The Annual NBCC Photo Essay Program

Every year since 1986, NBCC has celebrated its anniversary with a special slide show usually held in March. Over the years these slide shows evolved into electronic photo essay shows. For each program, approximately twenty members produce photo essays of their wonderful photographs set to music.

The program is intended to showcase the participants' photography and to entertain members, their families and friends, and members of other local camera clubs.

Our objective is to build upon the successful elements of prior year programs, while continuing to make improvements to the presentation. The individual essays are consolidated into a unified program, with deliberate sequencing and a consistent look and feel. The audience enjoys a single presentation by NBCC, not a one-by-one showing of separate presentations. The program is organized to flow coherently from beginning to end, with a common framework and standardized author introductions. At the same time, the authors enjoy full artistic freedom and maximize individuality within their essays.

The overall program will contain a wide variety of photo essays, and usually lasts approximately two hours with a short intermission.

Originally, these slide shows were held in the club's usual Wednesday night meeting place, but attendance grew and in 2007 we began holding the shows in large theater-like auditoriums on Sunday afternoons.

Members wishing to participate in the annual photo essay program are invited to submit draft essays in the fall. The essays can cover any body of work and should be approximately four minutes in length. The submitted essays are juried and critiqued by the Photo Essay Committee, and approximately 20 essays are selected for inclusion in the program. The criteria for selection are image quality and appeal, essay composition, theme, music and variety in the overall program. After receiving feedback and coaching from the Committee, members revise their draft essays and create final versions which are then integrated by the Committee into the final program.

Several articles are available describing both the creative aspects of photo essay making, and the specific procedures and requirements for participating in the NBCC photo essay programs. Links to these articles are provided below.

Photo Essay 2012

On March 18, 2012 (3-5 pm, Sunday afternoon), NBCC will present the 28th Annual NBCC Photo Essay program in the auditorium of Clubhouse #2, Leisure World of Maryland, 3701 Rossmoor Blvd., Silver Spring, MD 20906. Please note the change in venue from earlier announcements. This is a private, invitational event open only to members of North Bethesda Camera Club and their guests, as well as residents of Asbury and their guests.

Photo Essay Participants - Please Read:

Photo Essay article in the November 2011 issue of The Lens and Eye newsletter.

NBCC Photo Essay Preparation 2012 - Dates, submission checklist, file requirements, ProShow guidance, general advice

How to Create Photo Essays - Artistic guidance for creating photo essays