Sun City Photography Club History by Burton Anes
 

     When we moved to Sun City in May 2001, I was looking to join a photography club, but there was none in Sun City. I impatiently waited more than a year hoping someone would start one, but no one did..

So, in September 2002, I invited Marvin Korn and Fidel Exconde to my home because photography was their hobby, too. Besides taking pictures, they enjoyed showing their photos and talking about photography. We had such a good time that we agreed that a photography club should be started immediately. They decided to make me their “fearless leader.”

I next checked with Sun City and learned that their policy was to allow a group to hold meetings free at the Meeting Place (it’s not here now) and then, by the end of six months if the group grew to 50 or more people, they could officially form a club and continue to meet there free.

I immediately reserved the room for the next six months and ran a free ad in the Sun City’s monthly newsletter, the Sun Rays. There were 19 people at the first meeting on Monday, December 2, 2002. Though the group was growing nicely over time, I could tell we wouldn’t have 50 members by May, so we started looking for other public places to meet - to no avail. 

We held meetings in members’ homes until December 2003, when we started to meet in the small conference room at the First Texas Bank in SC. We very quickly outgrew the room and had to meet in members’ homes again, until May 2004, when we became a Special Interest Group of the Visual Arts Club - which we still are today.

In the beginning, each month we’d bring in up to four photos to show and discuss, but as membership grew we had to cut back to two photos each. We also had show-and-tell, and speakers from our club and outside. We also held numerous photographic exhibits in the double showcases at the Social Center and the walls of the Activities Center.

Over the summer of 2003 we held a Photo Scavenger Hunt in Georgetown. And that September, in my home, we voted on the scavenger hunt winners and then I demonstrated Photoshop on my computer. For many, it was their first introduction to PS. Now we have many classes and have many exhibits. We even compete with other photo clubs in the southwest U.S. Our membership now hovers around 100. 

Roy McDonald became president on January, 2005. He was followed by Barbara Wilder, 2007. Our new president is Mark Holly, 2008.