Meet the members of Kingston’s 133-year-old camera club
No matter if you have never picked up a camera in your life, are afraid to display your art, or are looking to expand your knowledge within photography, the camera club is open to all levels.
Simon Street, current holder of 10 Fellowships from the Royal Photographic Society, joined the club in 2017 with zero camera experience. After retiring in 2016, photography took him around the world in black and white.
“I used Kingston Camera Club as my route to get very painful feedback on not so very good pictures,” Street said. “But, you know, we’ve all got to do it, haven’t we? There’s only one way to get proficient, and that’s to have constructive feedback. And that’s what I did.”
Street grew from beginner photographer, to gathering up the courage to enter club competitions, to holding 10 Fellowships from the Royal Photographic Society.
Monochromatic shots are Street’s speciality, and his favourite capture was taken during COVID when he had to think outside the box on how to achieve his usual street style. Street stood just outside the door of an elderly couple’s beach house on the coast of England to snap a moment that unveiled a backdrop of all the paraphernalia of their lifestyle and hobbies.
As a judge, his biggest recommendation for taking your images to the next level is cropping and lighting.
“My most common one is probably to say lose a third off, a couple of other sides or something like that, and really draw the eye in more,” Street said. “And second, is to play with the lighting, to add more. If it’s a person, really try to darken the backdrop and make the individual brighter, so that the eye is led to where you want them to look, which is your subject, your person.”
Mario Lamas moved to Kingston last year and joined Kingston Camera Club in November 2025 to reignite his passion for photography.
“I had a little bit of a thing where I stopped taking photos because I was not enjoying it as much,” Lamas said. “Joining the club just helped me reignite that passion. Being with the club allowed me to see that there’s a much larger set of platforms where you can share your photos, and there’s active competitions, and lots of feedback.”
Lamas said the most important takeaway from the club is to not be afraid to show your pictures. The feedback from more experienced photographers, such as Street, unlocked skills and techniques that Lamas would have never considered before joining the camera club.
“You get to meet other people that might be interested in the same photography as you, so it helps you to build networks, meet friends, and allows you to see other works as well that otherwise you probably wouldn’t have seen,” Lamas said.
Meeting friends and making connections is one of the key parts of the club. Norma Ennis, who has been a member for nearly a decade, has found that is her favourite part of the club’s weekly Monday evening gatherings.
“I think mainly meeting the other members, so the social side of it gets me out, and the speakers,” Ennis said.
Ennis said the club helped her narrow down on a speciality, which for her is wildlife and landscape. Those new specialisms from the club brought her to countries she never imagined visiting. The club taught her to look at things differently, especially when she receives feedback in competitions or from club members.
“I just think it’s a lovely picture, but it’s not a very good one,” Ennis said on her favourite wildlife shot. “I think it’s possibly because of the way it happened, it means a lot more to me.”
Ennis had the opportunity to travel to and use her developed photography skills at the Okanjima reserve in Namibia. She found two leopard cubs hiding under the undergrowth after their mother had chased off a hyena, and one curious cub decided to venture out.
“Life’s too short,” Ennis said. “I think if somebody wants to do something, then they should do it. In anything, whether it’s picking up a camera, trying a new recipe, you know, just do it. Because if you don’t do it, you will always regret it.”
