Sedona Camera Club
The Sedona Camera Club has been meeting, learning and enjoying photography since 1952.
As a club, our mission is to educate members of the Club, the general public, and students in Sedona, the Verde Valley, and beyond about the art of photography.
We strive to achieve our mission through:
- Regular Monthly Meetings with programs taught by professional photographers and workshops taught by advanced Club members.
- Frequent Learning Sessions designed to assist beginning, intermediate and advanced photographers in adavancing their knowledge and to improve their skills.
- Providing members Monthly Opportunities to submit photos for critiques, member feedback or to simply share with other club members. Our critique program allows participating members to receive individualized critiques of their submissions to improve their photographic skills.
- Working cooperatively with other community organizations to provide artistic exhibitions that benefit club members and the community as a whole.
- Club Trips (local photoshoots or multi-day photo trips) and Special Events including workshops.
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President's Message
Hello all. We are moving well into spring now. Some blooms are showing, and I hope you all are getting out there with your cameras. Our next speaker, Bev Pettit, will talk with us about equine photography. Also, our last learning session of the club year is coming soon – Priscilla Burgers and Tim See are doing one on rodeo and other action photography. The details are below.
At the March club meeting, I presented our slate of candidates for next year’s board. Online voting has started. There is a quick link on the website that takes you to the ballot, but ONLY if you are logged into your club account. We need a quorum of the paid membership to cast ballots by the April club meeting to have an official election, so please vote soon.
The other big event we have coming is the end-of-year party, which will take place on Monday, May 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Sedona Community Center. Tickets are $25 and are available online (you need to log into your account!) and in person at the April club meeting.
As always, if you have any comments about improving what we do as a club, please feel free to speak with any board member.
Thank you for your support,
Mark Schmitz
President
Next Meeting
Monday, April 27th @ 6:00 PM
Bev Pettit
Equine Photography
**** Location ****
Christ Lutheran Church
25 Chapel Road
Sedona, AZ 86336
Learning Sessions
Members may sign up for learning sessions HERE.
If you have any suggestions for future learning sessions, please contact Sally Nelson at education@sedonacamera.club.
Upcoming Learning Sessions
03/21/26 2-4PM: Creating Abstractions. Mark Schmitz
Mark Schmitz will present his approach to creating abstractions in photography, especially in learning to encourage a sense of curiosity in creating images. Mark will discuss his journey into photographic abstractions, as well as the camera techniques (particularly ICM and creative macro), lenses (especially those used in creative macro) and some of the post processing methods that he uses. There will be a photographic exercise at the end of the learning session, so bring your camera and a favorite lens.
04/18/26 2-4PM: Understanding Sports/Rodeo Photography. Tim See & Priscilla Burgers
Are you ready to capture emotion and speed like a pro?
Our Understanding Sports/Rodeo Photography: Learning Session is coming up on April 18, at Christ Lutheran Church between 2:00 to 4:00 pm. It is designed to help photographers learn and apply the principles of action photography to sports photography, especially rodeos.
This session is divided into bite-sized, practical segments you can use immediately. You’ll learn how to anticipate the action by understanding the sport itself—because the best shots are predicted, not accidental. Next, we’ll cover essential camera settings for freezing motion, handling low light, and using continuous autofocus and burst shooting effectively.
You’ll also learn how to get closer to the action with smart gear choices and positioning, why shooting low creates more dynamic images, and how to compose clean, powerful frames that keep the focus on the athlete. We’ll explore techniques to freeze peak moments, create energy through panning, and experiment with creative motion blur for a sense of speed and rhythm. Most importantly, we’ll talk about storytelling—not just stopping the action, but the emotion, reactions, and quiet moments that make action photography memorable.
Once we have covered the basics of action/sports photography, Priscilla will apply these principles to Rodeo photography. Priscilla will cover the specifics of terminology, gear, settings and techniques to capture rodeo action. She will reveal advantages of different kinds of rodeos and arenas, and how to photograph each type of rodeo event. Rodeos are excellent venues for story telling as she will explain. All points will be illustrated with her photography. She will touch on culling photographs and post processing. Finally, she will talk briefly about other equine events that are available for photography.
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to sharpen your skills, this learning session will give you tools, confidence, and inspiration to take your action photography to the next level.
Click HERE to register for a learning session.
Club Trips
Spontaneous trips happen all the time. Submit the details of a trip or photo shoot you would like to invite other club members to join you. Details will be forwarded to other club members.
Club trips promote learning and bonding with other club members. To appreciate many of the trips the club has taken, view our Trip Galleries.
To suggest a club trip or club photo shoot, click HERE. To add a suggested photo opportunity (non club-sponsored) that you would like others to be aware of, click HERE.
Upcoming Trips
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Dec 16-18th, 2025
Photographing tens of thousands of snow geese taking off at once at sunrise, followed by just as many sandhill cranes, is an experience not to be missed! Join us on a 3-day trip to Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge near Socorro, NM.
We will photograph the sandhill cranes landing in the Wetland Roost ponds both evenings and photograph the takeoff of the snow geese and sandhill cranes from the flight deck both mornings. During the day, there are refuge drives where the cranes, other bird species and mammals can be photographed.
Recommended photography supplies include camera, long lens, and a shorter lens. A tripod or monopod is highly recommended. It’s very cold on the flight deck before sunrise, but it warms up during the day. Bring warm boots, gloves, coat, hat, and layers. For more information about photographing at Bosche del Apache, click HERE.
