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Bylaws

BYLAWS

REVISED November 15, 2023.

1. Club Name

The name of this organization shall be ”The Darkroomers Photographic Club”.

2. Purpose

The purpose of this organization shall be The promotion of “Pictorial Photography” through the association of its members for the study of and assistance in matters relating to the art of photographic printmaking.

3. Membership

Membership in this organization shall be limited to those persons whose interest and purpose in photography are compatible with the purpose of the organization set forth in these Bylaws. Any person desiring membership in this organization shall submit his/her intent as provided by these Bylaws.

Persons whose interest and purpose in photography are compatible with the purpose of the organization may become members by:

  1. Reading the rules for submission of prints by members in competition, and indicating by signature that they have understood and accepted these rules.
  2. Notifying a Club Officer of their desire to join the club and completing the Membership Application.
  3. Paying the appropriate dues.

4. Officers

The officers of this organization shall fulfill the duties of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

5. Duties of the Officers

PRESIDENT The President shall preside at all meetings of the organization, shall appoint all committees, shall oversee the activities and obligations of the organization, and shall have such powers as are generally vested in the executive officer. In case of a vacancy of any office, except that of the President, the President with the approval of the membership, shall fill the vacancy by appointment. With approval from the Board, the president will appoint Directors.

VICE PRESIDENT The Vice President shall assume the duties of the President in case of vacancy of the office, shall be responsible for obtaining suitable persons to act as Judge/Critic as necessary, and assist the Program Director in arranging programs.

TREASURER The Treasurer shall maintain the financial records of this organization, keep an itemized record of all receipts and disbursements, and shall pay all bills promptly on or before the due dates. The Treasurer shall provide a report of the financial condition of the organization upon request by the President.

SECRETARY The Secretary shall maintain an accurate record of all correspondence, record the minutes of all meetings and be the general custodian of all records. The Secretary is the key signatory of the Darkroomers bank account and is responsible for authorizing / deauthorizing officers and signatories when new officers are elected.

6. Directors

Permanent Directors of this organization shall consist of Program Director, Newsletter Editor, Webmaster, Membership Director, Gallery Director, and Interclub Competition Director. At the discretion of the membership, any elected Officer or Director may fulfill more than one duty.

7. Duties of the Directors

PROGRAM DIRECTOR The Program Director shall work closely with the President, Vice President, and members in the organizing of all programs.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR The Newsletter Editor shall collect newsworthy information that is pertinent to the aims of this organization, prepare, and publish, a monthly newsletter, or as directed by the President and the Members. Newsletters will be distributed to arrive at the destination prior to the first meeting of the month.

WEBMASTER The Webmaster shall maintain our club website, its domain, and content. The Webmaster shall also maintain and administer all social media accounts  associated with the club.

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR The Membership Director shall work with the President to design and carry out a program capable of introducing our club to potential new members. The Director is also responsible for maintaining the club’s roster, membership badges, and visitor logs. At each club meeting, the director will introduce visitors and new members and will provide a roster count to the club. The primary directive is to serve as an ambassador to the club while recruiting visitors in any way possible.

GALLERY DIRECTOR The Gallery Director is responsible for maintaining our galleries. The Director also works with the Program Director and President to execute the quarterly competition.

INTERCLUB COMPETITION DIRECTOR The Interclub Competition Director is responsible for collecting the images from our members for submission to the SCACC Interclub Competition. Entries and all required documentation will be submitted to the Interclub Competition Committee in a timely manner, in accordance with competition guidelines set by the committee.

8. Executive Committee

The Darkroomers Executive Committee shall consist of the current Club Officers and the immediate past President.  The current club President shall serve as the Executive Committee chairperson.

The Executive Committee shall meet once per quarter to discuss matters before the club.

Each member of the Executive Committee shall have one vote at Executive Committee meetings.

The Executive Committee shall have the authority to make decisions on behalf of the club while maintaining its fiduciary responsibility.

