Bylaws of the Saint Mary’s County Camera Club

Introduction: The organization shall be known as the St. Mary's County Camera Club, and will be referred to hereinafter as “SMCCC”. The purpose of SMCCC shall be to promote the art of photography as a hobby, providing a forum for exchanging knowledge of the subject and inspiring photographers toward improving their art. Toward this end, the club will offer image critiques, competitions, workshops, instructional lectures, demonstrations, and field trips.

Purpose: This document consists of two parts, the main section referred to as the Bylaws followed by a set of Operating Procedures.

The Bylaws may be changed based upon a recommendation of the officers and ratified by the simple majority vote of the dues-paying members who respond to a ratification email by the deadline specified in said email.

The Operating Procedures provide information of the detailed operations of the club. The Operating Procedures are defined by the officers and ratified by the simple majority vote of the officers who respond to a ratification email by the deadline specified in said email.

The Bylaws and Operating Procedures may be changed at any time with the changes to become effective in the following yearly cycle, except in the case of emergencies as determined by the Board of Officers.

Officers: SMCCC shall have a slate of officers with duties as described below and hereafter referred to as the Board. The terms of the officers shall be two years and run from January through December of the following year. The Board may determine that half of the slate of officers may be elected in alternating years.

• President: The President shall call Board meetings as required throughout the year. The President shall preside over Board and general meetings. The President shall conduct communications with officers, members, and other organizations. The President shall be the liaison with general meeting site representatives. The President may also serve as the Coastal Camera Club (CCC) Southern Maryland Critique Special Interest Group (SOMD SIG) Leader and act as the liaison with CCC, or may appoint such leader/liaison as long as SMCCC remains affiliated with CCC.

• Vice President: The Vice-President shall preside over meetings in the President's absence. The Vice-President shall assist the President throughout the year as needed and act as President if the President is unable to fulfill his or her duties. The Vice-President can form an elections committee to coordinate and conduct the elections.

• Treasurer: The Treasurer shall maintain the club's financial records, collect all income and pay all club expenses. The Treasurer may record the club’s financial status report in Google Docs located on the smccc1998@gmail.com email account page or in such other manner as agreed upon by the Board of Officers.

• Membership Chair: The Membership Chair shall collect membership dues and maintain a database of membership information, in accordance with the procedures explained in the Operating Procedures.

• Program Chair: The Program Chair shall be responsible for obtaining speakers/program materials for meetings designated as “Program.”

• Competition Chair: The Competition Chair shall carry out competitions, including arranging for judging, ensuring that projection equipment is available, and maintaining a database of competition results, in accordance with the Competition Rules and the Addendum thereto. The Competition Chair shall provide a summary of competition results as well as the winning images to the Electronic Media Chair to post on the www.smccc.org website after each competition.

• Outing Chair: The outing chair shall be responsible for coordinating photo trips by the club members to interesting locations for the purpose of photography on a schedule defined in the Operating Procedures.

• Electronic Media Chair: The Electronic Media Chair shall be responsible for maintaining the club email site and the club website. The chair shall also be one of the moderators on the club FaceBook page.

• County Fair Chair: The County Fair Chair will be responsible for coordinating with the organizers of the St. Mary’s County Fair for the purpose of operating the photo competition held at the fair.

Elections: Elections for officers shall be held once every other year during November and December of the even-numbered years. The Vice President shall be responsible for obtaining a slate of nominees and conducting the election. A simple majority of votes from the dues-paying members who respond to a ratification email by the deadline specified in said email, is required to be elected unless there is only one nominee/volunteer for an office. Nominations for officers will be publicized at the first meeting in November and voted upon via email before the second meeting in November. Winning officers shall be announced at the second meeting in November. The officers’ terms shall run from January to December for the next two years.

Dues: SMCCC shall collect annual dues as deemed necessary by the Board of Officers. The amount of the dues shall be defined in the Operating Procedures of this document. SMCCC is open to all but in order to participate in SMCCC competitions, CCC-sponsored SMCCC/SOMD SIG Zoom meetings, and field trips, a member must be current on their membership dues. The dues year will run from January to December of each year for SMCCC. Persons joining in July or later may be assessed a prorated portion of the SMCCC dues amount. The amount of the SMCCC dues may be changed by a vote of the officers for the upcoming dues year.

