• Learn from experienced photographers and meet new friends!
• Enjoy Photography outings, guest speakers, & presentations.
• Improve your skills through the club's educational website pages!
• Take your photography skills to the next level with optional camera settings, capturing, and editing suggestions/critiques.
• Monthly print and projection competitions in-person & on Zoom.
• Participate in PSA and NWCCC interclub & individual competitions.
  
• Meetings are open to the public. All ages & skills are welcome!
  
• TPS Annual Spring Fair Print Photo Contest open to PNW photographers.
  
• TPS Annual Division Competition & Award Banquet--members only.

To join TPS or read more about a membership click here

 2023 - 2024 Annual Division Competition Results

The Tacoma Photographic Society traditionally holds an Annual Division Competition and Awards Ceremony to recognize outstanding photographs and member accomplishments. The competition consists of both projected/digital photos and printed photos submitted to the club's monthly projection or print photo competitions throughout the competition year (May 2023-June 2024). A panel of at least three judges is selected by the Awards Committee, none of whom may be TPS members. Outside judges are used so you can see what non-TPS members think about your photographs.  Photographer names and photo titles are not revealed.

Please congratulate the following members for the placement award(s) they received:

Rebecca Blackwell &
Julie Bradley

Calling All Volunteers!

We need volunteers to fill the following positions as soon as possible.  Your help is very much needed and appreciated:

• Website Assistant - You do NOT need to know coding languages such as HTML.  This website is created through menu features and tools.  You will assist with some (but not all) of these tasks: updating articles, updating the Home Page slideshow of winning images, renewing memberships, setting up new memberships, creating field trips and travel galleries, and misc. duties.  Training will be provided - Contact Cheryl Thielhorn
  
• Communications Manager - Contact Judi Kubes
  
• Membership Chairperson - Contact Judi Kubes
  
• Publicity/Communications Manager - send out notices of TPS events, the annual Spring Fair Photo Competition information, Field Trips, etc. Contact Judi Kubes
  
• Program Manager - Help members to organize field trips, and schedule guest speakers and presentations - Contact Judi Kubes
• Education Manager - Organize training sessions for equipment choices/purchases and software editing programs.  Please share your knowledge and experience with our new members. Contact Judi Kubes.
  

Please consider helping out in any way you can to make this a more active, fun, and educational club.  Helping out with small jobs is greatly needed and appreciated.  It is also a great way to meet new people and earn a Service Point which allows you to progress in rank within the club and earn a certificate.  Contact Judi Kubes, Debbie Klosowski, Cheryl Thielhorn, one of the board members, or a committee member to volunteer.  We cannot have a club without volunteers! Thank you!

TPS Newly Elected Society Officers, Elected Board Members,
And Volunteers For June 2024 To May 2025

Elected Society Officers:

President - Judi Kubes
Vice President - Tedd Wilkinson
Treasurer - Heather Curbow
Secretary - Julia Bradley

Elected Board Members:

Print Division Chairman - Bruce Severeid
Print Division Secretary - Larry Maddox
Projection Division Chairwoman - Debbie Klosowski
Projection Division Secretary - William Jacobs

Volunteer Positions:
(a maximum of three members may be appointed to the Board of Directors)

Projection Division Representative - Dawn Umstot
Print Division Representative - Kristina Allums
Website Administrator (appointed to the Board of Directors) - Cheryl Thielhorn
Website Assistant: Joel Ferguson
PSA Representative - Gordon Swetland
NWCCC - Rebecca Blackwell
Field Trip Chairperson - Doug Hall
Membership - Vacant
Awards - Vacant
Program/Education - Vacant
Publicity - Vacant
Communications - Vacant

Please volunteer to fill these vacant positions by sending an email message to the "Management Committee".  Thank you!

2024 Competition Dates And Theme Assignments

Monthly Themes are chosen to encourage people to explore outside of their comfort zone and try photographing something different.  They stimulate your imagination, creativity, and resourcefulness. They encourage you to look around and pay more attention to something you might not consider photographing.  It takes just a little effort to look for these specific subjects which, surprisingly, can be fun and interesting.  Some clubs call it a “Club Challenge”.  Are you up to these monthly challenges? Don’t just search through your image library for something that will make do.  Go out, explore, try something new, and have fun!

The more accurately the main subject in your photograph expresses the theme, while achieving high-quality photographic and technical standards, the more likely your photo will receive higher judges' scores. The Theme subject must be the main subject of interest.

December 4 Projection Competition - December's Theme Is "Still Life"

Meetings are open to the public on the first Wednesday of the month; however, you must be a club member to compete in monthly and annual print and projection competitions.

We are pleased to offer TWO ways to attend the monthly Projection Competition meetings--either in person or via Zoom! The Zoom link will be emailed to everyone before the meeting date and will be posted on the Calendar and this webpage. 

