Champaign County Camera Club (CCCC)
The Champaign County Camera Club (CCCC) meets twice a month August through May at 6:30 p.m. in the Champaign Public Library in the meeting rooms on the first floor. Amateur and professional photographers are welcome. You do not need to be a member to attend the meetings. Check our Calendar for location or date changes.
Our members consist of amateur as well as professional photographers. Many travel worldwide to photograph, while others take advantage of local sites. If you own a SLR camera, an advanced point-and-shoot, or even your phone we invite you to join our club. Our goal is to have fun as we improve our images and make friends with others who share our passion. Membership is open to all passionate photographers, age 16 or older. Membership is $20 a year.
Club meetings cover a variety of topics. See our Calendar page for current meeting topics. Each year the Club has several club competitions with the categories varying from year to year. Most of these are digital image competitions, with one print competition. In addition, a year end Salon is held each April with a digital competition and a print competition. The Club also has a competition each May with the Bloomington-Normal Koda Roamers Camera Club.
The Club has several competitions a year, including a Salon each April. All Salon competitions are judged by non-member judges. The club also sponsors an annual Photographic Print Competition, Best In Show, that is open to the public. Best In Show is the largest amateur photographic print competition in the area.
The CCCC is a charter member of the Central Illinois Camera Clubs Association (CICCA) formed in 1950. Members of our Club have served as President and other officers of CICCA. CICCA conducts two Salons each year, a Fall Salon in which Clubs compete, and a Spring Salon in which individuals compete. These competitions currently include digital images and prints.
The club was founded in November, 1935, on the campus of the University of Illinois as the Photon Camera Club. After several name changes, it became known as the Champaign County Camera Club.
At the Club's inception, the primary medium of work, presentations and competitions was black and white photography, with members doing all of their own lab work -- development of negatives and printing of photographs -- often in their own darkrooms. It was not until 1950 that color slides became a feature of the Club's work. Until the mid-1990's, the Club retained the requirement that any prints exhibited had to be the work of the exhibitor. This was not too arduous for black and white work, but with the more narrow latitude required in doing color lab work, this rule was finally repealed in the late 1990's to allow prints to be printed commercially. The Club now also allows prints to have been made using any available digital techniques, and digital photography has become the main medium of photography for the Club's members.
For those persons interested in the early days of the Club, the Urbana Free Library's Archives has an abundance of materials.