The Committee shall conduct all meetings using the format and rules outlined in Robert’s Rule of Order.

9. Meetings

The organization shall meet at times and places as determined by the membership. The President may call a special meeting at any time.

Meetings will be on the first, third, and fifth (if any) Wednesdays in the Photographic Arts Building, Balboa Park, San Diego, California unless otherwise announced. Meetings will start at 7:00 PM.

10. Committees

The President shall appoint all committees.

11. Suspension or Expulsion

Upon receipt of a petition, signed by at least five (5) members in good standing, requesting the suspension or expulsion of any member, the President must act upon such a petition. An affirmative vote of three fourth (3/4) of the total membership shall suspend or expel a member. The methods of discussion and voting will be at the discretion of the President.

12. Quorum

A quorum consists of one-third of the total membership.

13. Amendments

These Bylaws, upon due notice to the total membership, may be amended by the affirmative vote of a majority of members present at any regular meeting. A quorum must be present to hold the vote. Proposed changes shall be read during any business meeting and a copy mailed to all members. A vote may be taken no sooner than 28 days following the announcement of such changes.

14. Election of Officers

  1. At the first regular meeting in September, a Nominating Committee of three club members shall be appointed by the President.
  2. The Nominating Committee shall consist of the immediate past President and 2 members at large.
  3. The immediate past President shall serve as chairman of the Nominating Committee and will present the nominees to the membership for a vote.
  4. The Nominating Committee shall present at least one candidate for each of the offices which are to be elected that year.
  5. No nomination may be made without the consent of the nominee.
  6. Elections shall be held during the second regular meeting in October.
  7. If more than one nominee has been made for any office, voting for that office shall be by secret ballot. Secret ballots shall be counted by three members appointed by the current President.
  8. In the event of a tie, a runoff shall be held.
  9. If there are no contenders for an office, then the office shall be elected by a simple majority vote at the second regular meeting in October, provided there is a quorum.
  10. Officers will serve a term of 2 (two) years.
  11. Elections will stagger years so that only two officers need to be elected each year.
    1. Unless there are special circumstances requiring other offices to be elected, the schedule of officer elections shall follow: In even-numbered years–the Secretary and Vice President shall be elected. In odd-numbered years—the Treasurer and President shall be elected.
    2. Vacancies created by officers who resign their post prior to the end of their elected term shall be appointed by the President under the terms and conditions for vacancy appointments governed by Section 5 of these bylaws.
  12. No officer shall hold the same office for more than 1 (one) term.
  13. Officers shall assume the duties of their respective office after the close of the last meeting in December.
  14. Officers who have not paid their dues by the close of the last meeting in December shall vacate their office at the start of the calendar year and the office shall be filled by appointment under the terms and conditions for vacancy appointments governed by Section 5 of these bylaws

15. Fiscal Year

The organization shall operate on a calendar year beginning the first day of January and ending on the last day of December.

16. Dues

The annual dues shall be established by a vote of the membership and will include the annual dues to SCACC. Dues will be due in the first month of each year. Dues will be payable at the first meeting of December. A member whose dues have not been paid by the last day of December will be removed from the membership roster.
16.1 Dues for members are fifty-five dollars ($55.00)
16.2 Dues for officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) are fifty-five dollars ($55.00); Twenty dollars ($20) of which is refundable at the end of each year of service.
16.3 Dues are non-refundable.
16.4 Dues are not prorated.

17. Associations

This organization shall maintain membership in the Southern California Association of Camera Clubs (SCACC) and the Photographic Society of America (PSA).

18. Competitions and Exhibits

This organization shall conduct or participate in the following competition and exhibition activities:

  1. Monthly exhibition.
  2. Quarterly assigned subject competition.
  3. Annual year-end competition.
  4. SCACC Interclub Competitions.
  5. SCACC end-of-year Competition.

