Welcome to Seattle Photographic Society
Founded in 1933, Seattle Photographic Society is a friendly group of supportive amateur and professional photographers. We strive to build both our skillsets and our community through image critiques, discussions, lectures, demonstrations, field trips, friendly competitions, and intra-club activities.
The club’s interests are primarily in the classical definition of photography, which has to do with the capturing of the original image(s) and post processing. Images generated by artificial intelligence are not eligible for entry.
Every month we hold several different types of meetings. Check out our Meeting Schedule to see what events are coming up.
Announcements
No Projected Night on Tuesday, July 4th. Our Projected meeting will be held on July 18th instead.
NWCCC Gallery show - Several image from SPS member are being displayed at The Lakeshore, (11448 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98178) through October 1st. There will be a reception with live music, buffet and beverages on June 10th from 1:00-3:30.
Traveling Image Salon - Click on the Club initials to view the images. Click on the Voting Form link to vote on the images. The images from SPS can be seen here. Please only vote for the images in the month that they are listed.
New Competition Year, New Rules - The board of SPS has made a few important changes for the upcoming Competition Year.
- Meetup - Only Print Night meetings will be posted on Meetup.
- Participation - Members will be expected to attend meetings when they submit images. We are excited that our membership has both increased in number and in engagement during the past several years. However, that has led to some very long meetings. We have heard the concerns of our membership. To address this, we reviewed our mission statement, particularly with respect to words such as “community", “discussions", and “interactive.” Rather than limit submissions, we have instead decided to enact a participation requirement for image submission. SPS is a community of photographers; our competitions are one way to learn from each other and build our community. Of course, schedule conflicts or surprises happen occasionally, but competing members should generally plan to attend and participate in meetings.
- Generative AI, which adds photographic subjects or graphical elements are not permitted because those objects were not captured by your camera. AI applications such as Midjourney are exploding in use and capability. SPS's focus is the classical definition of photography, which has to do with the capturing of the original image(s) and with post processing that image. While the use of creative filters applied by programs such as Topaz or Photoshop are acceptable, images generated by artificial intelligence are not eligible for entry.
- Changes to Nature - Photos of flora and fauna are about their life, taken where they live it. Preserved fauna or cut flora belong in the Open category.
- Changes to Open - Composites of images from different times or places, such as sky replacements, should now be put in Creative. (You may wish to put "Composite" in the image title to make it clear why the image is in Creative.). Since it is becoming so easy to drop a different sky into any image to create one that is vastly more dramatic, it is felt that any images that do not do this are at a disadvantage. So it is felt that composites are more appropriate in Creative where it is clear that this has been done. Panoramic and HDR images are still acceptable in Open.
Masks and Proof of Vaccination are no longer required for attending Print Night.
Macro Photography Group- Member Bill Wheeler has a Macro Photography Group. It meets once a month. If interested, contact him by going to "Send Email to Members" under "Our Club" and search for his name under "Select from Member List." (this guide will walk you through the steps.)
Upcoming Assignments ("Themes")
July -
Shadows
August -
Path
Sept -
Dry
Oct -
Silhouette
Nov -
Still life
Dec -
Play
Jan -
Minimalism - Minimalism focuses on lines, colors, and geometry instead of scenes or accurate depictions of nature.
Feb -
Up close
March -
Black and white
April -
Transportation
info@seattlephotographic.com
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© Copyright 2013-2022 by Seattle Photographic Society.
All rights reserved. Request prior written permission from the photographer to reproduce their images.