Boston Camera Club facts for kids
The Boston Camera Club is a group for people who love photography in Boston, Massachusetts. It started way back in 1881. The club offers many fun activities for amateur photographers, whether they use digital cameras or old-fashioned film cameras. The club is supported by its members, but its events are usually free and open to everyone.
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History of the Club
Photography began in 1839. For many years, taking pictures was hard work. It involved complex methods like daguerreotypes and wet-plate photography. But in the 1880s, things changed! Companies like Eastman Kodak introduced "dry plates." These were glass plates with chemicals already on them, making photography much easier.
Then, in 1888, Kodak brought out flexible film. This was a huge step, making photography available to many more people. Even with film, many professionals and serious amateurs still used glass plates until the early 1900s. Today, most photography, including at the club, is digital.
How the Club Started
The club we know as the Boston Camera Club began on October 7, 1881. It was first called the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers. It's the oldest camera club in the U.S. that was started by amateurs and has been active ever since!
A few people were at that first meeting, including John H. Thurston, who was very active. They elected temporary leaders. Soon, another small group of photographers joined them. On November 18, 1881, they all met and chose their first official leaders. William T. Brigham became president, James F. Babcock was vice president, and Wilfred A. French was secretary and treasurer. These early members included a chemistry professor, photo suppliers, and a newspaper editor.
At first, the club met in different places, like a newspaper office. Later, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which was in Boston at the time, became a regular meeting spot. Joining the club wasn't cheap back then, costing $5 a year plus a $3 entry fee.
A New Name and Home
As amateur photography grew in the U.S., the club changed its name to the Boston Camera Club in 1886. The first meeting under the new name was on October 7, 1886. On April 6, 1887, the club officially became a non-profit organization in Massachusetts. Its goal was to "further the knowledge of photography" and help amateur photographers in Boston connect with each other.
George Edward Cabot, who made electric products, was the first president of the incorporated club (from 1886 to 1890). By 1888, the club had 64 members, and by the end of the 1800s, it usually had around 100 members. Dues were quite expensive then, at $20 a year.
Club Meeting Places Over Time
From 1886, the Boston Camera Club had its own headquarters at 50 Bromfield Street in Boston for about 35 years. This location was probably chosen because it was near downtown photo stores and where some members worked. The club had eight rooms, including an exhibition gallery to show photos, a studio for taking pictures, dark rooms for developing film, and a library.
They had lots of equipment, like cameras, special lenses, enlargers to make bigger prints, and projectors for lantern slides. This allowed members to create different types of prints and slides.
Around 1908, the club faced some tough times. Membership went down, and meetings became less frequent. A few dedicated members, like Frank Roy Fraprie and Horace A. Latimer, kept the club going. In 1924, the club left Bromfield Street and met at the Boston Young Men's Christian Union (YMCU) for several years.
In 1931, a generous gift from a wealthy member named Horace A. Latimer helped the club bounce back! Membership grew again, especially after World War II, reaching 286 members in 1946. With Latimer's gift, the club moved to 330 Newbury Street in the Back Bay area of Boston. In 1934, they bought a building nearby at 351 Newbury Street. They used three floors for two exhibition galleries, a darkroom, a library, and a kitchen. Public photo shows started again.
Membership kept growing, reaching its highest known number of 547 members in 1959. This was partly because of good economic times and the introduction of 35mm film by Kodak in the 1930s. People often joined camera clubs to learn how to use their new cameras.
By 1970, membership started to decline again. This was probably because cameras became much easier to use. SLR cameras became popular in the 1960s, and then cameras with autofocus and automatic exposure came out in the 1970s. People didn't need as much instruction anymore. Also, home video cameras became popular.
In 1980, the club had to leave 351 Newbury Street. For the first time, the club moved outside of Boston, to the nearby town of Brookline. In 1997, it moved to another part of Brookline.
Starting in 2006, membership grew again. This was largely because the club focused on digital photography, promoted itself more, and had a good website. During the worldwide coronavirus pandemic in 2020–2022, the club held its meetings and presentations online. In 2023, the Boston Camera Club returned to Boston! Its current home and meeting place is the historic Old South Church in Boston in Copley Square, Back Bay.
