Evolution
Creativity and Beyond
Photographic Creativity
The club commenced with graded competitions (A/B/C), set and open subjects and a focus on prints. Creativity surged in the 1990s under the leadership of Richard Brady and Phil Schofield. The change of name to Northside Creative Photography in 2000 signalled a change of direction from camera club conservatism to photographic creativity. Slide competitions ended in 2005, to be replaced by digital online competitions.
Photo Rallies
John Huggett introduced the concept of Photo Rallies 2003. They were originally an annual event using disposable cameras in themed locations such as markets and railway stations. They continue as fun events held over a specific month each year, in which members can use any type of camera to capture images on the set subject.
Biennial Portfolios
Northside Creative club mentored by Des Crawley and Susan Buchanan initiated 'Portfolio 07' - a very successful endeavour that produced beautiful results and unearthed many hidden talents. Des Crawley was a great inspiration; he guided each participant to find where to direct their effort and to discover what was the essence of the images. Each participant felt to have grown immensely in photography. It culminated with a great Gala Evening where all the folios were displayed. Susan has continued the tradition since.
InFocus newsletter
InFocus started as a hard-copy black and white newsletter in the 1950s. There were occasional lapses in production due to financial pressure, but its publication has continued. Colour pages were introduced in 2002, and it has been distributed by email since 2004. Editors have included Alison Pratt, Chris Barlow, Peter Finlay, Peter Marks, Jan Glover, John Pettett and Liz Bell. In 2021, a new category of free membership was introduced for former members who are no longer able to participate in club activities. “Friends of NCP” can keep in touch by receiving complementary issues of InFocus.
Club Website
The first NCP website was developed by Miriam Wiggers de Vries and Catherine Brown in 2001. Tim Downs revamped the site in 2003 and added a photo gallery in 2004. Chris Barlow became webmaster in 2005. He installed forum and managed digital competition uploads. In 2016, under the leadership of John Pettett, a new website was created on the HarmonySite platform. This enabled members to upload images for competition entry, personal galleries, outings and portfolio galleries, and later to an Audi-Visual gallery. The website continues to evolve as the main source of information for members, prospective members and the general public.
