Falkirk Camera Club members continue to capture moments in time

At Falkirk Camera Club we were fortunate in being able to move to an online video conferencing platform the week in which lockdown was announced in March 2020. In fact, instead of our season ending as it normally does at the end of April, we kept on going until the end of July 2020. During the August of 2020 we ran informal online weekly meetings simply as a means of contact for our members during a difficult time. We did the same in 2021.

When lockdown started and quite unexpectedly, we found ourselves making contact with photographic clubs and photographers from much further afield. One of our first online lectures was from Holland. Joel Tjintjelaar is one of the worlds finest landscape and architectural photographers who usually travelled globally taking photographs so we were privileged to have him join us online for an evening.

One of our own club members, Michael Cox, was stranded with his wife in New Zealand when lockdown commenced so he joined us online for an evening. Although, for Michael it was the very early hours of the morning. Michael showed some of his photographs, then took us for a short online dawn stroll on the coast where they were staying.

As lockdown progressed we established connections with photographers and photographic clubs in Staffordshire, London, East Sussex, and Wales.

These online events are not the same as in-person meetings and not for everyone so while our membership remained steady during the 2020 - 2021 season, it dropped during 2021 - 2022. Public confidence was still low when we re-commenced in-person meetings in September 2022, although it notably increased over the next few months, so we retained the online service right through until August 2023.

We ceased the weekly online service in September this year, although retained the licence and went online recently when people were advised not to travel because of weather conditions.

During lockdown we took the opportunity to take a close look at how we operate. All community organisation depend on volunteers and, after 40 years in our club, I can truthfully say that we have never worked harder to look after the ambitions of our late 19th century forebears. We are only the custodians of their vision.

Like a number of local groups, we are sad to lose Falkirk Town Hall. We had exhibited annually, and in recent years several times a year, in the gallery upstairs. In fact our Annual Exhibition of 2020 was in place when lockdown was announced and, little did we know that it would be the last exhibition ever to be held there.

That said, through our own contacts and through Falkirk Arts Network, we’ve had a couple of very positive meetings with our friends now at the leisure and culture department at Falkirk Council, with whom we worked when at Falkirk Community Trust. We look forward to working with them on photographic exhibitions in the future.

In the photographic world there are events called either an International Salon of Photography or an International Exhibition of Photography. They follow guidelines set by organisations such as the Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique ( FIAP ), the Photographic Society of America ( PSA ), and the Royal Photographic Society ( RPS ) among others.

The first local photographer to exhibit in these forums was John P. Munn from Grangemouth who was part of an exhibition of photographs by Scottish photographers which toured the USA between 1939 and 1942, including at the New York Worlds Fair in 1940. Today, our group has the five most successful photographers ever in our groups history of exhibiting internationally: Geof Longstaff CPAGB; Agnes Clark LRPS; Derek Forrest; Nancy MacArthur CPAGB ARPS and Janet Hoggan. The distinctions are indicators of technical and artistic skill awarded by either the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain or the Royal Photographic Society.

Our club has membership at a number of organisations: Falkirk Arts Network; Glasgow & District Photographic Union; the Scottish Photographic Federation; the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain and the Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique. In this internet age these groups certainly play a larger part in our existence than they did in previous decades.

Locally, we have a relationship with Falkirk Writers Circle which stretches back over 30 years. Each year we give FWC a selection of photographs. They write pieces of prose or poetry inspired by those photographs and we all meet one evening, usually in March. The photographer introduces their photograph then the writer reads their work which it inspired. While photographic club photography is one of many genres of the medium, our club has always had a real interest in photography in its wider form from photographic history through to modern contemporary photography.

This connection with FWC is a valuable contribution to how photography can be used in a wider context and is one of our most treasured events. The work of FWC members can be thought provoking or profound, amusing or enlightening but always enjoyable.

Thursday, November 16 brought something of a coup for our club. Chris Leslie is a major contributor to the photographic exhibition which has just opened at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. His topic there is the impact of architecture on peoples lives. He also works internationally as a photographer and filmmaker and will be giving an illustrated talk about his work in post-conflict Yugoslavia. A great example of how we look at photography in its wider context.

Looking forward, we are now gaining new club members again when we meet at Falkirk Bowling Club and looking forward to the future.