The Image Maker

This newsletter is sent to all the Club Executive members as currently listed in the O3C OLIS. If you no longer hold a position on your Club's Executive, please forward this news letter to your successor. All Clubs should update their contact information in OLIS so we can effectively communicate with current Club Executive members. Your Club O3C Rep or Club President will have the OLIS login information.

• 17 Jan 2026 - Competition Directors Meeting
• 11 April 2026 - Education Day
• 23 May 2026 - Annual General Meeting and Representatives Meeting
• Spring 2027 - Proposed Introduction of New Judging Course

It has been some time since the last gathering, and reconnecting is important — especially with new directors in place.

📅 Competition Directors Meeting

Hosts: Gray Graffam, O3C VP and Randy Nickerson, O3C Judges Director
Date: Saturday, January 17, 2026
Time: 9:30 am - 12:00
Location: Zoom link to follow

Discussion topics will include:

• OLIS visibility and workflow updates

• JIT program progress and mentoring

• Competition workflow guidance

• Club-led input and Q&A

Read all about it!

The O3C X-Tra is geared for all Club Members to keep you current on O3C events and activities within our photographic community.

Remember, you can stay up-to-date by subscribing to O3C X-Tra and/or subscribing to The Image Maker newsletter.

Subscribe to our email distribution list to receive both O3C X-tra and The Image Maker directly from O3C. To subscribe, choose one of the following options to access the subscription form on the

O3C website:

• Click ‘Subscribe’ in the O3C website’s main menu.
• Click ‘Subscribe’ at the bottom of The Image Maker.
• Click on this link: Subscribe
• Use the Q-code appearing in this article.

Any questions or comments, don't hesitate to contact us at O3C Staff.

O3C is thrilled to announce that Gray Graffam, previously the O3C Competition Manager, has volunteered to assume the role of Vice-President on the O3C Executive.

Gray is a member of the Don Mills Camera Club. He is very familiar with the operation of O3C, especially as it relates to the conduct of the Open Challenge, given that he was the Competition Manager.

His departure from the Competition Manager position means O3C is now looking for a volunteer to fill the Competition Manager position on the Executive. Clubs are encouraged to share this vacancy with their own Club Competition Managers in the event one of them might be interested in this volunteer position.

You can learn more about Gray later in this newsletter as he is featured in "The Executive Corner."

O3C is offering a free pilot program until 31 Dec 2025 to provide managed website hosting services to small and medium-sized clubs to help them establish and operate a club website without requiring a dedicated webmaster.

If you feel this website hosting service might suit your club's needs, contact mailto:web@o3c.ca or mailto:information@o3c.ca to have all of your questions answered.

As you well know, volunteers are at the heart of O3C as well as being the life-blood of all camera clubs.

To that end, O3C would like to encourage clubs to institute volunteer recognition programs to recognize individuals within your club who have provided service to the club above and beyond the call of duty, be that in a leadership role or in a technical role.

Besides recognizing them in-house, one way to provide that recognition is to nominate those individuals for an O3C Service Award or an O3C Technical Award.

The O3C Service Award honours a person who is a member of an O3C club who has worked over the year(s) to promote good photography principles, has a great interest in helping others to become photographers and has worked in a volunteer capacity for the GTCCC/O3C.

The O3C Technical Award recognizes individuals who have contributed to the advancement of photography or camera club operations by developing a new product or service or significantly refining an existing product or service.

Both of these awards are presented during the O3C Open Challenge awards event.

Club Presidents are encouraged to look within their clubs for members worthy of nomination and to complete an application outlining why they feel the member should be recognized. If there are multiple nominations, a point matrix is used to evaluate the applications and determine the award recipient.

Watch for the notice of the opening of the application window in future editions of this newsletter.

One big advantage of using your smartphone for photography is that you can do it without drawing attention and photograph in places that would be limited to larger DSLR/mirrorless cameras. Also, the smaller form factor allows you greater mobility and freedom to experiment.

Following on the heels of Part 1, this article will take a deep dive into elevating your Smartphone photography from the casual snaps to creating images that complement or meet or exceed traditional camera photography.

Written by O3C's Information Director Bharat Mistry, these articles provide an overview of his personal exploration into smartphone photography/videography.

Click on the link below to read Part 2.

The Highland Glen Camera Club is hosting this year's Grand Valley Image Battle on 16 Nov 2025 from 1:30 - 4:00 pm at Coldwell Banker – Peter Benninger Realty, 508 Riverbend Drive, Kitchener, in the theatre in the basement. Elevator available.

The Grand Valley Image Battle (GVIB) competition is held once a year as an inter-club competition between clubs in South-Western Ontario. GVIB is intended to be a friendly competition to showcase as many photographers as possible from each club. The winner of the competition is the club with the highest cumulative score.

This year, six clubs will be taking part with each club submitting 20 images. We are planning to provide a hybrid experience for the 2025 GVIB offering a ZOOM and In-Person option to see the presentation of images and results on Sunday November 16, 2025. The ZOOM and In-Person presentation will be offered at the same time. Doors/zoom open at 1:30 pm, presentation to begin at 2 pm. Refreshments and snacks will follow for those attending in-person.

For more information, email hgcc@highlandglen.ca.

Oakville Camera Club is hosting their annual general meeting from 7:00-9:00 pm on 20 Nov 2025 at the Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre, 2302 Bridge Road, Oakville.

Be part of the tradition and excitement of the Toronto Camera Club's 132nd International Salon Competition. We are increasingly proud of the fact that our competition is the oldest one of its kind in North America and the second-oldest in the world.

Having your photo accepted, awarded an Honorable Mention, or a Medal is an awesome experience. Last year our exhibition accepted 848 images, awarded 93 Honorable Mentions along with 90 Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals.