Prominent Members
Since the Boston Camera Club started before photography was common, many early members were very skilled. Some even helped create new photography technology or became famous for their work. Since 1889, the club has given honorary life memberships to people who have helped the club a lot or achieved great things in photography.
Early Members (1800s)
Among the club's founders, James F. Babcock was a chemistry professor with several U.S. patents. Wilfred A. French was a publisher and editor of a photography magazine. Other important early members included Emma J. Fitz, painter and suffragist Sarah Jane Eddy, and photography pioneer Emma D. Sewall.
George Edward Cabot, the first president of the incorporated club, was a partner in an electric products company. The club also had two famous astronomers as members: Percival Lowell and William Henry Pickering. Pickering was an astrophotographer who discovered Saturn's moon Phoebe. He also worked on faster camera shutters for night photography and supported women in astronomy.
Painter and photographer Sarah Choate Sears was recognized by famous photographer Alfred Stieglitz. In 1899, she had her own exhibition at the club. Two people who worked with Alexander Graham Bell (who invented the telephone) were also honorary members. Professor Charles Robert Cross taught one of the first electrical engineering courses in the U.S. Inventor and club vice president Francis Blake Jr. helped the club financially in its early years. Blake's invention in 1877 made Bell's telephones very successful. He also did important work on camera shutters, achieving very fast exposure times (1/2000 of a second) by 1890.
Fred Holland Day, a publisher and artist, joined the club in 1889. He was a leading artistic photographer of his time. He lectured at the club and even judged exhibitions.
Horace A. Latimer, an amateur photographer, is one of the best-remembered early members. His photos were shown at the Smithsonian Institution in 1896. He was also published in a famous photography magazine. Today, the club's photo critiques are called the Horace A. Latimer Print Competition, in thanks for his generous gift that helped the club.
Later Members (1900s and 2000s)
In the early 1900s, several club members were important photography writers and publishers, like Frank Roy Fraprie. Adolf "Papa" Fassbender, a German-born educator, taught thousands of people about photography over 72 years!
The club also had members who were artists in other fields but also practiced photography. These included sculptor Leonard Craske, etcher and author Samuel V. Chamberlain, painter Emil Albert Gruppé, and photographer Eleanor Parke Custis. Arthur Hammond, a photography author, won a top prize at the 1939 New York World's Fair for his photo of the fair's famous Trylon and Perisphere towers.
One of the most famous photography inventors of the 1900s was Harold E. "Doc" Edgerton, an MIT professor and honorary club member. He greatly improved the photographic strobe, allowing for super-fast exposure times (one-millionth of a second!). His amazing stop-action photos were featured in Life magazine. He also worked on night aerial photography for the D-Day invasion in World War II and explored the undersea world with Jacques Cousteau.
In the second half of the 1900s, honorary members continued to achieve great things. H. Bradford Washburn Jr. was a famous mountaineer, mapmaker, and aerial photographer. Photojournalist Arthur Griffin was well-known for his photos of New England scenes and opened the Griffin Museum of Photography. Lou Jones is a Boston-based photographer known for his commercial, Olympic Games, and jazz photography, and his photojournalism. Gordon A. Hicks was the longest-known club member, staying active for 71 years!
Exhibitions
The Boston Camera Club has a long history of showing off photos. They've hosted many types of shows: exhibitions by their own members, joint shows with other camera clubs, shows by outside photographers, and "salons." Salons are judged competitions open to photographers from all over the world.
Early Shows
The club's first exhibition was in 1883 at MIT, a very large show with about 700 photos! The second show in 1884 was at the Boston Art Club. The third show in 1885 included some daring photos for the time. In 1893, famous American painter Edmund C. Tarbell was one of the judges for the club's annual exhibition. Members like Emma D. Sewall and Sarah Choate Sears won top awards in later shows.
In 1898, the club showed 250 photos by Fred Holland Day. In 1904, the club helped organize a photo exhibition at the St. Louis World's Fair.