Meetings: SMCCC will hold regularly scheduled meetings either in person or via electronic conferencing. The meeting schedule will be defined in the Operating Procedures for this document. The meeting schedule can be altered by a Board vote.

Treasury: The Treasurer will maintain an accounting of income and disbursements from the treasury according to the guidelines provided in the Operating Procedures.

Competitions: SMCCC shall hold photo competitions with categories of entry in both print and digital form when possible. Depending upon the experience level of members, the categories may include Novice, Intermediate and/or Advanced.

An additional themed category is for photographs pertaining to a specific theme as defined by the Competition Chair. Themes shall be identified before the beginning of the competition year for that year plus the next. All Novice, Intermediate and Advanced photographers compete equally in the same theme category. The Competition Rules and Addendum with updates to the rules are posted on the www.smccc.org website under the Competition tab. The rules and categories may be updated by the Board for the following year.

Operating Procedures

2022-Until further notice.

(Updated March 2023)

St. Mary’s County Camera Club is currently a Special Interest Group (SIG) with an emphasis on photography in Southern Maryland under the Coastal Camera Club (CCC) in Lewes, Delaware. This group will explore what makes a good photograph, both technically and artistically, and may see some editing demonstrated in Lightroom, Photoshop, DxO/NIK Collection, Topaz AI software, etc., to show how to implement suggested changes to their photos.

SMCCC/SOMD SIG will hold two meetings per month virtually along with virtual photography programs offered by CCC. Meetings will include photo Critiques, mini-competitions separate from CCC, informational programs, workshops and field trips. Dues will be paid to CCC and none will be owed to SMCCC until further notice. Notice of changes in dues will be posted on the www.smccc.org website.

Combining of Duties: At times of low membership, it is permissible to combine the functions of the officers as needed. Offices will include as many of the following positions as possible based upon the size of the group.

President/SOMD Critique SIG Leader serves as group leader and a coordinator between Coastal Camera Club and the SOMD SIG/SMCCC.

Vice President serves as Facebook Administrator and Election Chair. Elections are held in the Fall via email. A simple majority vote of those dues-paying members who respond to the Voting email by the deadline specified in the email will decide the outcome of the election.

Critique Chair runs critique sessions monthly, often using editing software like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, DxO/NIK Collection, and/or Topaz AI, etc., to demonstrate suggested changes.

Competition Chair shall obtain a judge for the competitions. The identity of the judge shall be kept confidential until the time of the competition. The competitions shall be managed in accordance with the Competition Rules, to run virtual competitions until further notice. The Competition Chair maintains a database showing competition winners for the year, and provides same to the Electronic Media Chair, along with the winning images, to post on the www.smccc.org website.

Treasurer/Membership Chair may maintain a checking account for the repository of dues and the disbursement of funds for expenses, or may use such other money management method deemed acceptable to the Board. Said checking account may require a single signature; however, at least one other SMCCC dues-paying officer shall also have access to this account. The Treasurer may share a record of the club’s deposits and disbursements as they occur by posting them in Google Docs located on the smccc1998@gmail.com email account page that is accessible to all officers, or in such other information-sharing manner as agreed upon by the Board of Officers.

The Treasurer shall review the year’s income and expenses as well as a projected budget of expenses for the following year with club officers in an email prior to the first meeting in October in order to determine the amount of dues to charge for SMCCC membership the following year. Once the Board has determined the amount of the dues to charge in the upcoming year, the Treasurer will send club members an email notifying them that dues for the upcoming year will be discussed at the first meeting in October. Following the first meting in October, the Treasurer will notify the Electronic Media Chair to post any changes to the dues amount on the club’s website, and will send an email containing the notice of any changes in the dues amount to all current SMCCC members by Dec. 1.

