The Camera Club

Left to Right: Unidentified, Theodore Eitel, Unidentified 

The widespread popularity of photography can ultimately be traced back to the influential camera clubs of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, which brought together amateur photographers who sought to create beautiful pictures in their leisure time. These camera clubs made essential contributions to the spread of photography as a hobby and as a legitimate art form by holding salons and freely sharing new discoveries and techniques.

If only the professional art photographers—those producing in strict pictorialism and, later, straight photography—could have seen the benefits of the camera club. They did not, however. In fact, the 20^th century saw many art photographers withdraw from clubs in order to establish their work as Fine Art instead of an “amateur’s hobby.” To further distance themselves from hobbyists, these professionals sought to make their art more exclusive and inaccessible; according to them, it was not enough to create a picture simply for its beauty. Seeking to better reflect the painters and sculptors they admired, art photographers created specific stylistic rules, hosted specialized exhibitions designed after the Fine Art salons, and required aesthetic justification from their artists.

Despite their efforts, these artists could never entirely sever their connection to camera clubs. Art photography styles, like pictorialism or straight photography, were in part a reaction against the styles of camera clubs. For example, while camera clubs were embracing a more “snapshot” style, art photographers turned to the highly aestheticized pictorialism. Later, when camera clubs embraced pictorialism, art photographers turned instead to straight photography, which somewhat resembled the earlier “snapshot” works.No matter their efforts, the early styles of photography will always owe some debt to photographers like Gunter, who developed the medium simply for the joy of it.