LEARNING THAT RISES ABOVE

As part of BPG membership, photographers enjoy many classes, hours of instructional workshops, and 11 speaker meetings each year. Learning events are conducted onsite and via Zoom. The Guild does not conduct monthly cumulative competitions, but rather members participate with the goal of helping each other.

A Guild, versus a club, is a group committed to highest standards, continued education, and growth. The Booth Photography Guild is therefore focused on education emphasizing photography as an art through many avenues of BPG and Booth Museum programming.

THE BOOTH MUSEUM

THE BOOTH MUSEUM

The Booth Photography Guild is part of the Booth Western Art Museum, which is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and is tasked not only with organizing and displaying a world class collection of art, but it is also responsible for enhancing culture through educational outreach.

The museum’s permanent photography gallery (“Picturing America Gallery”) hosts exhibitions by well-known national photographers. Presentations are conducted, and panel discussions are offered by visiting photographers. The museum’s full-time photography curator interacts with BPG Exhibitions, Shows, and guided tours of the exhibits.

BPG Speaker Meetings

Speaker Meetings are conducted the second Saturday of each month (10:00 AM EST till noon) in the Bergman Theatre of the Museum. High profile local and international speakers present live in the theatre or live via Zoom.

Speaker Meetings provide insight into the skills and accomplishments of leading-edge artists. While the tried-and-true principals of visualization, composition and storytelling are a natural focus, speakers also explore emerging creative technologies and tips related to DSLRs, printers, Photoshop, Lightroom, Topaz Labs, filters, and more.

Presentations are videotaped and available to BPG members.

Digital Image Reviews via Zoom

Members (local and national) meet to review and receive feedback and instruction on their submitted images.

Each member submits one or two images for review. Each submission includes the original image (not edited) along with the processed image. The submitter introduces and discusses their image, goals, and challenges. The original image is shown, followed by the processed image and the submitter explains enhancements. The moderator then leads a discussion, wherein the group collectively proposes enhancements including software and tools which might be employed. These are hands-on learning opportunities which are widely popular and well attended.

Exhibitions & Shows

The Booth Photography Guild offers four opportunities during each year for Guild members to show, compete and sell their work.

BPG conducts an Annual Fall Exhibition which provides an opportunity to participate in the juried Exhibition where selected members hang their work for three months in the Booth Western Art Museum, a world-class national museum and a Smithsonian affiliate. After the approximately 40 images are selected and hung, the judges return to the museum theater in the Fall for a Saturday Learning Session to review and provide helpful commentary as to why the winners won and why other images may have fallen short. This is one of BPG’s more popular meetings.

Mentoring sessions help members select images for submission. Guidance is provided for printing and framing to meet museum quality standards.

The Booth Museum owns and operates the Cartersville Downtown Gallery, a retail space located on Cartersville’s historic downtown square. Annually, three BPG Shows display work. Awards are given and the images are available for sale. These are popular well-attended events and accompany an opening reception. It is the perfect opportunity for developing photographers to have their work viewed by the public.

SHOOTOUTS

Periodically, BPG hosts a shootout event in Cartersville, GA. Members meet, draw three topics from a fish bowl, and scatter about town to photograph on-topic images within a timed framework. Afterwards, members meet to process their images and hand them to two peer judges who select the winners. A slideshow reveals the results. Shootouts offer learning from peers, inspire creativity, reinforce the capture, selection, editing, and submission process, and are a chance to have fun and interact with membership.