The President's Welcome

A very warm welcome to the Winchester Photographic Society website. I hope that you will find here any information you need as a member – and if you are considering membership, or would like to visit us, then I hope you’ll be inspired and encouraged to do that.

We are one of the largest, and most active, photographic clubs in the South of England. We have 200 members and try to offer something for all levels of photographer – we encourage and support our members to get what they want out of photography, and provide opportunities to take their photography further.

We offer a diverse and interesting speaker programme, with 14 presenters this season, covering travel photography, wildlife, creative and the music industry among other topics. Our highlights are our Autumn and Spring lectures: David DuChemin, renowned world and humanitarian photographer is speaking to us in November on “The Heart of the Photograph” – what makes a picture appeal and resonate. In March 2020 Alison Baskerville, documentary photographer and educator, is speaking about gender representation in photography, and her experiences photographing in a military and conflict setting.

We also have plenty of opportunities to submit your own work in competition and for critique. We have social events, outings and workshops. We cover specialized areas of photography, but also cater for those just beginning to capture images, process them and present them. A look under our “What’s On” tab will show the range of activities available, and you will see that there are usually several activities available each week during our early September to early June season.

Non-Members are very welcome to our Tuesday meetings (although subgroups, outings and workshops are restricted to members); simply turn up, pay the £5 visit fee, sign in and take a visitor badge. You can attend as a visitor up to 4-times a year and if you then decide to join the society those visitor fees can be deducted from your joining fee. Full details about membership can be found under the Membership tab. Due to the success of the society we usually have to run a waiting list for new members.

The society has just undertaken a major survey of the membership’s views. It is gratifying to see the level of approval that there is for the society’s activities across its programme of talks and competitions, wider events such as outings and workshops, and indeed for education and training. We strive to be a welcoming and friendly society.

We have an accessibility policy, and we want to make our events and services open to as many members as possible. If you have a particular need, for instance an easy access seat, then let us know and we’ll do what we can to help.
Our Membership pages offer much more detail about what our society has to offer. Whether you are new to photography or an established and experienced camera user, come to Winchester Photographic Society and share your interest and passion with like-minded, friendly and supportive enthusiasts.

Gavin Bowyer ARPS. President 2019-2020

More information on what we do can be found here.