Otley Camera Club

12/06/2026

📸 Meet The Members – Les Smart 📸

This week in our summer Meet The Members series we're featuring Les Smart.

Originally from Liverpool, Les likes to joke that he had to leave because he doesn't like football!

A member of Otley Camera Club since 2017, Les recently stepped down from the role of Competition Secretary after many years of dedicated service (joining the committee on almost his first visit to the club). During his time in the role, he did an outstanding job helping to organise and run the club's competitions. Although he has handed over the role, Les remains a very active member of the committee and continues to lead on many aspects of the club's external competition entries.

Having retired from a career in the NHS, Les now enjoys spending more time pursuing his passion for photography. A Canon user, he is equally at home working with Godox flash equipment and editing his images in Photoshop and Lightroom. More recently, he has also begun printing his photos at home.

Unlike many photographers, Les has never chosen to specialise in a particular genre. He enjoys the variety that photography offers and is always keen to try something new. The only area he has never really embraced is landscape photography – mainly because it often involves getting up far earlier than he'd like!

Les's photography has enjoyed considerable success over the years. He achieved first place in Otley Camera Club's Annual Exhibition in both 2019 and 2026, a reflection of the consistently high standard of his work across a wide range of photographic subjects.

Thank you to Les for sharing his photographs with us this week. His images can be seen in full over on our website.

https://www.otleycameraclub.net/blog-meetthemembers

Which image is your favourite?

05/06/2026

This week in our summer Meet The Members series we're featuring Richard Sells.

Richard recently stepped down as Chair after two years leading the club but remains an active committee member with responsibility for the club's website and social media.

Outside the club, Richard teaches computing at a local primary school and also runs a beginner's photography course through a community education programme.

Unlike many photographers, Richard doesn't have a favourite genre and enjoys photographing just about everything. From wildlife and portraits to landscapes and creative miniature scenes, he loves the variety that photography offers.

One of his most memorable experiences was a week-long photography trip to Iceland with fellow club members, where he captured some of the dramatic landscapes featured here.

Richard is currently working on a year-long "Miniature World" project, creating and photographing a new miniature diorama every week.

Thank you to Richard for sharing his photographs with us this week.

What's your favourite image from this collection?

See a gallery of the images:

https://www.otleycameraclub.net/blog-meetthemembers

03/06/2026

A great photographic exhibition in Otley.

This summer, discover the work of Arthur Howard Guise (1931–2017) in a new exhibition at The Otley Courthouse.

A respected silversmith, designer, photographer and former lecturer at Leeds College of Art, Guise spent decades creating and documenting his work, much of which remained unseen during his lifetime. Featuring photography, observational drawings and pieces from his personal archive, this exhibition offers a rare glimpse into a remarkable creative practice.

On display throughout the summer, June–August.

03/06/2026

Otley Camera Club 2025/2026 – The Year in Numbers 📸

As another fantastic season comes to an end, we thought it would be fun to look back at the year through some numbers!

Here’s what Otley Camera Club achieved during the 2025/2026 season:

📅 35 club meetings
⏱ 4200 minutes of meetings
👥 660 total attendances across the season
📸 47 members

🎤 7 guest speakers
🏆 7 competitions
🖼 490 competition entries
👏 27 different members placed in competitions

🏅 Photographer of the Year: John Northover
🏅 Photo of the Year: Claire Wilson-Sharp
🏅 Annual Exhibition Winner: Les Smart

🖼 97 entries into our Annual Exhibition
🚶 6 club trips and outings
🎉 11 new members joined through our Exhibition Early Bird offer and 3 with tombola prizes

But the numbers only tell part of the story…

This season has also included:
✨ Lots of laughter
✨ New friendships
✨ Tea and biscuits
✨ Members supporting each other
✨ Creative risks and experimentation
✨ Learning new skills
✨ Thousands and thousands of photographs taken!

A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to making Otley Camera Club such a friendly, supportive, creative, and thriving community.

We can’t wait for next season already!

01/06/2026

A big thank you to everyone who supported our exhibition this weekend.

A review of the Annual Exhibition 2026

31/05/2026

Saturday evening saw one of the highlights of the Otley Camera Club year — our Annual Awards Evening 🏆📸

Following a guided tour of the exhibition by our judge, Mark Waddington, members gathered to celebrate the end of another fantastic season and recognise the achievements of our members throughout the year.

Congratulations to all our award winners, including:

🏆 Annual Exhibition Winning Image – Les Smart
🏆 Public Choice Award – John Northover
🏆 Photographer of the Year – John Northover
🏆 Photo of the Year – Claire Wilson-Sharp

A huge well done to everyone who received awards and to all members who contributed to such a successful season and exhibition.

31/05/2026

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Exhibition yesterday 📸

We were delighted to welcome so many visitors, hear so many positive comments about our members’ work, and even better — sign up 7 new members!

The exhibition is open again today at:

📍 Otley Parish Church
⏰ 1:30pm – 4:00pm

There are still some delicious cakes available 🍰, plenty of great prizes left on the tombola, and our special exhibition membership offer is still running:

🎟 Join Otley Camera Club until January 2027 for just £20!

Last night we also held our awards evening, where our judge Mark Waddington announced the exhibition results alongside the public vote winners.

Congratulations to everyone who placed — and thank you again to everyone who helped make the exhibition such a success.

30/05/2026

Annual Exhibition now open. Lovely and cool in the church, some great photos and some delicious cakes.

29/05/2026

📸 THIS WEEKEND! 📸

The Otley Camera Club Annual Exhibition is almost here and we’d love to welcome you along.

Come and enjoy a fantastic display of photography from our talented members, featuring everything from stunning landscapes and wildlife to portraits, sport, macro, street photography, and much more.

Our tombola is full to bursting and delicious cakes are ready to be served. There are also print sales, project displays and a 2nd hand photography sale.

📍 All Saints Parish Church, Otley

📅 Satutday 30th May 10 am - 5 pm

📅 Sunday 31st May 1:30 pm - 4 pm

💙 Sponsored by Specsavers Otley

🎟 Annual Exhibition Early Bird Membership Offer - join us until January 2027 for £20.

Whether you’re a photographer, art lover, or simply curious about what we do, it’s a brilliant chance to see some amazing local photography and meet members of our friendly club.

We hope to see you there!