Joint Exhibitions
For several years, the Boston Camera Club teamed up with the Photographic Society of Philadelphia and the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York to hold "Joint Exhibitions of Photography." These shows rotated annually between the three cities. There were seven of these exhibitions between 1887 and 1894.
The fifth Joint Exhibition, held in Boston in 1892, was a huge show with over 600 photos. It included 18 photos by Alfred Stieglitz and 45 photos by the Boston club's Francis Blake Jr., which was the first public showing of his work. Of the sixth exhibition in Philadelphia in 1893, Stieglitz called it "without doubt, the finest exhibition of photographs ever held in the United States."
Salons (Competitions)
The Boston Camera Club has held two series of photographic salons, or competitive exhibitions. After the club was revived by Horace Latimer's gift in 1931, it started an international competition called the Boston Salon of Photography in 1932. This competition was held 43 times over the next five decades! In 1953, it was renamed the Boston International Exhibition of Photography.
Famous photographers who entered the Boston Salon included Croatian photographer Tošo Dabac and future U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater. Noted photographer A. Aubrey Bodine won the Frank R. Fraprie Memorial Medal multiple times. Other notable entrants included Hong Kong–American photo prodigy Fan Ho and Mexican cinema director José Lorenzo Zakany Almada. In 2021, the club even put on an outdoor exhibition of its members' work on a wall in Boston's Seaport district.
Guest Exhibitors
From the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, the Boston Camera Club hosted exhibitions by famous photographers from outside the club. In 1896, they showed work by Alfred Stieglitz. In 1899, they had shows by major figures Frances Benjamin Johnston and Clarence White. In 1900, they showed 150 photos by Gertrude Käsebier, which a magazine called "undoubtedly the finest collection of photographs ever seen" in Boston. They also exhibited work by early English pioneer photographer Henry Peach Robinson.
In 1940, the Boston Camera Club exhibited the work of Edward Weston, a very important American photographer. In 1953, the club showed photos from the 1840s by Scottish pioneers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson.
Education
The Boston Camera Club has always worked to share "the knowledge of photography," as stated in its 1887 charter. They've hosted lectures and programs by expert members and guests.
One of the first known talks was about camera lenses. In 1883, the club's president gave a lecture on the history of photography. In the 1880s, member Francis Blake Jr. gave talks on high-speed photography. In 1895, Owen A. Eames showed his "Eames Animatoscope," an early movie device! In 1904, Fred Holland Day gave a famous talk asking, "Is Photography a Fine Art?" Many others lectured at the club in its early years.
Around 1888, some club members started the "Old Boston project." They took photos of historic sites around Boston. These photos are now owned by the Boston Public Library and were rediscovered in 2007. In the 1890s, members also made lantern slides (like early color slides) and explored 3-D photography.
In the 1940s, the club brought entertainment and instruction to disabled World War II veterans at a Boston-area Army hospital. In the 1950s and 1960s, the club had a movie group and owned a movie projector. In the 1970s and 1980s, famous photographers like Marie Cosindas and Minor White gave presentations. In the 1990s, the club sponsored day-long courses by photographers like Lou Jones and John Sexton.
Today, professionals from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald newspapers, and instructors from the New England School of Photography, often present and judge competitions at the club. Since the late 1990s, the Boston Camera Club has regularly held lectures and field trips focused on digital photography.
Today
The Boston Camera Club still meets weekly, just as it has for most of its history. Meetings are held at its Old South Church headquarters in Boston every Tuesday evening from September to June. These meetings are open and free for everyone to attend.
Activities range from beginner to advanced levels. They include educational sessions, photo competitions and critiques, formal portrait sessions with live models, field trips to interesting locations, and competitions with other camera clubs. The club regularly invites outside speakers and competition judges.
The club shares information through its website and its newsletter, The Reflector, which started in 1938 and is now published online. The Boston Camera Club is a member of the New England Camera Club Council and the Photographic Society of America.
Images for kids
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Darkroom
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Darkroom stalls
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Making lantern slides
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Studio, with skylight
All images, 50 Bromfield Street, Boston.
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