We will meet at Clark’s Market in VOC at 7:30 AM on December 16, returning late afternoon on the 18th. We will caravan the 6 hours to Socorro, NM. Members should book their own lodging. Recommended lodging is Comfort Suites, Socorro. (At the time of writing, they are offering an excellent discount for their chain members.)
Current members may contact Priscilla Burgers at special_events@sedonacamera.club to sign up for the trip or request more information.
Upcoming Workshops
Night Sky Workshop with Kevin Floerke
April 26th, 2025 - Afternoon and Evening Programs Available
One of our newest members, Kevin Floerke is leading workshops as part of the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival. The festival is a multi-day event. For the full agenda of the festival and workshop, click HERE.
This program and festival is not sponsored by the Sedona Camera Club but special pricing is available to Sedona Camera Club members:
Workshop (open to all) 1:30pm – 2:30pm – $25
One-on-One (required for evening workshop) 2:30pm (free for eve attendees)
Night Sky In the Field workshop 9pm Sat-1:30am Sun – $150
There is a Registration fee of $15/day or $35 for the weekend.
Recent Club Trips
Members participating in club trips are encouraged to upload photos to our trip galleries.
Opportunities for All Photographers
ACCC Spring 2026 Roundup: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Hosted by Sun City Festival Photo Club
Guest Speaker: Ian Plant will present 2 programs:
- Become a Landscape Master
- Using a Drone for Landsape Photogrphy
Image entry for the spring roundup is now Open. First download and read the competition rules. Next, click HERE to enter projected images, provide your digital copy of print entries, or to create a new account if you did not enter in the fall.
Registration for the roundup should be open by mid-January. To register and pay, click HERE.
Additional Events and Photo Opportunities
The following is a list of upcoming photo opportunities in Arizona. They are not club-sponsored events. To suggest any additional opportunity be added click HERE.
April 2026 Events
- April 24-25 – Gathering of Nations Pow Wow and Route 66 Centennial Celebration– Albuquerque. This is the 43rd and final year of this national pow wow.
- April 25 – Arizona Junior Rodeo. 8 am, at Everett Bowman Rodeo Arena, Wickenburg. Suggested by Priscilla Burgers
May 2026 Events
- May 2 – Cinco de Mayo Fiesta- Tlaquepaque
- May 9-10- Yavapai Junior Rodeo: Jackpot Ranch, 2025 Reservation Loop Rd, Camp Verde
- May 23-24- AZ JR Rodeo Finals – Jackpot Ranch, 2025 Reservation Loop Rd, Camp Verde 8AM
June 2026 Events
- June 5-6 – Williams Historic Rt 66 Car Show- Williams; 600 vehicles
- June 6 – Arizona Cowboy Mounted Shooting. Marshall Knoles Memorial Arena, 2446 Foot Tuthill Loop, Flagstaff
- June 20-21 – Yavapai County Junior Rodeo. Jackpot Ranch, 2025 Reservation Loop Rd, Camp Verde
- June 27-28 – Cowpunchers Reunion Rodeo – Williams Rodeo Grounds
Opportunities to Showcase Your Art
CAFE - CAll for Entries
CaFE, Call For Entry, is a website that serves essentially as a clearinghouse for art submissions and shows. Its mission is “to make art opportunities available to all by offering arts organizations an affordable submission platform and artists and easy way to apply.” All types of art are included, but there are usually a large number of exhibits for photographers. See their website to find out how to get your own work out there.
Annually the club provides two awards at year end named the Ray Reed and Ellsworth Schnebly Awards. Over the years the specific reasons for these awards have been changed to keep current with the club’s changes in focus; for example identifying the individual winners of first place Digital and Print images was used recently. Over the past few years, the club changed our primary focus from competition to learning. The awards have been updated to reflect our focus on learning.
Ray Reed Award: Pam Holmes
The Ray Reed Award recipient is selected for the most ‘Outstanding Work to Help Others Improve‘ their photography. Over the last several years, Pam Holmes has been our Program Chair and has organized our monthly meetings. She has consistently recruited outstanding professional photographers to present at our club. She has also put together the community announcements that appear monthly in Kudos.
Ellsworth Schnebly Award: Karen Larson
The Ellsworth Schnebly Award is for the ‘Most Improved Photographer‘ as mesured by their photo critique scores over the last three years. Karen’s love of wild animal and bird photography has combined with her improved photography skills in capturing animals in motion and post-processing. We have all enjoyed her monthly submissions.
Members' Favorite Images 2024-2025
Members' Favorite Digital Image
Night Hunter - Pam Holmes
Members' Favorite Print Image
Mighty Joe Young - Tim See
Best of February 2026 Critiques
The Best of Critiques Galleries includes images from our monthly critiques since April 2019. Separate Competition Winners Galleries are avaialable for prior months in which the club had monthly competitions instead of critiques.
Members may review the critiques (comments and scores) for their images or for all of the monthly submissions by visiting the Critique Website and selecting an option under the Critique Results menu.
Member Recognition
Glenn Tamblingson
Congratulations to Glenn Tamblingson for his winning entry to the ACCC fall Round Up. He won an award for Excellence in Landscape Photography for his image “Sunset“.