About AOPC

Welcome

Our Club has a diverse membership including college students and retirees representing a wide range of professions and occupations. They include homemakers, physicians, scientists, an airline captain, attorneys, a free-lance writer, professional photographers, and naturalists - to name just a few. Annual dues grant membership to the immediate family, so several couples and some children are involved in club activities.

Services

Currently, the Club offers several services and opportunities for members. (Guests, of course, are also welcome to participate.) Meetings are held monthly at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday at the Second Presbyterian Church off Cantrell road at Pleasant Valley Dr., near I-430 and Cantrell Road in Little Rock.  Go to the rear entrance of the church Building facing I-430.

A newsletter, "The f-Stop" is published monthly. A field trip, usually to a location within the state, is scheduled on a Saturday each month. An occasional overnight trip is scheduled. At least one of these trips has been in the form of a workshop led by a local pro outdoor photographer. In addition, the Club is a co-sponsor of the 2003 Little Rock Zoo Photo Contest and is engaged in presenting slide shows to local nursing and retirement homes, an activity that has been well received by the viewers and rewarding to the presenter.

The Club also has a small library of photography books and videos available to members. Members are encouraged to enter contests and to include subjects of the monthly photo theme in their shooting schedule.

Meetings

The monthly meetings normally follow a somewhat flexible but consistent format. First, introductions, announcements, reports and any other Club business is presented. Following that a program is given usually by a non member speaker, but occasionally by a member.

Programs are educational and informative. Speakers have included professional photographers, those in other professions who routinely use photography, teachers, local photography business leaders, State Park and Recreation personnel and travelers.

At the conclusion of the program is a time called "open viewing" in which members present slides or prints of their recent work. The Club has been privileged to view outstanding photographs made by speakers and members and to literally see the world in an evening.

History

Our Club had its roots with a small number of individuals who were looking for a photography club in the Little Rock area, but had found that one did not exist. Discussions to begin a club became earnest in late 1996 and regular meetings began in early 1997. The Club functioned informally through 1997 with Tim Boone as its president, newsletter editor and publisher. Tim was reelected president in 1998 and during that year a constitution was adopted which defined the Club officers and responsibilities and rules of governance. This structure was important but the foundation of the Club was based on shared values of mutual trust, a common interest in photography, a willingness to improve skills and technique, and a love for the outdoors

The name "Arkansas Outdoor Photographers Club" was carefully and deliberately adopted for two reasons. The word "Photography" was dismissed because it was deemed important to have the emphasis on the individual rather than on what the person does. The possessive form, "Photographer's" was also rejected because the club was not to be "owned" by photographers but rather composed of a group of people who photograph, without regard to skill level, whether novice, advanced amateur or pro.

by Bill Melchior

by Anita Maxwell

by X. Sean Gao