Club By-laws

Revised March 2021

Article 1 - Name and Purpose

This organization shall be called the La Crosse Area Camera Club, a non-profit group dedicated to sharing photographic interests and promoting photography in the community.

Article 2 - Membership and Dues

The term, member, as used in these bylaws shall mean, one who is not delinquent in payment of dues.

Section 1: Eligibility.

Membership is open to any resident of La Crosse and surrounding area, age 13 and older, who has an interest in photography. 

Section 2: Participation.

Any person who has joined the club with a paid membership is free to participate in all club activities. Visitors and returning members who have not yet paid their dues for the current year may not participate in competition or other members-only activities.

Section 3: Dues

Dues are used for ordering programs, paying postage, purchasing awards, and further financing Club activities.

The Executive Board will establish dues.

The President or Treasurer is authorized to spend up to $100; expenses over $100 need to be approved by the Executive Board.

Article 3 - Representation

Any activity in which the Club is represented, or the name of the Club is used, such as (but not limited to) photographic contests, publicity or conventions, shall be under the complete directorship of the President with the approval of the Executive Board. The Chairperson of any such activity shall be appointed by the President, as approved by the Executive Board.

Article 4 - Fiscal Year

A Camera Club "year" is defined as beginning September 1st and ending August 31st of the following calendar year.

Article 5 - Communication and Documentation

Section 1: Website

The website: http://lacrosseareacameraclub.org is the official website and source of current information for the club.

Section 2: Newsletter

The Groundglass is the official newsletter and historical record of the club.

Article 6 - Officers, Executive Board, and Elections

Section 1: Executive Board

The Executive Board and club coordinators comprise the Leadership Team whose function is to provide direction and continuity to Club activities. Major club decisions require a majority vote of governing board members in attendance at a scheduled meeting.

A. Collective Board Duties

Programs and Education: The executive board or committee designated by the executive board shall be responsible for development of the programs presented at regular meetings and/or special events.

B. Roles and Duties

The Executive Board consists of the following elected roles. 

  • President. The function of the President is to preside over all Club activities, to ensure that proper photographic equipment is available for Club competitions, and to coordinate the efforts of the Executive Board.
  • Vice President. The function of the Vice President is to perform the duties of the President in his/her absence, and to assist the President in administrative decisions. The Vice President shall advance to the office of President, if the President elects not to remain in office for another term.
  • Treasurer. The function of the Treasurer is to collect membership dues and maintain financial records including a Club checking account. They will provide a verbal report at each club meeting. The Treasurer shall submit a written financial statement to the Executive Board following the completion of each club year and within 30 days of leaving office.
  • Secretary. The function of the Secretary is to maintain Club minutes, handle correspondence and club notices, and keep the content on the website up to date.
  • Directors. There shall be two directors whose function is to assist the President and other officers in Club policy-making and organization
  • Judging Chairperson. The Judging Chairperson will collect and organize entries for the monthly competitions and arrange outside judges for the end-of-year competition. At no time is the Judging Chair or his/her associates liable in any way for any entry due to loss or damage.
  • Past President. The previous club president.

Section 2: Leadership Team

The Leadership Team consists of the Executive Board plus the following roles which are appointed by the Executive Board.

  • Website Administrator. The Website Administrator shall maintain the structure of the website, make sure it is secure and up-to-date, add new features as needed, and grant update status to the President and other elected or appointed members as appropriate. The Website Administrator is also responsible to make sure any required fees are paid to continue the website and to keep our site current with the latest technology.
  • Field Trip Coordinator. The Field Trip Coordinator shall plan and schedule field trips for the club.
  • N4C/ PSA Competition Coordinator can be divided into two roles.
    • An N4C/PSA Submission Coordinator determines the entries to N4C Competition each month and submits them. 
    • An N4C/PSA judging coordinator that organizes judging of N4C competition that occurs at our club. 
  • PSA Contact. The PSA Contact shall be the official contact person between our club and the PSA.
  • Membership Director. The Membership Director shall oversee recruiting new members and through observation, communication and data gathering keep current with member interests and advise the President on membership issues.

Section 3: Election of Officers.

The executive board (president, vice president, directors, treasurer and secretary, and judging chair) is elected by members. All other positions are appointed by the executive board.