19. General Rules

  1. The Darkroomers Photographic Club will only accept images that were originally captured with photographic equipment; this includes analog camera images, digital camera images, and photograms.
  2. Image capture and digital processing/manipulation must be done by the maker. Images not captured by the maker (including downloaded images) cannot be included.
  3. All prints shall be mounted on boards and/or sturdy enough to be displayed by current club standards.
  4. Mats, if used, shall be black or white only. A single inset mat of any color may be used, not to exceed 1/2 inch on any side.
  5. Prints, as presented with mounting, must not exceed 18 x 24 inches.
  6. All prints will have the maker’s name and the title of the picture on the reverse side of the mounting board in the upper left corner. Front-of-board identification will not be allowed until after the judging is complete.

20. Monthly Exhibitions

At the meeting on the third Wednesday of each month, an exhibition shall be held of the work of the members. A Judge/Critic shall be obtained to evaluate prints submitted to the exhibit in two divisions: monochrome and color. The judge shall, following his or her critique of each image, designate an image as either “Accept” or “Reject” to identify whether or not an image is accepted into the exhibit.

Rules

  1. Members may submit a maximum of three (3) prints total per monthly exhibition.
  2. All prints accepted into the monthly exhibit will hang in the gallery at the discretion of the Gallery Director.
  3. Prints accepted into a monthly exhibit are not eligible to be entered in future Darkroomers monthly exhibitions.
  4. Images not accepted into an exhibition may be submitted twice more without modification.

21. QUARTERLY COMPETITION

The Quarterly Assigned Subject Competition (“Quarterly Competition”) shall be conducted in two divisions: Monochrome and Color.

Scheduling and Subject Matter

Four (4) regular, non-exhibition, meeting dates will be set-aside at the start of the year by the Program Director to be used for a quarterly competition.

Each quarter is approximately 3 months in duration and should be scheduled such that the first quarter begins on January 1st and ends on or around March 31st.  The second quarter begins around April 1st and ends around May 31st. The third quarter begins around June 1st and ends around August 31st. Finally, the fourth quarter begins around September 1st and ends no later than December 30th.

Themes to use for quarterly competitions are chosen by the programs committee and are assigned to the competitions during the year at the discretion of the Programs Director.

Rules

  1. Image capture and digital processing/manipulation must be done by the maker. Images not captured by the maker (including downloaded images) cannot be included.
  2. All prints shall be mounted on boards and/or sturdy enough to be displayed by current club standards.
  3. Mats, if used, shall be black or white only. A single inset mat of any color may be used, not to exceed 1/2 inch on any side.
  4. Prints, as presented with mounting, must not exceed 18 x 20 inches.
  5. All prints will have the maker’s name and the title of the picture on the reverse side of the mounting board in the upper left corner. Front-of-board identification will not be allowed until after the judging is complete.
  6. Members may submit up to two (2) prints in each division. (i.e. no more than 2 color prints and no more than 2 monochrome prints.)
  7. Image capture must occur during the quarter in which it will be submitted.

Scoring

Members shall earn one (1) point for each print entered into the competition. Additional points shall be awarded to each division-winning image as follows:

Three (3) points for each First Place winning image.

Two (2) points for each Second Place winning image.

One (1) point for each Third Place winning image.

Voting

The members and guests in attendance shall each vote for three (3) images in each division by secret ballot. The President, or his/her designee, shall tally the ballots and, by a count of all ballots, decide the First, Second, and Third place winners for each division.

Tie-Breaking

There shall be no tie-breaking rounds. All prints which tie for an award will receive the same number of points. For example, if two images tie for First Place, both will receive Three (3) points. Without any tie-breaking rounds, we cannot limit the number of placed winners. Therefore any given quarterly competition can result in 2-First Place, 3-Second Place, and 4-Third Place images.

Awards

At the end of each year, the member(s) with the highest number of points in the Monochrome division shall be awarded the Harris Wallace Perpetual Trophy. The member(s) with the highest number of points in the Color division shall be awarded the Pitt Warner Perpetual Trophy.