The Treasurer/Membership Chair will keep an up-to-date list of dues-paying members, signed liability forms, contact information to include email addresses and phone numbers, and will update the Contacts List/Current year Group Email Label with such information on the smccc1998@gmail.com email account. NOTE: The SOMD Critique SIG will be limited to a maximum of 15 participants unless such limit is waived by SMCCC officers.

Program Chair obtains presenters of informative programs from both inside and outside of the club, schedules same, reminds presenters of upcoming meeting date, introduces them at the Program meeting, and sends them a follow-up thank-you correspondence. The Program Chair will send the schedule of Programs and brief descriptions thereof to the Electronic Media Chair for posting on the www.smccc.org website.

County Fair Chair provides for the operation of a photo competition at the Saint Mary’s County Fair. The Club’s County Fair Chair shall coordinate as needed with Saint Mary’s County Fair officials to ensure the availability of space and general supplies to award and exhibit photos submitted by the general public. The Chair shall recruit and schedule members to help accept/return entries, aid the judges with the Awards, hang photos on exhibit, and man the Department during the remainder of the hours when the County Fair is open to the public. The County Fair Chair will also recruit a panel of three judges to judge the photographs submitted by the general public. The judges shall recommend awards of First, Second, Third, and as many Honorable Mentions as deemed worthy.

Field trip/Outings Chair schedules and coordinates field trips to provide opportunities for informal mentoring in the field and to build members’ photo libraries. Trips may be planned last-minute to take advantage of good weather forecasts and special events not advertised far in advance. The Chair will send the schedule of field trips and a short description of each to the Electronic Media Chair, giving the date and time of the field trip, the address of the destination and where to meet, and a time and restaurant name as appropriate for either a group lunch or dinner when the trip is over. The Chair may request that other members lead field trips that he/she is unable to attend. Field trip participants must be dues-paying members of CCC and/or SMCCC, provide the trip leader with a cell phone number, an "In Case of Emergency" contact information form, and have a signed Release of Liability form on file with the Coastal Camera Club and/or SMCCC.

Electronic Media Chair/Website Chair updates the official club website. The website does not have to be edited by a club member as long as the Board accepts the outside source and the editor is sufficiently familiar with the club.

Meeting schedule:

Meeting times and dates are subject to change and agreed upon by the current membership if flexibility is needed.

The current schedule of virtual meetings is as follows: Meetings shall be held on the 1st and 2nd Tuesday of the month except in those months where a holiday interferes with the scheduled meetings in which case they will be rescheduled appropriately. Meetings will open at 6:30 pm for chat, followed by the formal meeting beginning at 7 pm and running until approximately 9:00 pm. The meetings will include:

(a) A review and informal critiques of members’ photographs on the first meeting of the month. Members are solicited to submit a specified number of images as defined by the person running the Critique for the month (typically 3 or 4),

(b) A mini-competition, separate from the general CCC competitions, to gain more feedback from an outside judge as to how to improve a photo,

The second meeting of January, March, May, and October shall be the club competitions. The November meeting shall feature the End-of-Year competition. The second meeting of February, April, June, and October shall be a program intended to inspire and improve one’s photography.

Visitors can attend one CCC meeting and one SOMD SIG meeting before paying dues to the CCC and/or SMCCC in order to attend on a regular basis.

Dues: Dues payable to CCC shall be $40/year for an individual membership and $50/year for a family membership. In order to participate in SMCCC competitions, Zoom meetings under the sponsorship of the CCC Zoom account, and field trips, members must be current on their membership dues by paying dues on their due date via the CCC Join Us/Renew Membership page at www.coastalcameraclub.com.

Members who wish to maintain their SMCCC/SOMD SIG membership need to advise the current SMCCC President/SOMD SIG Leader of their desire to continue with this membership, and pay any additional SMCCC dues by January of each year that may or may not be required at that time. See www.smccc.org for SMCCC dues updates.

Presently, SMCCC is not assessing dues in addition to the CCC dues. If CCC dues are current, one is automatically a member of SMCCC until further notice. SMCCC dues under normal operation circumstances shall be at least $25/year for an individual membership and $30/year for a family membership or higher. The SMCCC membership year runs from January through December. People joining during July or later shall be assessed an amount equal to 1/2 of the yearly dues.