Starting with the September 2024 monthly competitions, Theme images will now be eligible to be entered into the Annual Division Competition to be held in the Fall of 2025.  Please note, the current competition year has changed to September 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

Submit Images - Thursday, November 21 through Monday, November 25 at 11:30 pm

Judging & Voting - Tuesday, November 26 until 9:00 pm on Saturday, November 30. 

Review Meeting - Wednesday, November 6 - The image review meeting will be held in-person with social time and optional critiques starting at 6:30-9 pm as well as, through Zoom with this link: TBA

Meeting Location - Curtis High School, 8425 40th Street, University Place, WA  98466.  Google map

Directions:  Turn into the small parking lot (by the reader board sign and the big rock).  There are also flagpoles by the main entrance.  Go to the outside door marked "Staff Development Room".

Submission Requirements:          

• Export/Save
  your images in JPEG, sRGB, 80% quality, no larger than 1920 px wide x 1080 px high, and a 1.5 MB file size limit.     
  
• Submit your images on the website at:  Competitions > Submit Images For Print or Projection  OR  click here   
  
• Please capitalize each word in your image titles & check your spelling.  The public will see your mistakes and we can’t correct them for you. 
  
• DO NOT include your name or the file name in the photo titles.  The automated features of this new website will automatically insert your name into the proper place.
• DO NOT include "For Comment" or "Not For Comment" in the title of your photos. The website will keep track of the options you choose.

Your images will be automatically placed into your private Image Library for future reference and use including submitting them to the Annual Division Competition, and PSA competitions! You will also be able to read all the helpful, educational critiques from our members.

Winning images will be placed in the Home Page slideshow with permission of the owner.  If you do NOT want your winning photos included in the slideshow, please contact Cheryl Thielhorn through the website email message system.  For more projection information and competition rules, click here.

If you are not a member of the TPS and would like to start competing in Print and Projection Competitions, join the TPS by clicking here. After paying your dues, click on the Login button, and create a login name and password on the Home page of this website.  After logging in, set up your account profile on the My Account > My Account Settings page of this website.  Be sure to choose your security/privacy settings and watermark options for your photos.

November 21, 2024 Print Competition - November's Theme Is "Yellow"

Meetings are open to the public on the third Thursday of the month; however, you must be a club member to compete in monthly and annual print and projection competitions.

Starting with the September 2024 monthly competitions, Theme images will now be eligible to be entered into the Annual Division Competition to be held in the Fall of 2025.  Please note, the current competition year has changed to September 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

Submit Images - Sunday, November 17 at 12 am until Wednesday, November 20 at 11:30 pm - You must submit your images online before the meeting.  Please note that we no longer accept walk-in print registrations on the night of the meeting.  Therefore, please make sure you have pre-registered your prints on the website with a digital image of your print, before the cut-off date/time.  This change will allow the meeting to proceed on time, make the scorekeeping a smooth process, and creates less work for all of our volunteers.  Plus your photos will be stored in your private Image Library for future reference and use including submitting them to the Annual Division Competition, and PSA competitions.  Yes, our website is connected to the PSA organization!

Judge & Vote - Judging and voting are done in person at the review meeting.

Review Meeting - Thursday, November 21 - The meeting is at 6:30 pm to 9 pm with judging, voting, photo review, and optional critiques.  These meetings are in-person only (no Zoom meetings).

Location - Waller Road Grange, 2708 64th Street East, Tacoma Google map

Submission Requirements:

• Commercially
  made color prints shall be accepted in the Print Division competition.
• As stated in the Bylaws, Print Division entries shall be a minimum of 35 square inches (e.g., 5″ x 7″) not including mounting. Maximum combined print and mount size shall be no larger than 320 square inches (e.g., 16″ x 20″).
• Submit your images on the website: Competitions > Submit Images For Print or Projection  OR  click here.
• Please capitalize each word in your image titles and use proper word spacing. Please check your spelling! Everyone will see your mistakes which we can't correct for you.
  
• DO NOT include your name, the word "copy", or numbers in the image titles.  The automated features of the website will automatically insert your name into the proper place.
• DO NOT include "For Comment" or "Not For Comment" in the title of your photos. The website will keep track of the options you choose.

The TPS extends our sincere thanks to these local companies for helping make our TPS Annual Spring Fair Photo Competition a great success for us, and especially for all of the PNW photographer entrants! All photo entries are displayed at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup each April.

Copyright © 2024 Tacoma Photographic Society - Pierce County, Washington

All photos on this website are the artistic and intellectual property of club members and are copy-protected. By law, they can't be copied, saved, reproduced, distributed, or shared in any form or for any reason without written permission from the photographer who created the photo(s).  Photography is protected under the same copyright laws as fine art, books, poetry, and music.