The nominating committee is composed of the leadership team. The Nominating Committee will present a proposed slate of officers to the members prior to the elections. Nominations will be accepted from the floor.

Nominees shall be elected by secret ballot (unless positions have only one nominee in which case a show of hands is acceptable) at a regularly scheduled meeting prior to the Annual Banquet with a simple majority of the members voting as the basis for election. In the event an office had no nominations at an election or becomes vacant between elections, the President, with approval of a majority of the Executive Board, may appoint an individual to that office.

Elected officers assume their duties following the banquet or on June 1st in the case that there is no banquet.

A person may succeed him/herself in office.

A member may hold more than one office.

A husband and wife may hold an office jointly in which case they will both be members of the Executive Board. Together they have one vote.

Article 7 - Monthly Competitions

Section 1: General rules

All image content must be taken and edited by the maker. The image may be modified by the use of plug-ins, filters, brushes. Etc. The use of textures and backgrounds, whether the maker's original work or commercially available, is permitted.

All entries, which have been awarded a place (acceptance, hm, 1, 2, 3) in a Club competition, are not eligible to be re-entered in future Club competition without substantial modification. Determination of substantial modification will be decided by the judges. The judges’ ruling is final.

Images (except for Challenge subjects) in competitions may have been taken at any time during the past. Challenge subject images must be taken after the last entry deadline of the previous year.

Section 2: Groups

There shall be two groups of members based on photographic skill as defined below. The purpose of these groups is to provide some degree of equivalence among members when engaged in competition.

  • The "A" Group is composed of the more experienced advanced photographers.
  • The "B" Group is composed of beginning photographers or those generally less skilled than "A" group members.

A member, when first joining the Club, has the prerogative of joining either the "A" or "B" class.

Switching groups may only happen at the beginning of the program year before entering the first monthly competition.

Any "B" group member, who has accrued 50 points [see Section 8 D] or more, along with winning a first place in an End of Year competition in any division automatically will be placed in the "A" group. 

A member may be placed in the "A" group by decision of the Executive Board based on demonstrated excellence in his/her photographic work.

Any member desiring to switch groups, either from "B" to "A", or from "A" to "B", shall make an appeal to the Executive Board requesting a change. The Executive Board is authorized to grant such a request based on the quality of the member's photographic work.

Section 3: Competition Schedule

Subject to revision by the Executive Board or vote by members each year there will be at least seven monthly competitions to include: 

  • Projected categories: open, nature, people, creative
  • Print categories: color and black & white 

The Executive Board shall determine the number of entries per category and totals per monthly competition.

The Judging Chairperson shall determine the schedule which is then approved by the Executive Board.

In addition, there will be an annual End of Year competition in each division for both group "A" and "B" members. Entries qualify for this competition by having placed in the monthly competitions.

Section 4: Competition Categories

A. Projected categories

  • Open category is one in which there are no restrictions in subject matter.
  • Nature constitutes subjects based on the absence of the hand of man. This also means there shall be no cultivated plants, domestic animals, tame birds, jet contrails, mowed grass, cut trees, gravel, power lines or museum scenes allowed as entries in this division. (An exception is bird bands or other wildlife tags or monitoring devices which are allowed.) 
  • People images are images where people are the subject of the image. They can be posed or engaged in activity.
  • Creative is defined as "altered reality". The image must obviously display a change in natural color, form, shape, or any combination of these three. Creative images are often montages (a blending or composite of multiple images).Creative image manipulation should serve to enhance the subject matter. High Dynamic Range (HDR) images without further changes are not considered "altered reality."

Challenge subjects:

Projected categories may be designated as a “Challenge subject” which defines the theme of that category for that competition. For example, a competition may have a Challenge subject of “Sunsets” for the Nature category. For this competition, all entries in the Nature category must follow the theme of “Sunsets” in addition to following all the standard rules of the category.

The challenge category photos for the next year can be taken any time after the last monthly competition of the club year.

B. Prints

Prints have no restrictions on subject matter. The image must have come from a negative, transparency or a digital image originally shot by the member, but may have been commercially or personally printed. 

Print subcategories:

  • Color prints.
  • Black and white prints. These images are monochromatic images with a sepia or other tint. No fraction of an image may be given a special color treatment.

