Arizona Camera Club Council (ACCC), the Grand Photos representative is Stan Bormann.

ACCC is composed photo clubs, and the Arizona Chapter of PSA (Photographic Society of America), from around Arizona. Most of the clubs are in the greater Phoenix area, however, some are from other areas of the State, hence it is a statewide photography organization. ACCC conducts two photographic competitions each year as part of its Spring and Fall “Roundups” (meetings) which gather photographers from around the state for a day of photography and instruction. Competition entries are displayed, and awards are presented, during the Roundups. Members of Grand Photos often enter images in these competitions and attend the Roundups. Full information about the ACCC Roundups (including the dates, programs and registration information) and competitions (including rules, categories, entry methods and deadlines) can be found on the ACCC website at: www.arizonacameraclubcouncil.org.   

The ACCC Spring 2023 Roundup will held on March 11, 2023.  The Guest Speaker will be Tom Till.  The ACCC Digital Rotating category is “Nightscapes”.  For the latest information about registration as well as the digital and print competitions for the upcoming roundup please refer to:  https://www.arizonacameraclubcouncil.org. 

The ACCC publishes a newsletter, The Chronicle, twice a year.  The latest issue is January 2023

Click here for the results of the Spring 2022 ACCC digital competition for Grand Photos members.

Any questions or comments regarding ACCC or Grand Photos participation in ACCC should be addressed to Grand Photos’ Representative to ACCC, Stan Bormann

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PSA (Photographic Society of America) is a worldwide photographic organization of which Grand Photos is a member.  An annual meeting, at a different location in the US, is held each fall.  For further information, see the PSA website (www.psa-photo.org) and the monthly magazine (PSA Journal) that is available in the Grand Photos Studio.

Besides competitions, a number of Grand Photos members are active in PSA activities.  Amongst them are Stan Bormann, Margaret (Peg) Boike, Shirley Bormann, Norm Johnson and Sheldon Wecker.

PSA – Photo Travel Interclub Competition - This competition is available free of charge to all clubs belonging to PSA.  Shirley Bormann is the Grand Photos Coordinator.  There are three competitions annually.  Each new competition year starts November 15, with the remaining competitions February 15 and April 15.  For each competition, each club is encouraged to submit 6 different images from 6 different photographers depicting Photo Travel from any geographical area.  Participants submit two 1400x1050 pixel photo travel images by email to the club coordinator at Shirley Bormann several weeks before the competition due date.  Those participants or interested individuals will be asked to narrow down the images from each photographer to one image and they are voted on to choose the top six images to represent Grand Photos.    When they are judged, they are awarded points which are cumulative for the club for the season and the winners are announced afterward.

The date when images need to be submitted to will be announced, generally two weeks before the submission due date of the 15^th.  Please contact the PSA Travel Competition Coordinator above if you have any questions.

2022/2023 Photo Travel Division Definition: 

A Photo Travel image is a portrayal of the real world we live in, as it is found naturally. There are no geographic limitations.

Content guidance:

1. If the image is predominantly or exclusively a land-, sea- or cityscape, these “scapes” must include characteristic, distinctive and recognizable physical features, although it is not necessary that the image identify the exact location;
2. Images that predominantly or exclusively depict people and their activities must illustrate a distinctive culture of a country, region, or continent;
3. Images that predominately or exclusively depict animal populations are allowed, if the animals are in their native environment and are characteristic of that country, region, or continent;
4. Portraits or other close-ups of people or objects, in addition to meeting the above paragraphs as applicable, must include elements depicting some of the surrounding environment to make it obvious that the image was not taken in a studio setting;
5. Images from events or activities arranged for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are NOT allowed.
6. Time exposures are allowed, if they do not dominate the image as a special effect (star trails, for example, are a dominating effect).
   Highly distorted images such as those produced by fish eye lenses are NOT allowed.

Editing guidance:

Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.

Allowed editing techniques:

• Cropping, straightening and perspective correction.
• Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion.
• Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene.
• Complete conversion of color images to grayscale monochrome.
• Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blending or focus stacking);
• Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panoramas)

Editing techniques that are not allowed:

• Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and straightening.
• Adding a vignette during processing.
• Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome.
• Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color.

