Photo Club offers networking, community and fun

Written by Abby Chadwick, Featured image courtesy of Jenna Yandle, Photos courtesy of Chuck Siwinski, Emily Jahr and Zach Lafaro

Like most groups and activities at SCAD, Photo Club has been kicking back into full gear this year. Club President, Maddie Conlin-Day, a fourth-year photography student, was kind enough to “lense” us an inside look into the club and their plans for the upcoming year.

When asked how a standard Photo Club meeting is usually run, Maddie shared that each one is unique in its own way. “Sometimes we have guest speakers come in. For example, we’re going to have Robin Maaya (a recent SCAD photo grad) pop in and talk about the SCAD Atelier Program and her journey. We had a portfolio review at our last meeting. We try to do different things such as workshops and host a lot of guest speakers because our advisor, Rebecca Nolan, knows a lot of people. It all depends, but we’re hoping to throw some exhibitions and stuff like that.”

Photo Club is an affiliate club part of a larger organization known as The Society for Photographic Education (SPE). But the club isn’t just for photo majors! “I would encourage other majors to get involved if they’re really into photography and they absolutely love the art and everything that goes along with it,” Conlin-Day said. “Why not? If you’re just passionate about photography you should join. I love art and photography and I’m committed, and I hope anybody else would be too!”

Now because Photo Club is starting back up again after a prolonged break (thanks to the pandemic), there is a lot of planning that the officers have to do. However, according to Conlin-Day, this planning is leading to some pretty exciting things ahead. “In the future—meaning the next two quarters—we hope to have our own exhibition happen. We want professionals to come in and speak. We really just want to have fun and work together to be a supportive community. And hopefully, next year, the club will be able to go to the SPE national meeting. That’s a pretty awesome gig. It’s great for networking, especially with professionals. I think that’s a really great point of the club.”

With so many exciting plans ahead, it will truly be an exciting year to see how Photo Club “develops!”