David Haggard/TN State Parks. (This event was hosted by West TN Photographers Guild, 22-24)
  • Fall 2013 – Chattanooga, including an afternoon photo shoot around downtown Chattanooga, Reception for speakers and exhibit of bird photographs; including one from each of 3CT’s member clubs, Seminar by Art Morris and Denise Ippolito, Night shoot of Chattanooga, Old Car City, and Cloudland Canyon State Park Fieldtrip. (This event was hosted by the Photographic Society of Chattanooga, October 11-13)
  • Spring 2014 – Paris Landing SP and Land Between the Lakes, including day hikes, night shooting, and pontoon boat rides at Paris Landing, the Homeplace Historical Working Farm and Elk and Bison Range at Land Between the Lakes, a nature hike at the Wildlife Reserve. Guest speaker: Dr. Danny Kimberlin (The event was hosted by the Paris Photography Group, May 2-4)
  • Fall 2014 – Fall Creek Falls State Park, including a photo scavenger hunt, a photo walk around the lake, a presentation by a Ranger, a night wildlife walk around the edges of the golf course led by Ranger Matthew Brown, a photo around the Gorge Scenic Drive Motor Nature Trail, Fall Creek Falls Overlook and hike down to the falls, Cascade Nature Center and hike to Cane Creek Falls, and choices of various hikes within the park. Guest speaker: Michael Gustafson led a Light Painting Workshop. (This event was sponsored and hosted by 3CT, Oct 24-26. )

For three years the Council’s monthly Newsletter, 3CT In Focus, has earned honors in the Photographic Society of America’s Club/Council Newsletter Contest…a second place in 2012 and two first place awards in 2013 and 2014. Needless to say, we are pretty proud of that. The 3CT Website has gone through two Server changes in three years but is looking better than ever. It will always be a work in progress, but hopefully, we will have it ready to compete in PSA’s Website contest in 2015 or 16.

We have only had one photo contest to date, but there are two planned for 2015. These are fundraisers for the Council. We managed to maintain the $30.00 Club membership fee thru 2014, but the 3CT Board voted to raise that to $40.00 in 2015. We did manage to have a small exhibit of bird photographs at the fall 2013 event and we are working on a permanent venue to conduct a yearly print contest.

There seems to be much more interaction between clubs than in the past, and that has always been 3CT’s main objective! Overall, we exceeded our 2014 goals, and with the support of 3CT’s members, the Board will continue to work towards 2015’s goals.