By-Laws

CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS

LOUISVILLE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS

Amended & approved by the membership: Feb. 13, 1991; March 11, 1992; March 9, 2005; Nov. 12, 2008; Oct. 14, 2009; Dec. 8, 2021;

CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE 1. The name of this organization is the Louisville Photographic Society.

ARTICLE 2. The purpose of this Society is to aid and benefit, by mutual cooperation, photographers of Louisville and vicinity, and to make available to other people of the community an opportunity to view our members’ work.

ARTICLE 3. Meetings will be held as directed in the By-Laws.

ARTICLE 4. The Constitution may be amended by a vote of the majority of members present at any regular or special meeting, provided the call for said meeting specifies the proposed amendment(s).

BY-LAWS

ARTICLE 1. MEMBERSHIP

Section I: Anyone interested in photography will be eligible to submit an application for membership in the Society.
Section II: Annual dues for a single, family or student membership will be determined by the vote of the Board of Directors. Dues are payable by January 1. Any member in arrears after January 1 will not be eligible to vote or compete until dues are paid. Dues for new members joining after January may be adjusted as determined by the Board of Directors. Dues are non-refundable.
Section III: The Board of Directors, by majority vote, has the power to deny or revoke membership privileges to any member for conduct deemed not in the interest of the Society.
Section IV: Honorary membership may be granted by majority vote of the Board of Directors to an individual deemed worthy. Honorary members will receive the bulletin, and may attend all meetings or activities.

ARTICLE 2. MEETINGS

Section I: At the regular February meeting, ELECTION of Officers and Board Members will be held every two years, in addition to the transaction of other business.
Section II: Regular Society meetings will be held at times and places decided by the Board of Directors.
Section III: One fourth of the membership constitutes a QUORUM for the transaction of business at all meetings.
Section IV: Each member present at any meeting of the Society is entitled to vote.

ARTICLE 3. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section I: The Board of Directors consists of the Officers, the retired President and any number of elected Directors. Board terms last two years, or until a director’s successor has been elected.
Section II: The Board of Directors has the power to perform all executive duties pertaining to the Society’s affairs.
Section III: At least sixty (60) days before the February meeting, the President will appoint a Nominating Committee, which will meet and nominate candidates for the Officers and Board of Directors. A slate containing the names of the candidates will be presented in the newsletter before the February meeting. Any member present at that meeting can also make nominations from the floor, provided prior acceptance by the nominee has been obtained.
Section IV: A quorum for conducting business will consist of a majority of Board members currently serving.
Section V: Any Board Officer or Director may be removed by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the remaining Board for failure to attend meetings (missing a majority in one year or inadequate participation in LPS affairs.

ARTICLE 4. OFFICERS

Section I: The officers of the Society consist of President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, the Secretary and the Treasurer. Officers’ terms last two years or until their successors have been elected.
Section II: The President presides at all regular meetings of the Society and the Board of Directors, is the Executive Head of the Society, and is an ex-officio member of all standing committees; he/she also will perform other duties directed by the Board of Directors. The President will appoint Committee Chairs as necessary for carrying out the Society’s activities.
Section III: The First Vice-President is in charge of public relations for the Society, and is responsible for obtaining speakers and/or the content of the program at regular club meetings. He/she is to promote the presentation of members’ work throughout the Louisville area, and, in the event of the absence of the President, will preside at the regular monthly meeting.
Section IV: The Second Vice-President is in charge of photographic competitions of the Society, including obtaining a judge for club competitions. He/she is to promote interest in photography among the membership, and to assist members with photographic problems.
Section V: The Secretary will take and record the minutes of meetings in which Society business is transacted, and will verify that notice of all meetings of both the Board and the Society as distributed. The Secretary has charge of bonds, papers and other property of the Society, as the Board designates, and performs all the duties of the office as required by the By-Laws or the Board of Directors.
Section VI: The Treasurer has custody of securities and funds of the Society that the Board of Directors assigns. The Board of Directors must approve expenditures of more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00). The Treasurer collects Society dues and keeps proper books or records, showing all monies received and disbursed and all assets and liabilities of the Society. These books must be open to the inspection by the Board of Directors. The Treasurer will furnish the President with a list of members more than 90 days delinquent in payment of dues, and upon approval of the Board of Directors, will drop such members from the roster. The President will appoint an auditor at the direction of the Board of Directors.
Section VII: Vacancies occurring in any office during the year will be filled for the unexpired term by a majority vote of the Board of Directors. In the absence of or the inability of the Secretary or Treasurer to perform his/her duties, the Board of Directors will delegate those duties to another member of the Board.
Section VIII: The President may appoint chairpersons as needed to form committees to serve the best interests of the Society. If such chairperson is not a member of the Board, he/she may, at the invitation of the President, attend meetings of the Board as an ex-officio member.
Section IX: Upon the death of a member of the Society, the Treasurer will make a twenty dollar ($20.00) remembrance to a charity of the decedent’s family’s choice.
Section X: The By-laws may be amended or added to by a vote of the majority of the members present at any regular or special meeting of the Club, provided that the membership has been notified either by mail, email, or by verbal announcement given at least 25 days before the meeting where the vote is to occur.

