A new photographic exhibition at Conwy Culture Centre celebrates 80 years of Conwy Camera Club. (Click an image to view full size in new tab)
The display features prints by 18 current club members and by six photographers who were members in previous decades. Admission is free of charge. The exhibition is open when the Cantîn café is open (including on Saturdays and Sundays) and is reached through the double doors beyond the café.
The club held its first full meeting in January 1945. It was known then as the North Wales Camera Club, being the only photographic society in the region. The name changed to Conwy Camera Club in the 1970s.
Today the club is the biggest in North Wales, with 90 members. Many of the images on display at Conwy Culture Centre are by photographers who joined during or after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The exhibition’s images by past club members include one by founder member Walter Harris, courtesy of Conwy Archive Service. Another is by Emrys Jones. He was a member from 1948 to 1998 and inspired many younger photographers, including the renowned Vietnam War photojournalist Philip Jones Griffiths.
This section of the exhibition also includes a portrait by Elizabeth Cook, who first joined the camera club as a schoolgirl in the 1950s. She rejoined in 1999 and was a driving force in the club’s rejuvenation in the 2000s.
Bob Gresty, chair of Conwy Camera Club, said: “Our 80th anniversary exhibition continues a long tradition of the club showing prints to the public, starting with a summer exhibition in Colwyn Bay in 1946. Many people still remember the club’s print display in the window of an empty shop in Conwy High Street from 1998 to 2013.
“We’re grateful to Conwy Culture Centre for the opportunity to showcase a variety of prints by current members and to pay tribute to some of the club stalwarts who are no longer with us.” Conwy Camera Club holds weekly Tuesday evening meetings from September to May and workshops all year round. It welcomes new members, from beginners to experts, and offers discounts for junior members and co-habitees.