Welcome to Barry Camera Club

Barry Camera Club is one of the oldest camera clubs in Wales. It was officially formed in 1901 but prior to that it was part of the Barry YMCA.

The club is affiliated to the Wales Photographic Federation (WPF) and Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB).

It is a friendly club where people with an interest in photography can meet. Some members simply enjoy the company and the events, whilst others get more involved in the photographic aspects of the club. Our members have a wide range and level of interest and photographic skills. Some use mobile phones whilst others use point and shoot or DSLR cameras.

Of course, ‘it’s not the equipment it’s the skill with which it is used’.

Our club is open to anyone of any age with an interest in photography.  You don’t even have to live in Barry. Under 16s should normally be accompanied by an adult, or will be assigned an adult member to oversee (buddy) them.

Where Can I Find the Camera Club?

We meet regularly at the St. Francis Millennium Centre.  Non-members are welcome to come along to see what the club is like – check out the Events diary to see what’s on, or look at the calendar on the right-hand side?

We also have a Facebook group, where many of our members get together and a Flickr group where members post their images.

How Often Do We Meet?

Under normal circumstances, the club year is from September to June, with meetings on Fridays between 7pm and 10pm. All club activities will usually begin at 7:30 and finish between 9:30 and 10:00.

How Much Does It Cost to Join?

The annual season fee for 2025-26 is £40, under-18’s is £20.00

This fee is used to cover club running costs and events.

The weekly subs are £3 at every meeting to cover the costs of refreshments and hall hire.

A membership application form can be found here but are also available at the club on the night.

What Do We Do?

A typical evening might be:

A visiting presenter, often high profile in the world of photography, or a local photographer from our, or an affiliated club, will present a particular specialist topic e.g. Landscapes, Wildlife or Astro Photography or maybe even an account of one of their photographic safaris.

Alternatively, we have our educational/practical events i.e. presentation on a particular subject or Genre or Bring Your Camera evening and do some indoor photography.

Throughout the year we hold club competitions – entry is optional of course. A visiting judge provides feedback on the quality of the entries.

The evening finishes around 9:30

Other Club Activities:

During the summer months and throughout the year, optional outdoor field trips and/or educational activities are generally organised. These include visits to local attractions such as local beaches, parks or gardens, or maybe further afield such as Skomer, Bird of Prey Centres, Butterfly Houses, Waterfalls, or red kite feeding centres.

Throughout the year we also pit our photographic skills against other local clubs in Wales and beyond in what are usually referred to as battles. These are photographic competitions in which a judge compares our images to those of other clubs and awards points accordingly.

Competitions provide a means of evaluating our photographic skills compared to other members and also members of other clubs, thus enabling us to asses our standards of photography and to see how and where we can improve or have excellence.

The Finale to the standard club year is the Annual Competition and Awards Ceremony.  Here we have our final club competition where the winners receive awards. An external judge is invited to critique our images and grade them accordingly.

We also have our end of season social evening where members and often partners/guests, meet at a local venue for an evening meal. This brings closure to the formal year and a well earned break for your summer holidays. 

Historically Barry Camera Club has organised and hosted a Competition of its own ‘The Barrian Cup’. This is a high profile and well-established competition which usually takes place in June and is open to all camera clubs around Wales and Beyond. It is attended by up to 100 guests at the Millennium Centre here in Barry.

Throughout the Summer, field trips are usually offered. These are optional but give us a chance to get together at an outdoor event or location and practice our photography whilst also building our reserves of images for future competitions.

The future

Our program of events resume on September 12th 2025. Please refer to our EVENTS PROGRAM

The start of the new club year in September brings us new events and visits from experienced photographers with a variety of photographic skills and genres and a variety of optional competitions including a 2 way Battle with Cardiff CC and some three way battles with Merthyr, Rhondda, Cardiff, Rhiwbina and Gwynfa camera clubs.  

During December we play host to some visiting Photographers and a Christmas Evening which includes a photographic quiz, some seasonal nibbles and a challenge – a Fun evening to round off the year. 

For the next semester, starting on January 9th 2026, we once again have a full events calendar plus a few photographic challenges.

Please visit our EVENTS page on our web site on a regular basis so that we can keep you informed of future events.

Best wishes and stay safe and well.

from all at Barry Camera Club