Welcome to the City of London & Cripplegate Photographic Society!
Our Society is a community of photography enthusiasts from all walks of life. It was formed on the 17th January 1899 at the Cripplegate Institute in East London, making us one of the oldest Societies in the country.
Our aim is to help members on their photographic journey, irrespective of their starting point - encouraging everyone to improve their photographic knowledge and practice in a fun, supportive and welcoming environment.
The Society meets throughout the year on the first and third Tuesday of every month close to the Barbican Centre. For those who can't attend, we offer the opportunity to "Zoom in", and non-members are very welcome to attend as a guest.
Our programme has four elements to it:
Inspiration – well known and respected photographers come and talk to us about their work and careers to inspire our own image creation. Recent speakers have included Syd Shelton, Peter Dench, Adam Wiseman, Jo Sax, Derek Ridgers, Sarah Ainslee, Stuart Freedman and Tom Hunter
Learning – invited experts and tutors come and talk to us about how to do things, and how to do them better. Our four-round competition consists of two rounds where experts give us advice, inspiration and instruction and then return to give their views on our endeavours. The other two rounds use external qualified judges who give constructive criticism of our submitted images. Our experts have included Honey Salvadori, Marriane Holm Hanson, Slavek Staszczuk, Simon Ellingworth, Nigel Wilson and Michael Harding
Community – This takes a number of forms. We go out on photographic walks capturing what we see in our own style and then discuss our photographs together. We have meetings where members talk about their work, their projects or their techniques with the aim of sharing knowledge and encouraging everyone to think differently
Special events and projects – Being based in the heart of London gives us opportunities that other photographic groups may not have. In 2024 we celebrated our 125th anniversary with special visit to St Paul’s Cathedral arranged because of our historic connection to the Cathedral – one of our founding members was the Dean; in the past we have run a programme photographing the City’s livery Halls; we produced a book of members photographs; our recent "Storyteller" programme helped members create photo-essays with the support of external speakers, member workshops, buddy programmes, and an evening to review our work. in 2025 we will begin a project with the London Archives documenting changes in the City over the last century. And 2025 will also be the year of our biennial exhibition which will be held at the Barbican throughout October.
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