BY-LAWS

Article I: Name

The name of this organization shall be Charleston Camera Club. Here after to be documented as CCC.

Article II: Purpose

To exist as a non-profit organization and to promote and encourage photography as an art, hobby, or vocation through education and the sharing of knowledge and experience.

Article III: Membership

Section 1:
Any person interested in furthering the above stated purpose may become a member of CCC upon payment of dues.

Section 2:
Only active members will be eligible to compete in monthly competitions, have access to member side of website and vote during meetings of the CCC. An active member is defined as anyone who is current with the annual dues.

Article IV: Fiscal year

The fiscal year of CCC is from June 1 to May 31.

Article V: Dues

Section 1:
Dues are annual from the date paid and shall be as follows unless otherwise set by the CCC officers and approved by the membership:

• Individual membership $20.00
• Family membership $25.00
• Full-time (college/high school) Student membership: $10.00

Article VI: Meetings

Section 1:
Regular meetings shall be held on the 1st Monday of each month. If this meeting falls on a holiday, the meeting may be rescheduled by CCC officers upon availability of a meeting location. Meetings June through August may be held at the discretion of the CCC officers.

Section 2:
Competition meetings shall be held on the 3rd Monday of each month with May being the year end competition.

Section 3:
All meetings shall begin at 6:30pm and at a meeting location determined by the Board, and shall be posted on the Club website.

Section 4:
Quarterly board meetings shall take place in Jan, April, July and October at a time to be announced by the President.

More frequent meetings may be held at the discretion of the board.

Participants shall be all current officers and committee chairs. If a committee chair is unable to attend, they may appoint another member of the committee to be represented but will not have a vote. If an officer holds a committee position, he/she cannot be a committee chair and vice versa. According to Parliamentary Procedure, the President, as the chair of the board, will not vote except in the event of a tie.

Section 5:
Annual awards banquet shall be held in June at a date and time determined by officers/members but may be subject to scheduling of a banquet facilities.

Section 6:
In the event of bad weather or the need to cancel a meeting, the following steps shall be carried out by an officer of the CCC.

• Notify the meeting venue
• Send mass email to members
• Post on CCC website
• Call local radio stations

Section 7:
Parliamentary procedures for business conducted at CCC meetings shall be those of Robert’s Rules of Order.

Article VII: Officers

Section 1:
Officers shall consist of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer.

Section 2:
Annual Election of officers shall take place in May. Nominees should be obtained at a meeting or by committee prior to the election. If more than one candidate has been nominated, voting for such office shall be by written ballot, with election by a majority of those members present. Officers duly elected shall assume office at the awards banquet in June.

Section 3:
Terms of officers shall be for a period of one year. No elective officer shall hold the same office more than two full consecutive terms of one year each. A current officer may not hold the title of committee chair.

Section 4:
Roles of CCC officers

• President shall preside at all meetings and administer the Club’s affairs; work closely with the chairperson of the committees; appoint all committees if not filled by volunteer members; chair the board meetings quarterly.
• Vice President shall preside at all meetings of the CCC in the absence of the President. In the event of the vacancy in the Office of the President, the Vice President shall assume that office. The Vice President, along with the activities committee, shall make appropriate arrangements for the annual awards banquet in June regarding a meeting location and time.
• Secretary shall keep a complete record of all meetings and activities of the CCC and disseminate to members and post in the library on the CCC website within 30 days of each meeting. The Secretary shall maintain such records as may be pertinent to the CCC, i.e., By-Laws.
• Treasurer shall act as a custodian for all monies and securities of the CCC, depositing them in a banking institution; check PO box; pay all valid bills; keep a detailed account of all receipts and disbursements and submit a monthly and year- end report. The banking account for CCC shall require a dual signature of the current treasurer and the President or Vice President. The Treasurer shall collect dues and provide the membership committee with the applications of new members.

Section 5:
In the event of absence, resignation, death or removal from office of President, that office shall be taken over for the remainder of the term by the Vice President. If for any reason the Vice President is unable to take over the office of President, the Secretary shall assume the office of President for the remainder of the term and shall appoint a new Secretary. If any other office becomes vacant for any reason, it shall be filled for the remainder of the term by appointment by the acting President.

Article VIII: Website

Section 1:
The website shall be named to reflect the name of the organization and maintained by an appointed webmaster and/or website committee.

Section 2:
Website content will be limited to the activities and information for the CCC. No third party vendors are allowed to link to or link from the CCC website without approval of the officers and members.

Section 3:
Information collected from the website is for “internal use only” and will not be given to any third party vendor or entity.

Section 4:
The associated cost for the website and domain name registration shall become a fixed cost for the CCC annual expenditures.

Article IX: Committees and their responsibilities

Section 1:
Each committee shall have a chairperson and that person cannot hold a current officer position. New committees may be added at any time the need arises but must be voted upon by members. Likewise, any committee/s may be omitted or consolidated to become more functional for CCC and its members by majority vote. Each committee will be responsible for providing a committee update at the meetings.