Print specifications:

  • All entries must be mounted. The minimum acceptable mounted entry will be 8x10 inches. The maximum mounted entry will be 16x20 inches.
  • The minimum print size is 5x7 inches, but must be presented on an 8x10 inch mounting. Prints 8x10 up to 16x20 inches must be mounted with a suitable backing to resist bending and may or may not include matting not to exceed the 16x20 inch maximum size.
  • Odd sized prints may not exceed 320 square inches in size nor may it exceed 20 inches in length.
  • Prints must be marked on the reverse side, upper left-hand corner, with the following information: 
    • Makers Name. 
    • Title 
    • Group designation ("A" or "B") .
  • The title, name or logo of the entrant must not appear on the front of the print.

All prints should be picked up immediately after the competition. Any entries not picked up will be retained by the Judging Chairperson at the maker's risk. 

It is the maker's responsibility to resubmit to the Judging Chairperson all accepted entries for the End of Year competition.

Section 5: Judging

A. General information

There shall be three judges: two from "A" class and one from "B" class. If no "B" member volunteers to judge, the 3rd judge may be an "A" member.

Monthly competition judges must be a member. End of Year judges are outside judges recruited by the Judging Chairperson.

The names of the makers and titles shall not be revealed until the judging is finished.

After scoring, judges may converse among themselves to discuss aspects of an image.

If any judge has entries in a competition that she/he is judging they shall not score their own images. In these cases, the scores of the other 2 judges shall be averaged and the result used as the third score.

If there are fewer than 5 entries in any category, the images will be judged.  Those earning 30 points or more will be awarded an Acceptance.

B. Judging Criteria 

Entries shall be objectively evaluated against a standard of achievement of excellence in three criteria: 

  • TECHNIQUE: Includes focus, lighting, color rendition, exposure, print quality, and mounting. 
  • COMPOSITION: Arrangement of all elements within the picture area so that the subject matter is presented as a harmonious, well balanced photograph. 
  • IMPACT/INTEREST: Includes originality, imagination, interpretation, subject impact, mood, and humor.

 

C. Scoring and Places

The Club shall follow the N4C rules for judging and scoring.

A maximum of 15 points is to be awarded for each entry by each judge on a scale of 1 to 5 points for each judging criteria.

Recognition shall be given in each competition for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Twenty-five percent of the remaining images after the first three places, in order of highest score first, are awarded honorable mention.

Entries that did not receive a place from the judge may be nominated for an Acceptance during the showing at the club meeting. 

  • A motion and a second to put an image up for a vote, must be made after the image is displayed but prior to the maker being announced.
  • The votes of members in attendance are counted both for or against the Acceptance which is determined by simple majority vote.
  • Print images nominated for Acceptance may be passed around for members to view up close and a vote taken after all members have inspected the printed image.

 

D. Accrued Points

Competition points are accrued throughout the club year. Points are awarded for images earning a place in monthly competitions along with year end competition. A first place will count as ‘5’ points, second as ‘4’, third as ‘3’, HM as ‘2’ and voted in Acceptance as ‘1’. All points accrued will expire at the end of the club year.

Accrued points will be used to determine “The Photographer of the Year”, in A and B class.

Article 9 - Revisions and Changes

Any member may propose a change to the Bylaws by submitting that change to the Executive Board.

A bylaw change becomes effective when passed by a simple majority vote of the members present at a regularly scheduled meeting.

Notice of a proposed bylaw change must have been presented in detail through e-mail and/or regular post, or published on the website prior to voting on the change.

Member Actions. Any and all items related to the function, by-laws and/or organization of the camera club must be reviewed and approved by the executive board members. Proposals to enact, amend, or revoke any items related to the function, by-laws and/or organization of the camera club must be reviewed and approved by the executive board members. All items shall be submitted in writing and the executive board shall respond within 30 days if possible.

Executive Board Actions. Any action of the Executive Board may be annulled or changed, If the action is deemed detrimental or harmful to the organization, operations or members of the club. The corrective action shall require a quorum, consisting of no less than 21 [twenty one] paid members and officers of the club casting a 2/3 majority vote on the action at a regularly scheduled meeting.

Article 10 - Disbanding

In the event the La Crosse Area Camera Club disbands, club assets remaining after all debts are paid, shall be turned over to the North Central Camera Club Council.