22. YEAR-END COMPETITION

The Vice-President, or a designee appointed by the President, will arrange for a Year-End Competition to be held on the second Saturday in January. All prints accepted into a monthly exhibition during the competition year are eligible for entry into the competition.
Entry categories and submission rules will be determined by a Year-End Rules Committee which will be formed in June of the competition year. The rules for the competition along with general information about the event (date, time, location, etc…) shall be sent to each of the judges in advance of the competition.
An “Other” category will serve as a catchall for entries that fall outside of the parameters prescribed by the Year-End Rules Committee. Any category, except “Other”, which does not receive a minimum of 6 entries will be eliminated from the competition. Entries from those categories which were eliminated from the competition will be folded into the “Other” category. If the “Other” category does not receive a minimum of 6 entries, the category will be eliminated from the competition and members with entries in the “Other” category will be afforded the opportunity to re-enter such images into a different category.
The competition will award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place plus 1 Honorable Mention for each category which will be determined by the combined points score awarded to each of the images in that category by the panel of judges after breaking any ties.
Honorable Mention will be awarded to the 4th highest-scoring image in each category.
The judges will also award “Best in Show” to one of the winning photos from each of the categories in a closed-door deliberation.

RULES

  1. Members may submit up to 10 images.
  2. There are no limits to the number of images members may submit to any category. For example, a member may submit 10 images into the Landscape category if they wish…
  3. An Image can only be submitted to one category.
  4. Images must have been accepted into a monthly exhibition from the calendar year for which the competition is being held. Only images accepted into a monthly exhibition during the 2017 calendar year, for example, may be entered into the 2017 Year End Competition.
  5. Print submissions must bear an official Darkroomers accept sticker.
  6. Print submissions that were accepted into an exhibit during the calendar year but not bearing an official Darkroomers accept sticker must be approved by both the Vice-President and the President. Prints that were lost, stolen, sold, auctioned, damaged, or destroyed may be reprinted and submitted for entry at the discretion of the President and Vice-President.
  7. Print submissions may be reworked and/or re-matted to consider the judge’s critique from a Darkroomers monthly exhibition. Changes are at the sole discretion of each member and must be approved by both the Vice-President and the President. Furthermore, each reworked submission must accompany the original work and the original work must bear an official Darkroomers accept sticker. Any rework must clearly be minor improvements–such improvements cannot add elements to the composition but may remove certain elements which are not orthogonal to the main subject of the image. The intent is to consider the input from the judges and produce works that will vastly improve the overall score of the final image, removing distractions and enhancing the quality, contrast, lighting, and sharpness.
  8. Any entry which does not meet eligibility requirements will be disqualified.
  9. A panel of three (3) judges shall be employed to score each image in each of the categories set up for the competition.
  10. Each judge will independently score each print on a points scale from 6-9 points so the highest total score for any print is 27 points and the lowest score is 18 points.
  11. Scoring will be performed electronically and recorded digitally. The score will also be recorded on the back of the print which will serve as a backup in the event of a catastrophic system failure and aid with sorting the photos during the competition.
  12. Scores will be read aloud during the competition to signal the end of judging for an image – to help competition officials sort the photos.
  13. Each category will be judged completely before judging the next category (e.g. Every image in “Architecture” is judged then every image in “Nature”, etc…)
  14. Discussion amongst the judges during the initial rounds of judging is prohibited to allow each judge to score images on their own merits but collaboration is allowed during tie-breaking rounds and when choosing the “Best in Show”.
  15. Titles will not be announced during the competition.
  16. Judges are not limited to the number of high scores to award for any given category.
  17. Judges should be advised that images judged in each category must be scored using the theme of the category (e.g. Images judged in the “Architecture” category should be architectural.)
  18. In case of a tie, scoring will be repeated on tying prints using the original parameters. It is unlikely that every judge will give each print exactly the same score the second time, so this will probably break the tie. If there is still a tie, a thumbs-up/down method can be used.
  19. Once all categories have been scored and winning images have been identified in each category, a “Best-in-Show” will be selected from those 1st place images.
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