The RA Photo Club is located in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, and is the city's largest photo club, with over 300 members. It meets weekly at its location in the RA Centre from September to May, hosting speakers and monthly competitions. The RA Photo Club has many special interest groups, including Nature, Audio-Visual, Portrait, Figure and Glamour, Digital, Photo Critique and Urban. The club is a member of the Canadian Association for Photographic Art, a national organization promoting and encouraging the photographic arts in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

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The club has exhibited at many area venues including the National Press Club (located in the National Press Building

National Press Building

The National Press Building in Ottawa, Canada is a building on Wellington Street, just across from the West Block of the Parliament Buildings that houses the Parliamentary Press Gallery. The building is owned by the federal government. Originally the press had their offices inside the Centre Block...

), and partners with local charities to provide photographic services.
In 2006, these included the Tulip Festival (Ottawa)

Tulip Festival (Ottawa)

The Canadian Tulip Festival is a tulip festival, held annually in May in Ottawa and Gatineau, Canada. The festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival, displaying over one million tulips, with attendance of over 500,000 visitors annually...

, Canada Dance Festival

Canada Dance Festival

The Canadian Dance Festival is an annual Ottawa, Ontario event founded in 1987. Held in June, it sets the stage for Canada's most contemporary, innovative and leading edge dance choreographers and dance companies...

, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival

Ottawa Chamber Music Festival

Ottawa Chamberfest is a music festival held by the Ottawa Chamber Music Society in Ottawa, Canada.-Artists:In 1994, the idea of a chamber music festival in Ottawa came to life to remedy the meager availability of live classical music during the summer months and fill the city’s churches with...

, Ottawa Bluesfest

Ottawa Bluesfest

The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While ostensibly focused on blues, the festival has increasingly showcased mainstream pop and rock acts in recent years...

, Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival

Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival is a yearly event that attracts 5500 paddlers and over 70,000 spectators in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Historically, it is part of a Chinese tradition dating back almost 2400 years. It began as a rite in the banks of southern China to guarantee abundant crops...

 and Hope Volleyball. The festival partnerships resulted in several media uses of the photographs, including a spread by the Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Citizen

The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...

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Partnering with festivals is now limited to the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival

Ottawa Chamber Music Festival

Ottawa Chamberfest is a music festival held by the Ottawa Chamber Music Society in Ottawa, Canada.-Artists:In 1994, the idea of a chamber music festival in Ottawa came to life to remedy the meager availability of live classical music during the summer months and fill the city’s churches with...

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Competitions and Rank

Photographic competitions are run throughout the year, approximately monthly. These include an annual regional inter-club competition and the Bruce Wilson Memorial Trophy (which features entries of a set of five related black-and-white prints). Special interest groups run competitions or showcases as well, including the Nature Fall Challenge and the Urban Spring Creative Challenge.

Members acquire rank by consistently succeeding in the club competitions. Ranks range from Junior through Intermediate to Senior to Master. In the entire history of the club, there have only been two members that have attained the rank of Master. Jim Sutton and Yannis Souris.

History

The RA Photo Club was founded in 1939 as the "RA Camera Club", its first chairperson being Doug White of the National Film Board of Canada

National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...

 and met at 30 Rideau St. near the Government Conference Centre

Government Conference Centre

The Government Conference Centre is a government building in downtown Ottawa, Canada, located at 2 Rideau Street. It is situated at the intersection of Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal, just a short distance from the Parliament buildings and Confederation Square, and across the street from...

(then Union Station). In 1951 color slides were introduced and prints began to be exhibited in local theatres and department stores. The club moved to its current location at the RA Centre in 1962.

In 1970, Special interest focus groups of the club began with a Nature group in 1970.

Over the years the club has added facilities, including a darkroom in 1951, a portrait studio in 1955, audio-visual capability in 1978 and a digital lab in 2002. Recorded historical membership levels include: 50 in 1958, 90 in 1965, 200 in 1999 and over 250 in 2006.

Recent Activity

2007 - Peter Juranka was recently a featured artist in Ottawa Life Magazine.

2007 - Three club members, Bill Young, Peter Juranka and Mike (Binary Rhyme) Heffernan scored honorable mentions in the Canadian Association for Photographic Art's Canadian national digital photography competition.

2006 - One of its members, Henry Fernando, was a top three finalist in a worldwide Popular Photography Magazine "Photographer of the Year 2006 " competition.

2006 - In a strange twist, the Urban Group's Press Release (regarding partnership with local Festivals) has been included in a text on effective media communications, offered by The Guild of Master Craftsmen.

External links

• http://www.raphotoclub.ca/ RA Photo Club
• http://www.capacanada.ca/ Canadian Association for Photographic Art
• http://www.ottawalife.com/ Ottawa Life Magazine
• http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/2633/announcing-the-popular-photography-imaging-photographer-of-the-year-2006-winner.html Popular Photography Photographer of the Year Winner
• http://www.thegmcgroup.com/theguild/index.html The Guild of Master Craftsmen