Attention: Taiwan Photographers

It has been tried before, and I am trying it again. I am hoping to start up a Taipei Photography Club. This is intended to be a fun, social group meant for anyone with any kind of camera. Please do not believe that you have to have a state of the art DSLR; anything that takes photos is great.

I guess there are a few goals I have in mind. First, I am just hoping to build up a group of friends with a common interest; the social aspect is a big part of my ideals. Second, I am hoping that this can act as a motivation to get me and others out taking photos.  Learning from others, perhaps helping other shooters myself would be nice benefits too.  Mostly though, I want this to be fun.

Here is what I am thinking.  The group would meet once a month, probably for breakfast or lunch, followed by some shooting.  At these meetings, I was hoping that someone would give a talk on something photography related.  As an example, I might do something on how to shoot strangers on the street, as that is something that is not easy for everyone.  Other examples might be someoone covering post processing or cataloging, matting and printing, selling your photos, getting published, studio lighting, shooting for magazines or newspapers, or who knows what else.  The speakers could be members of our group, but perhaps we could also have guest speakers too.  For example, I am sure there is an AP or Reuters photographer based in Taipei and it would be cool to hear his or her story.  Likewise, it would be interesting to hear from a professional studio photographer, a Nat Geo shooter or who knows who else might be willing to give up a morning.  Perhaps at each of these meetings, it would also be nice to have everyone in the group show a few of their best prints from the past month?  Just ideas all, but these are things I think might be fun.

At these meetings, I am thinking that we could set a theme or a project to shoot in the upcoming month.  Fro example, it might be a scavenger hunt, where each member is to shoot (for example) 12 photos based upon 12 themes and then put them together in a set.  Rather than a scavenger hunt, it might be a set number of photos based upon a certain theme, a roll of film shot with a disposable, etc?  I am thinking that these projects might be done as a competition, with the winner being the one who sets the next challenge.  If folks would prefer not to introduce competition into things, that is cool too.  One of the good things I see about the month long challenge would be that in this way, people who can’t be at the meetings can still participate in the challenges.

Thinking in more of a long term way, I was thinking that other possibilities might open up.  Perhaps the group could have their prints featured in a local gallery somewhere.  I know all of the FNACs in town show photos, there is the Jhongshan Art Gallery, in the underground between Jhongshan MRT and Taipei Main Station shows prints and art, any number of restaurants and tons of other places I am sure I don’t know about but which do exist.  I would think that many people would like the ego boost of seeing their stuff hanging somewhere other than on their walls.  Who knows?  Maybe something like that could even lead to a print sale or two?

We could also, after a few months, do the odd weekend road trip to some scene or event in Taiwan.  We might rent a studio, studio lights and a model or two and try some studio photography; something I have never done but would be very interested in.  Who knows what else might come up in time should this thing really get rolling?

I am sure there are lots of creative people out there who have more and better ideas than do I; please let me know what they are.

First off, I guess we should set a possible meeting time.  Of course, it will have to happen on a weekend.  I am not certain what day is better.  Let’s think about making it the weekend of November 22 or 23.  If you are interested, either leave your name and email in a reply here, or email me directly at darren AT darrenmelrose.com and let me know if Saturday the 22nd or Sunday the 23rd is better for you.  After we know what day we will meet, we can decide where that will be.  Please let me know if you have other ideas and please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.  We will finalize the meeting date by Sunday the 16th I guess and a meeting place sometime shortly after that.  I am very open to ideas about where to meet too.

Like I said earlier, everyone is welcome.  The only requirements would be that you have a camera of some kind and I guess a way to display them on the net.  Maybe it would be best if everyone were to sign up for flickr?  flickr is free as long as you don’t want to display more than 200 photos, so it need not cost you anything.  If need be, I could also set up a permanent gallery on my site should that be useful.

Some additional things:  First, I forgot to mention a link to the original group, which never really got the momentum going:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/taiwanphotoclub/.  Second, in order to get things rolling from the beginning, I will come up with a set of ideas for the first project/challenge.  This one will be a scavenger hunt for sure and I will have a set of 12 subjects ready at the meeting.