Entries have now closed but judging continues with results being released 30 Nov 2025. Public presentation of the winning images will take place 25-26 Jan 2026 at the Toronto Camera Club, 587 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, Ontario.

For any other information, please contact the Salon Chair Lily Markovic, at mailto:Lily.Markovic@torontocameraclub.com.

Image credit: Im Kai Leong (Macau)

Gregg Thurlbeck, member of The Life Institute Photo Club and a member of the Haliburton Arts Council, has eight works appearing in the Art In Focus Exhibition currently being held at The Link, 5152 County Road 2, Haliburton, Ontario.

While the exhibition opening and social networking event has already occurred, the exhibition, co-sponsored by The Arts Council Haliburton Highlands, The Link and ACM Designs, runs through until 13 Mar 2026.

Don Mills Camera Club Awards and Recognition Night will be held 30 Apr 2026. Stay tuned for more details as the date approaches.

The annual highlight of the year for the Oshawa Camera Club is PhotoEx with an amazing competition photo show and video of the great photography the club has done throughout the year. The show takes place from 7:00 - 9:00 pm on 12 May 2026 at Hope Fellowship Church, 1685 Bloor Street, Courtice. An opportunity for friends and family to view great images in a social setting.

A number of clubs will be hosting Christmas socials in the upcoming weeks. Many of the clubs welcome guests which gives you an opportunity to meet members from other clubs as well as view the many photographic talents of their members. Check the specific club websites for any ticketing information.

Here is a listing of some of the upcoming club Christmas socials.

08 Dec 2025 - Grand River Imaging and Photographic Society, Kitchener East Presbyterian Church, 10 Zeller Drive, Kitchener, 7:00 pm.

08 Dec 2025 - Etobicoke Camera Club, Steed Hall, Humber Valley United Church, 76 Anglesey Blvd., Etobicoke, 7:00 pm. Tickets through Eventbrite.

11 Dec 2025 - Grimsby Photo Group festive luncheon. For information, email grimsbyphotogroup@gmail.com.

11 Dec 2025 - Haldimand Photography Club Holiday Potluck, Caledonia Fairgrounds, 151 Caithness Street E., Caledonia.

16 Dec 2025 - Latow Christmas Social, 7:00-9:00 pm, For information, email info@latow.com.

16 Dec 2025 - Toronto Digital Photography Club, Banquet Hall, Edithvale Community Centre, 131 Finch Avenue W., Toronto, 7:00 pm.

The anticipation is over. The 2025 Open Challenge Awards Show took place virtually and in-person at the Toronto Camera Club on 26 October 2025.

Approximately 70 people packed the Toronto Camera Club to view the awards show in person while 119 people joined online. A record 57 awards were handed out as well as the annual O3C Service Award and the O3C Technical Award.

The show did not disappoint. A carefully curated video of entries and winners was produced by the Competition Committee and shown to the attentive crowd. A copy of the video, along with a detailed spreadsheet containing all the marks has been forwarded to the O3C representatives at participating clubs.

Richmond Hill Camera Club stole the show for club category awards, winning seven of eleven categories earning them 320 points, followed by Jiahua Elite Photography Association with 312 points and then Windsor Camera Club with 309.5 points. For your ease of reference, a recap of the results appears below this article as well as some of the winning images from the more popular categories. Results are also available under the O3C Events tab on the O3C website.

The Competition Committee also took the opportunity to announce Street Photography as the theme for next year's Open Challenge while the theme for 2027 will be Geometric Shapes.

The O3C Photo Tour Program for 2026 continues in earnest. This program is offered exclusively to O3C members and, with the help of PTT's long time travel industry partners, we are able to pass on deeper discounts to you.

A SPECIAL NOTE: In order to receive these discounts, it is imperative that you register through the O3C website. The link on the Photo Tours page will take you to the O3C portal in the Photo Tour Trekkers website for complete details on the upcoming photography trips.

Dates and prices are subject to change, so please follow the link to the Photo Tour Trekkers site for the most up-to-date information. Sign up NOW for the trip of a lifetime!

This is a new feature of the newsletter where members of the O3C Executive will be highlighted. This week, we take a minute to get to know Gray Graffam, who recently volunteered to assume the role of Vice President.

1. Position - Newly appointed Vice President.

2. Role as Vice President - Primarily to assist the President in managing all operations of the organization.

3. Photography Club Affiliation - Don Mills Camera Club

4. Favourite Genre of Photography - Not sure that I have one, but in general it is to photograph the natural world.

5. Personal Photography Philosophy - I have two, a conceptual philosophy and a practical one: “communicate beyond the obvious” and “embrace a growth mindset”. Communicate beyond the obvious means to go beyond the mere factual representation of what is in front of you, to reveal something on a deeper level, meanings, emotions. Embrace a growth mindset refers to viewing challenges as opportunities to learn, and setbacks as a chance for improvement; effort and practice are key to improving skills and abilities.

6. Photography Wishlist - this can be wide ranging from which piece of new equipment (macro lens), to where in the world to take photos (back to Costa Rica), or what is seriously my daily more practical wishlist which is to have my lens clean when I go to shoot.

7. Photography Hero(es) - for landscape: Joe Cornish, YouTube: Peter Evans, challenging yourself: Sebastião Salgado

"I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them."

Diane Arbus

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If you are a member of a camera club in Ontario, you can join O3C's private Facebook group @ontariocouncilofcameraclubs and follow us on Instagram at @ontariocouncilofcameraclubs.

If you see something interesting, don't forget to hit the SHARE button.

If you need assistance accessing O3C social media, contact socialmedia@o3c.ca .

Email: newsletter@o3c.ca
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