Eastern Idaho Photographic Society

Welcome

The Eastern Idaho Photographic Society (EIPS) of Idaho Falls, Idaho, is a photography club for amateur and professional photographers. We enjoy sharing our experiences and ideas about places to go, photo tips, etc.; having presentations and hands-on workshops about methods for taking pictures and for enhancing them afterwards; holding friendly photo critiques where we view pictures and consider possible improvements; and displaying our photographic art in public venues. Of course, we also like to go out and take pictures!

• Critique our photos. We meet to view and discuss each other's photographs. We provide constructive comments to help each other improve our photographic techniques. We meet online (via Google Meet) unless someone wants to come in person, in which case we meet at this location.
• Improve our techniques via hands-on workshops and excursions. We bring our cameras for special photo practice sessions such as light painting of still life objects or photographing local sites.
• Learn more through tutorials and presentations. From time to time, members or guests present information about particular topics relevant to photography, such as how to photograph the night sky, editing methods in Photoshop, or how to buy a photographic printer.
• Take field trips. Generally once/month, we go to photographic sites and events, such as rodeos, pow-wows, the state fair, celebrations of heritage sponsored by the city, and scenic places. Sometimes a member coordinates and leads the trip.
• Publicly display our photographs. We participate in public displays as the opportunities arise. Recently we exhibited in the "Collective" show at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho.
• (Relatively New) Participate in ZOOM meetings with another photography club. The Kitsap Photography Guild (KPG) is a photography club in Washington State which is part of the West [Puget] Sound Photography Group (KPG link). Its regular meetings, available only to club members, are held on the third Thursday of the month at 8 p.m. (Idaho time).

The workshop or excursion and presentation/tutorial activities generally occur on one meeting night in a month, with friendly critiques on a the other meeting night.

For more information on each of these current and ongoing activities, see our Facebook pages (Facebook and Facebook Group), our Flicker page (Flicker), and/or our calendar.

The very best way to know exactly what is planned for particular meetings is to be on our e-mail list. Send an e-mail to the Club President with your name and a request to be added to the list. The club president sends out a note a few days before each meeting. E-mails from the club contain the most up-to-date information about EIPS activities.

Meeting Time and Location

Our two monthly meetings usually occur on the first and third Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Quite often our meetings are online. Here, an email is sent to members with a link to connect to the meeting. Sometimes we meet to take pictures at some photogenic spot. Otherwise, we meet at The Bridge Club, 1421 Benton Street in Idaho Falls. We can view our pictures on a big-screen TV there. Benton Street is one block long, west of St. Clair & a half-block north of 9th St. The Bridge Club building is a blond brick building sitting back from the street on the north side, a half-block west of St. Clair. See the middle pin on the Bridge Club Map for more directions.

News—2023 Officers

The officers for 2023 are: Shannon Bowman, President; Steve Spring, Vice-president; Marva Carroll, Secretary; and Denise Spring, Treasurer.

Further Details about the Pursuits Listed Above

The schedule for the activities listed above tends to vary from month to month; an email to members prior to each activity provides the current details. The bold labels below are links to web pages that provide still more details.

Critiques. In one of the monthly meetings, We entertain each other with our photos by bringing them for viewing and, if desired, review by the group. The critiques are positive and designed to improve our skills as photographers.

Workshops and Excursions. The non-critique monthly meeting is often usually either a workshop or an excursion to a nearby site for taking pictures. We entertain each other with our practice of photography. It is always good to bring your camera and tripod to these meetings. In the workshops, EIPS members enjoy taking still-life pictures and experimenting with light. Many of the workshops involved staging objects and taking pictures at the meeting site.

For the excursions, we sometimes meet even before 7:30 at the site. At other times we meet locally and go in carpools to the selected site. Some outings are to events that occur other than on meeting nights; in that case we might omit the normal meeting and go to the event instead. Being on our email list keeps us informed about the excursion specifics. If the outing is guided, we also include the trip leader's phone number in the trip announcement e-mails so that if you can't arrive on time, you can text or call to find out exactly where we are.

Learnings. Another option for non-critique monthly meetings is to have educational presentations or tutorials. We improve our photography by learning new picture-taking skills or new ways to enhance our photographs using computer software.

Taking field trips. The club has hosted field trips from time to time, on weekends or other times when members are able to gather and travel a bit further for picture-taking. We are privileged to live an a place where the beauty of the natural world in many different forms is nearby.

Displaying our Pictures. Exhibiting our pictures is another major activity of the EIPS. We have participated in the summertime monthly Gallery Walk sponsored by the Idaho Falls Art Council. We have displayed our photos at other public sites such as The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho and the College of Eastern Idaho. We have conducted annual expositions or shows in the fall. The shows have been judged by professional photographers.