Again, if you could let us know which day, Saturday the 22nd or Sunday the 23rd is better, that would be great.  You can either reply to this thread, or email me at darren AT darrenmelrose.com.

Hope to see you soon.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 am and is filed under General Photography, Taiwan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

31 Responses to “Attention: Taiwan Photographers”

  1. cfimages says on November 3rd, 2008 at 9:16 pm :

    I’m interested. I think the biggest problem the earlier groups had was that the people who were supposed to organise things either lost interest or got too busy. I tried a bit to create interest but not living in Taipei puts me on the back foot for organising things (however I’ll probably be moving to Taipei next spring). Anyway, you have some good ideas - I’d be happy to give a tutorial about processing in Lightroom (as long as I can borrow a laptop - I only have a desktop at the moment).

    Either Sat or Sun is fine with me. The ET/UFO houses in San-zhr are meant to be pulled down soon - if they haven’t been (and they were still standing as of last weekend), we could maybe take a trip out there.

  2. Darren says on November 4th, 2008 at 7:32 am :

    Glad to hear you are interested Craig. Your idea of the ET/UFO houses is a good one. Looking forward to seeing you there.

  3. Todd says on November 4th, 2008 at 8:27 am :

    Hey Darren, count me in! Coming up from Nantou, Saturdays are a little better for me. Cathy is interested in joining,too. Unfortunately she won’t be able to make the first meeting because she will be coming back from a business trip that weekend.

  4. David on Formosa says on November 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm :

    I am also keen to be involved. All your ideas are really good. If there is a lot of interest from people outside Taipei then we should think about a meeting in Taizhong or somewhere else.

  5. Want to join a photography club? « The Daily Bubble Tea says on November 5th, 2008 at 8:05 am :

    […] Want to join a photography club? Published November 5, 2008 Announcements Tags: Photography, Taipei Photography Club, Taiwan Darren Melrose is getting the ball rolling on a Taipei Photography Club. If interested, check out this post from his blog. […]

  6. Alton says on November 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am :

    I’m very interested in this, Darren. I’ve bene looking for something like this. Please count me in.

    You are invited, BTW, to an exhibit of my Taiwan photographs that will be shown in National Concert Hall as part of a musical performance by Apo Hsu and the NTNU Symphony. The event is 2008 December 15 Monday 19:30.

    As you can imagine, the best time for me to make a meeting is some time after that date rather than before! But I’d be delighted to be involved, and to help. Let’s stay in touch.

  7. Mark Forman says on November 5th, 2008 at 7:12 pm :

    Hey Darren,
    Good idea and good luck and if you’d like to get something going in Taichung I’d be interested. So maybe change ur name to Taiwan… :D

  8. roentarre says on November 6th, 2008 at 5:24 am :

    Darren, you seem to be hosting a big project here! Really interesting in deed. Maybe I could join you all in March 2009

  9. Michael says on November 6th, 2008 at 9:23 pm :

    I’m interested as well, was on two or three meetings of the club but with living in Longtan it got kind of hard to make it always to Taipei. Now, after moving to Yonghe and getting settled there now it should be much easier to do something.
    Let me know what’s going on and I try to bring in what I can to get some life back into that idea.

  10. Carrie says on November 6th, 2008 at 11:24 pm :

    Sounds great, Darren. I wish I were going to be here for the first meet-up. I’ll be back in January and I’d love to hook up with you then.

  11. Bob says on November 7th, 2008 at 6:14 am :

    Thanks for trying to revive the group.
    I’m still interested in the photo club. Haven’t been to a get together since Starbucks. Saturday would probably be better for me.

    BTW, I’m interested in buying a used small digital camera. Sometimes my D80 is just too much of a good thing. Is there a website in Taiwan for such stuff?

  12. Mark Panszky says on November 7th, 2008 at 7:42 pm :

    this would be great to give me motivation too, i’m definitely in. saturday may be better, so that sunday i can process those shots :). can’t really recommend a meeting place, i guess anywhere near an mrt station would be fine. i am glad to see the response to this, i’m also thinking a newsletter/e-mail notification to share upcoming (photographically) interesting events for members.