Section 2:
Competition/Exhibition Committee: shall consist of at least 4 members. Committee members are responsible for:

• Make sure the meeting venue is available on the competition dates or find alternative locations or dates.
• Have someone scheduled to perform critiquing
• Determine the “themes” for the year. Themed months are even months and open months are odd months.
• Set up of tables/room prior to competition meeting.
• Check in all photo entries and collection of entry fees.
• Conducting club competitions including record keeping and calculations of point totals.
• Taking pictures or obtaining electronic file of first place photos for posting on website.
• Provide web master with files of competition point total spread sheets and 1st place images for posting.
• Obtain competition entries/ballots from webmaster and printing of ballots for competition.
• Preparation/ordering of awards for 1st place year end winners and Photographer of the Year awards.
• Preparation of certificates for 2nd-4th place year end winners.
• Locating venues to showcase the artwork of the members.
• Organize and coordinate the hanging of photographs.
• Keep club members informed of competition and exhibition opportunities outside of CCC.

Section 3:
Program/Activities Committee: shall consist of at least 3 members. Committee members are responsible for:

• Make sure the venue is available for program meetings or find alternative locations
• Securing a speaker or activity for the 1st Monday meeting
• Contact speakers prior to meetings as a reminder/verification of date and time/any equipment needed
• Provide President with a bio of the speaker for introduction for meeting
• Set up any needed equipment prior to meeting
• Provide a thank you note to speaker after meeting
• Planning at least 4 photo field trips/workshops yearly
• Assist Vice President in organizing awards banquet in June and provide date/time to members in timely manner
• Arrange/provide refreshments at meetings quarterly and at the year- end competition in May

Section 4:
Membership/Publicity/Website committee: shall consist of at least 2 members. Committee members are responsible for:

• Maintain up-to-date Club Membership Registry online
• Working with webmaster with the maintenance of the web-site and the timeliness of all web-site information
• All communications with newspapers, TV and radio concerning club events
• Promote CCC activities to current and past members to increase participation/membership
• Contact suitable businesses for exhibiting club information and offering discounts to club members
• Consider ways of increasing membership and participation of current members and with the approval of the officers, to direct any campaign for that purpose.
• Prepare membership packets containing current Bylaws and membership card to give to new members
• Have club information available for public events
• Greet all visitors and introduce visitors at the beginning of meetings
• Provide and keep current member name badges at all meetings

Article X: Competition Rules

Section 1: Ownership
Entry fee is $1.00 per entry

• Each entry shall be the property of a club member
• Club members only may submit entries to the monthly contest Each entry must be a photographic effort of a club member
• All entries must be preregistered by 8am Sunday the day prior to competition
• All entries must be present by 6:40 the day of competition or entry will be disqualified Owner of entries must be present at competition

Section 2: Categories

• Novice
  Color Print Intermediate
  Color Print Advanced
  Color Print Digital Art
  Black & White Print
• Intermediate
  Black & White Print Advanced
  Black & White Print HDR

Section 3: Mounting Requirements
Competition prints must be mounted on a board, foam-core or matted. NO FRAMED PRINTS

Section 4: Subject Matter
The subject matter of the monthly contests will be selected by the officers or by the competition committee each year and voted on by the membership. A schedule of competition themes for the entire year will be presented to the club in May of each year and be posted on the club website.

Section 5: Number of Entries
Color Images: one per month per member
Black & White Prints: one per month per member
Digital Art: one per month per member
HDR: one per month per member

Section 6: Age of Entry
Themed category – the photo must have been taken within the past two years
Open category – the photo can have been taken anytime

Section 7: Restrictions
Prints that have been entered in any prior Charleston Camera Club competition may not be entered again A color or black & white print cannot be identical in the same month

Section 8: Digital Art Submissions
Use of image editing techniques in order to CREATE a different image than the original (illusion or deception) which is more explicit than subtle alterations to color balance/contrast/sharpening shall be entered under the Digital Art category. Submission must include image samples or original image

Section 9: Marking/Identification
All entries must be titled (front or back)

Section 10: Class Entries

• NOVICE – A new member will be considered a Novice for competition until:
  They have earned 100 points in competition accumulated across consecutive years of membership, OR they request to compete in Intermediate or Advanced group. (After competing in Intermediate or Advanced you cannot return to the Novice group)
• INTERMEDIATE – a member will be considered an Intermediate for competition until:
  They have earned 200 points in competition accumulated across consecutive years of membership, OR they request to compete in the Advanced group. (After competing in Advanced you cannot return to the Intermediate group)
• ADVANCED – points for persons in the Advanced group start over at zero (0) at beginning of each year.

Section 11: Voting
Attendee must be a current CCC member to participate in voting during any club competition. Each entry should be judged on its own merit and not to be compared to the other images.
The Competition Committee shall prepare a rating system to be used in judging all entries in our monthly competitions, subject to approval by the Board.

Section 12: Points
Each month points will be awarded to contest entries as follows.

• 1st Place – 10 points
• 2nd Place – 08 points
• 3rd Place – 06 points Honorable Mention – 04 points

Every entry entered earns 1 point in addition to any points earned for Placing or Honorable Mention

Article XI: By-Laws Amendments

Section 1:
Recommendations for additions or amendments to CCC by-laws may be introduced at any time during a regular meeting. Such proposed additions or amendments shall not be voted upon until the next meeting. Prior to this meeting, an email shall be sent by the Secretary to all current members regarding the addition/amendment and the date in which a vote shall take place. To be adopted it must pass by a majority of members present at the meeting. Once adopted, the by-laws as amended will be effective at the next meeting of the membership.

Section 2:
A complete copy of the CCC by-laws shall be housed on the CCC website in the Library under by-laws and shall be available to all current members.