The first ever meeting of the newly formed Moose Mountain Photography Club was attended by 23 photographers at the Mother Teresa Centre on Tuesday May 6. The club was formed by William Sinclair of Kenosee Lake and Suzanne Pearson of Arcola who stressed the club is open to anyone who loves taking pictures regardless of their skill level. Sinclair explained the plan is to meet at the centre on the first Tuesday of the every month, except for July and August. He described the first meeting as amazing, pointing to the diversity of the group.
"Some had been taking photographs for more than 30 years while some had just learned to turn their camera on. Some loved portraits, some were into nature and wildlife [and] some were into family snapshots," he said.
"The plan is to keep everything interesting and to keep us moving forward as photographers, regardless of our current skill level. Whether we are taking pictures of landscapes, bridges, old buildings, fast cars, or grandchildren we are a group who just love to take pictures. And that's what this club is for - to learn, to get inspired by others as well as ourselves, to share with like-minded people and to take lots of pictures."
He said his hopes for the photography club are simple as they seek to gather local photography enthusiasts of all skill levels to share and learn from each other's work. Sinclair has been involved with photography since the late 1960's and said some of those years he was at the professional level.
"I fell in love with photography through my father, who was a Naval Officer and who used to bring home rolls of black and white film from his trips. He taught my brother and I how to develop the negatives and make prints through a local photography club darkroom," Sinclair remembers.
The Moose Mountain Photography Club meeting allows photographers to share up to five of their digital pictures at the meeting from a stick drive or in any format they choose.
"From there, they can learn how to either improve their photographs or teach the group something new," Sinclair said.
The idea for the club came about through social media when Sinclair had an encounteron Facebook with Suzanne Pearson. This led to the twomeeting at the Skyline Motor Inn in Carlyle in April where they talked about photography for almost three hours over coffee.
Sinclair said they both wanted an avenue for local photography enthusiasts to gather, share and learn from each other, to get inspired and also to go out on photo shoots together.
"Each month a new theme will be introduced that photographers can participate in. New members will also have the opportunity to showcase their photography on the club's website if they choose to," he said.
"The focus of the club is not about taking minutes and discussing new and old business. Instead, Suzanne would like to see the meetings spent not only on members sharing their work with each other, but also on getting creatively inspired and developing their craft through increased knowledge and actually taking pictures."
Sinclair was the original founding member of the Estevan Photo Club which he said ran for many years while Pearson uses traditional photography equipment. Both Sinclair and Pearson's work are featured on social media sites like Flickr and Instagram as well as the new club's website, moosemountainphotographyclub.weebly.com. There are currently no membership fees to become a member of the club and if anyone is interested in attending, their next meeting on Tuesday, June 3, William Sinclair or Suzanne Pearson can be contacted at (306) 577-4624 or (306) 455-2708.