  13. Randy says on November 10th, 2008 at 8:07 pm :

    Id love to join but need to work every Saturday. So my vote is Sunday Sunday Sunday.

  14. Brian says on November 12th, 2008 at 3:10 am :

    I’m interested if it’s not to late. I primarily shoot street photography on b&w film (a little against the grain in Asia). I also like large format and pinhole photography as well. You can see some of my photos on my website.

    Let me know!

  15. cfimages says on November 12th, 2008 at 6:23 pm :

    Looks like Saturday will be better for me, but Sunday is still doable.

  16. wayne says on November 12th, 2008 at 8:52 pm :

    I’d be able to drop by on a Sunday, but I’ve got to work Saturday as well.

  17. Poagao says on November 12th, 2008 at 8:53 pm :

    I might be interested in this. Sundays are generally better for me.

  18. Steve says on November 14th, 2008 at 2:20 am :

    I’m very keen to meet up too. I can make it on Saturday but popping off to Hong Kong on Sunday. Usually free either day though. I’ll keep an eye on the Forumosa thread to see when it happens. Hope to see you folks soon.

  19. Patrick Cowsill says on November 14th, 2008 at 6:32 am :

    I know dick about photography (see my blog), but it’s time to change that. Count me in. This is a great idea.

  20. mj says on November 14th, 2008 at 8:51 am :

    just knew about this photography club and i’m looking forward to join it and meet you all!!! btw darren your ideas are great! and sunday would be much better for me :) and please define any place close to any mrt station, thanks!
    see you!!!

  21. Giulio Perroni says on November 15th, 2008 at 1:58 am :

    Hi
    I would love to join a photography club. Nov 22/23 is good for me, EXCEPT not Sat morning cause I am working.

    SECOND I need a new camera, mine is ‘broken’ (the catch to hold the battery door closed!) I’d like to get an SLR, used preferably. Need to learn about it tho’ so looking for advice.

    Thank you
    Giulio

  22. Michael Broadhead says on November 16th, 2008 at 7:54 am :

    Hi, I would be very interested in coming to the meeting. Do I need to do anything other than reply here to get in on the club meeting this Sunday?

  23. Magda says on November 20th, 2008 at 1:41 am :

    Hi, I’m pretty interested in photography but… still very beginner. looking forward to join you this SUN.

  24. Os says on November 22nd, 2008 at 11:39 am :

    Pity I only found this now. I, like everyone else, am interested. I’m only getting my new camera next month though, so I’ll wait for then.

    I hope there’s enough interest for this to get momentum : )

  25. Neil Wade says on November 25th, 2008 at 6:27 am :

    I’m always interested in helping out. I missed you guys on Sunday and wouldn’t always be able to make it, but would love to get Emailed info.

    Cheers,
    -neil

  26. Brent says on December 3rd, 2008 at 10:18 am :

    Too bad I missed the last meeting, but would love to attend the next one. Please keep me updated if possible.

    Thanks,

    Brent

  27. Kodi says on March 6th, 2009 at 8:35 pm :

    I am very interested to join a club like this. So much to learn. Please inform me of any meetings in future.

  28. Logan Phillips says on June 8th, 2009 at 11:51 pm :

    Interested in your group. Is this still happening or not. If it is please email me at phillipslogan@hotmail.com.

    If you know of any other group like this I would love to take part in that as well.

    Thanks in advance.

    Logan

  29. David says on August 22nd, 2009 at 6:08 pm :

    Hey - if this group is still going on - I’d be interested to join up.

    Drop me an email a_trey_ue@yahoo.com

  30. Enoch Pertee says on April 21st, 2010 at 9:08 pm :

    Really good post. As usual…

  31. Edgar Tan says on April 25th, 2010 at 1:47 am :

    Hi there, i am an overseas chinese from the Philippines, just happen to stroll on this site, hope it is still active, whatever, anyway, do you have a photo club? just like to know,

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