It has been truly wonderful seeing the member participation we've been getting at our monthly contests.  I know a number of our members are interested in exhibiting their work beyond the borders of our club, and I'm certain the community would truly enjoy the talents our club members have to share.  As we approach October, there will be quite a few opportunities to exhibit your work publicly and maybe even sell it if you are interested in doing so.

The North Georgia Photo Club Team Shoot-Out is a first-time event designed to promote photography, fellowship, and fun among all the camera clubs in North Georgia.  The event will be held Saturday, September 13 in Canton.  All participating clubs will compete against one another by taking and submitting ten photographs in five different categories (for a total of 50 images) within a five hour window.  More details and the latest updates on this event can be found here.  We will need to work as a team with some members capturing images while others handle the post processing work.  All images must be captured digitally.  Please be thinking about whether you want to participate in this unique event; I'll need commitments at our August meeting.

The Georgia National Fair (October 2 - 12) will have a photography competition.  Here are the official rules and an entry form, which must be mailed by September 1, 2008.  Submissions must be shipped or delivered to Perry, GA, and Karen Kendrick has offered to transport all our submissions as long as entrants contribute some gas money and there are enough people to make the trip cost effective.

Atlanta Celebrates Photography is an organization dedicated to the cultivation of the photographic arts and the enrichment of the Atlanta art community.  Every October they host a month-long festival that includes a variety of exhibitions and events around metro Atlanta.  The Cultural Arts Council invites the Sweetwater Camera Club to participate in this event with our own feature exhibit at the CAC for the entire month of October.

This year's exhibit will be titled "Harper Lee's South" to complement the CAC's Big Read project federally funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.  This project will focus around Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, and our submissions for this exhibit can portray anything about the book.  For some ideas about what to photograph, Wikipedia has one overview of the book, or you could join in on the community-wide event and read the book.

Some suggestions include photographs depicting:

• Southern culture from 1929 to 1941
• Agriculture
• Race tensions
• Father/daughter relationships
• Mockingbirds
• Lawyers
• Coming of age
• Politicians

In August, a reader's guide will be available to encourage discussion about the book and promote a deeper comprehension of the subject matter.

Framed submissions for this exhibit must be brought to our September 11 meeting, where entrants will be given some paperwork to complete.  Part of this paperwork allows you to declare a price for each piece if you want to offer it for sale (you can also designate a piece as not for sale).

The October exhibit not only attracts local visitors but also those interested in photography from all around Atlanta, so this exhibit at the CAC is a tremendous opportunity for your work to get excellent exposure and maybe even to sell some of your photography.

BTW - Congratulations to Linda Britt who sold one of her photographs exhibited during the Art Guild's recent exhibit at the CAC.