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    Meetings: 7:30pm |
Set Subjects
Monthly competitions at the Bay and Basin Camera Club consist of two sections, an Open section where any photograph may be entered, and a Set Subject competition, where entered photographs must relate closely to, and clearly reflect, the Set Subject which is chosen by the committee and advertised up to a year in advance.
The object of the Set Subject competition is to encourage members to try subjects that they might normally avoid, hopefully stretching their creativity, increasing their photographic knowledge and improving their photography.
Members are encouraged to take photos specifically for the Set Subject, rather than rummaging through their hard drives searching for a photo that fits the subject.
For links to all of our previous Set Subjects - click here.
Please contact any committee member with your set subject suggestions. A list of possible set subjects can be found here - Set Subjects Suggestions
Upcoming Set Subjects - click the links below for examples further down the page
2025 | |
| ___________________________________ | |
| November | Patterns |
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| 2026 | |
| ___________________________________ | |
| February | Long Exposure (30 secs or longer) |
| March | Selective Focus |
| April | Urban |
| May | Triptych Story |
| June | Triangles |
| July | Repetition / Rows |
| August | Knots |
| September | Junk |
| October | Disappearing Professions |
| November | Water Reflections |
Guidelines for upcoming Set Subjects
Disclaimer: the images shown below may not fit the set subject - it is always up to the discretion of the judge ...
October 2025 - Lights that look like Neon Lights
Neon lights are electric lights lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They have generally been phased out in favour of LED lights which look like neon lights of old. Because of this, for this set subject, we can take images of neon lights, or of lights that look like neon lights.
November 2025 - Patterns
A pattern is any regularly repeated arrangement, especially a design made from repeated lines, shapes, or colours on a surface. Patterns can be natural or man-made.
February 2026 - Long Exposure (30 secs or longer)
Correctly exposed images that are 30 seconds or longer can produce all kinds of interesting blur effects depending on the subject. Classic (and dare I say "cliched") subjects include waterfalls, car lights, ocean waves, clouds, star trails and people standing still in moving crowds (as shown below). Can you think of anything else that would work?
March 2026 - Selective Focus
This photographic technique is usually done best with settings that yield a shallow depth of field - i.e. a fast lens wide open or a telephoto lens with a short subject distance. The subject of the image is sharp, but all other areas of the photo are out of focus, though usually still recognizable.
April 2026 - Urban
Urban can be defined as relating to, or characteristic of a town or city. Urban photography is a genre of photography concerned with capturing scenes from urban spaces. It's often linked to street photography and landscape photography, but it's a broader genre that can include anything within a built-up, urban environment.
May 2026 - Triptych Story
3 pictures telling a story – perhaps suggesting a beginning, middle, and an end. The three panels may show a distinct sequence of events, each contingent upon the other and the whole story is not fully revealed unless all three panels are included and viewed together.
June 2026 - Triangles
A triangle is a geometric shape that has only three sides and three corners. There are six types of triangles - acute, obtuse, right, isosceles, equilateral and scalene. A triangle is also a musical instrument, although AI seemed to get a bit confused about what they look like in one of the photos below. Triangles are common in architecture and engineering, but not a particularly common occurrence in the natural world.
July 2026 - Repetition / Rows
Repetition and Rows are subjects that don't really need to be defined because everyone knows what they are and they can't really be confused with anything else. Repetition is simply the recurrence of anything, and rows are the recurrence of lines of things. Of course, a row can also be an argument, and rows is what someone in a row-boat does, but those things are probably not what the judge will be looking for!
August 2026 - Knots
A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. A knot is also a type of bird, but the judge might not be a bird-lover so images of Great Knots or Red Knots might not be appreciated ...
September 2026 - Junk
Junk - old or discarded articles that are considered useless or of little value. Also a common description of fast food, and a type of Chinese boat as well, but judges might reject KFC and boat photos.
October 2026 - Disappearing Professions
Disappearing Professions - check-out chick, telephone operator, bank teller, elevator operator, Tupperware hostess, typist, train driver, milkman, typesetter - too many to list here!
November 2026 - Water Reflections
Reflections in water - pretty easy to understand!