PSA - Open Images Competition - Grand Photos also started participating in PSA's Open interclub competition a year ago.   There is no restriction on the content or processing of these images but all content must be from your original images. 

·         Submit two images (1400 x 1050) to Stan Bormann (snbormann@gmail.com)  by the first of the month of the competition (November, February and April). Dates will be announced.   

·         The Club will submit six images total to PSA  chosen from those received for the competition.  Any questions, contact

Stan or Shirley Bormann.  

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ARIZONA STATE FAIR - PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 

Full details are available at the Arizona State Fair website, Arizona State Fair

The Arizona Chapter of PSA sponsor’s the Small Print Circuit 

All Arizona photographers are encouraged to participate in this circuit.  This is a “small print” exhibition (competition) meaning that prints are limited to a maximum of 8.5” x 12” and are not mounted, making it easy and inexpensive to prepare and mail prints.  In this circuit there will be six section, three in color and 3 in monochrome.  You can enter four images in each section, so you can enter up to 24 images and each image will be judged three times (the circuit) resulting in 72 opportunities for acceptance and/or awards. The Sections are:

·      Small Print Color Open

·      Small Print Color Scapes (A Scape is defined as an expanse of scenery. Scapes may be, but are not limited to landscapes, seascapes, skyscapes, or cityscapes. Human elements are allowed).

·      Small Print Color Animals (Animals are defined as organisms that can move voluntarily and can find and digest food.  For purposes of this exhibition a human is excluded from this definition.)

·      Small Print Mono Open

·      Small Print Mono People (People in all different forms, such as people in their environment both inside and outside studio, tasteful nudes, street photography – creative treatments allowed. People must be the main subject.)

·      Small Print Mono Architecture (Architecture is defined as any structure or significant part of or detail of a structure, designed and built by humans that is fixed in one place.)

Additional Information:

Monochrome prints must not be entered in a color section.

The same image must not be submitted in more than one section.

The cutoff date for future competitions will be announced when the competition is announced

Entry Fees are the following.  Assuming you are entering all sections with four images per section, this cost is less than the $1 per image judging.

·      $36 for one or two sections

·      $52 for three or four sections

·      $68 for five or six sections

Any Member of a club that is a member of ACCC will receive a 50% discount from these fees.  The cost is now less than ½ $.  All PSA members in Arizona are members of the Arizona PSA Chapter, which is a member of ACCC, therefore any PSA member in Arizona will receive this discount.

The next exhibition show will be announced when the competition is announced. 

Entry details can be found at the Arizona Chapter of PSA web site https://www.psaarizonachapter.com.

For additional information contact Stan Bormann

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Grand Photos also participates in the Grand Canyon Circuit.   The Grand Canyon Circuit is a PSA approved photographic exhibition (competition) that started in the Phoenix area.  The Phoenix clubs that are currently involved are Camera Guild (Sun City), Photography West (Sun City West), Grand Photos (Sun City Grand), Phoenix, Saguaro, Sun Lakes, Trilogy and Arizona Chapter of PSA.    There is generally a Fall and a Winter Circuit.  In each circuit, a total of six of the clubs participate and benefit financially from its share of the proceeds.  Several of our members act as judges.

The Fall circuit is normally Projected Image Division Open, Nature, and Photo Journalism, and the Winter circuit is normally Projected Image Division, Open, Nature and Photo Travel.  Each category has two sub-categories, for a total of 6 categories. details will be found at  www.grandcanyoncircuit.org.

The benefit to the participant of entering a Circuit instead of an ordinary competition is that the participant submits images which are then judged at least 3 times instead of one, thus enabling you to acquire more acceptances for the work and cost involved.  This is an international competition so entries come from around the globe.  It is fun to see how your own photography stacks up against other photographers and if you are a member of the Photographic Society of America (PSA), you are eligible to use your acceptances to apply towards stars to get other awards.

All ACCC club members of sponsoring clubs are eligible to enter for half price. Be sure to enter your club's name in the appropriate box on the entry form.  For more information and definitions of each category, see the website:  www.grandcanyoncircuit.org/.  If you have any other questions, contact  Shirley Bormann.

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