ARTICLE 5. ETHICS / “Guide To Responsible Photography”

Society members agree to abide by the practices outlined in the Guide to Responsible Photography

ARTICLE 6. SOCIAL MEDIA

The Society will maintain groups and sites on social media as considered necessary to promote and benefit photography in the Louisville area. Administrators of these sites shall come from the Board of Directors or persons approved by them.

RULES FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION

GENERAL RULES

1) There are three separate regular monthly competitions (within however many divisions as the Board of Directors approves – presently Advanced and Amateur):
– Color Prints
– Monochrome Prints
– Digitals
The Board of Directors may add other divisions and conduct competitions that do not necessarily fit the above structure. The Board will provide rules for those competitions.

2) Only Members in good standing may enter competitions.

3) Each entry for competition must have been under the control of the member-entrant at the time of exposure. In addition to all work performed by the entrant, specifically allowed for entry are: Commercially developed slides, negatives, commercially printed photographs, commercially mounted prints and laser prints.

4) Each member may submit up to two (2) color prints, two (2) monochrome prints and two (2) digital images for competition each month. Members can compete in only one division each month (presently Advanced or Amateur).

5) In special competitions such as videos, the presentations must be pre-scheduled. Such special competitions must be approved by the Board of Directors.

6) In regular competition, the subject of the photograph must conform to the category as agreed to by the Board and membership. The Director overseeing that month’s competition is responsible for making guidelines/restrictions clear to the judge, who will be provided an information sheet to that effect.

7) The same image may not be entered in more than one competition group on the day of a competition (i.e., a color print may not also be entered as a monochrome print or a digital entry on the same day). “Same image” means one with identical content and composition to another entry. An enlarged, reduced, cropped, rotated or otherwise edited copy also may not be entered on the same day.

8) No entry that has ever received an award in the Society’s competitions (1st, 2nd, 3rd or Honorable Mention) can be re-entered in a future monthly competition, nor can any enlarged, reduced, cropped, rotated or otherwise edited version of that entry. Digital backgrounds, textures and skies as defined in Rule 10 can be used in future images. However, winning entries may be used in the Book of the Year, video and other such competitions as the Board decides.

9) The penalties for violating rules 6 and 7 are as follows:

a) First violation: Disqualification of unacceptable image(s) for that month.
b) Second violation: Disqualification of all entries by that photographer for that month’s competition.
c) Third violation: Disqualification from receiving points or awards for future months in that year and disqualification from all year-end awards.

10) If a duplicate is undetected and wins a monthly award but then is discovered before the year-end competition, that image will be disqualified from the year-end and points subtracted from year-end totals. The same rule applies to a second or third violation (that entire month’s points subtracted, or disqualification from year-ends).

11) Penalties will be accumulated over the calendar year of the first violation plus the following calendar year, at which point the scale resets. But the board reserves the right to consider and, if agreed upon, apply harsher penalties after that in the case of offenders in more than one window.

12. Images that are distinguishably unique taken of the same subject from different angles, and photos involving movement of the subject or the passing of time are permissible, both as multiple entries on the same, day, and as variations on a photo that has previously won points.

13. For PRINT categories, every part of the image must be made by the photographer, unless the members specifically approve an exception for a specific competition. This includes all tangible objects in the image and all other elements, like textures, sky, etc. Combining multiple images is allowed if the photographer shot everything in those images. Adjustments to images such as those done in the darkroom, developing process or with computer photo editing programs are permissible. This would include adjusting contrast or color, burning, dodging, sharpening, blurring, etc. However, adding material items supplied by computer programs (such as a flower, animals, the moon, lightning, etc.) is not permitted.

14. For DIGITAL entries, photographers can make use of any digital process with only two restrictions: the photographer can’t add a tangible object they didn’t shoot (like a building or animal or lightning/stars, etc.), and the photographer can’t violate a copyright. Digital files acquired with permission from internet providers or obtained from Open Access, Creative Commons or Public Domain sources are permissible as backgrounds to a subject. Sky replacement is allowed. Images can be filtered to any degree.

15. For violations of rules 9 and 10, the photo/image involved will be disqualified from that month’s competition, regardless of frequency.

16. Immediately after winners are announced for each competition, there will be a brief discussion period at which members should feel free to ask place winners how their winning images came about, and the winners, if present, are strongly encouraged to respond.

SPECIAL RULES

1. Prints (Color and Monochrome)

A) All competition prints must be displayed on mounts of 16 inches on the shorter side and 20 inches on the longer side, including a mat if desired. The print itself can be 16” by 20”. Prints may be presented horizontally or vertically.
B) The title and the entrant’s name should be on the upper left-hand corner of the back of the mount.
C) Monochrome prints may be toned.
D) Hand-colored prints will be judged in the color print division.
E) Digital copies of point-winning prints must be submitted to the designated board member within two weeks after winning their points. Failure to do so will result in eliminating the print(s) from year-end competition.

2. Digital Entries

A) Size: Photos must not exceed 2000 ppi on the longest side. They may be smaller than that. Photos shown with the long dimension displayed vertically will be somewhat smaller when shown on a digital slide show due to the nature of the computer.
B) Resolution: A file size must not exceed 2 MB.
C) Format: Files must be in the JPG format.
D) File Names: Submissions must be named by the following method. No other names or variations will be accepted.

1) The letters DIG signifying that it is a digital entry, followed by a dash.
2) A letter at the beginning of the file name to distinguish the level of the entry, such as “A” for Advanced, “M” for Amateur, etc., as specified by the Board of Directors, followed by a dash.
3) A three-digit number signifying whether it is your first or second submission for the competition. The first submission should be 005, and the second one should be 006, followed by a dash.
4) A six-digit number that corresponds to your first, middle and last initials, where A = 01 and Z = 26. Example: Betty Ann Palmer’s initials are BAP so her number would be 020116, where 02 = B, 01 = A, and 16 = P. If you do not have a middle name, use the numbers 00. This should be followed by another dash (same as a hyphen or a minus sign.)
5) A four-digit number indicating the month and year of the competition (mmyy). For example, September 2021 would be 0921. This should be followed by another dash (same as a hyphen or a minus sign.)
6) The SHORT name of the photo

EXAMPLE OF A FILE NAME

Betty Ann Palmer is competing in the Amateur division. Her first digital image for the September 2021 competition, which she named “Pretty Photo,” would be submitted as:

DIG-M-005-020116-0921-Pretty Photo

E) Digital submissions must be received at least two weeks before the meeting when they are to be judged. They must be e-mailed to: louisvillephotographic@gmail.com, or to an email address specified by the Board. Entries not received by the deadline (two weeks before the meeting at midnight) may not be accepted.

RECEIVING OF PRINTS

An entry form, available on the web site, should be submitted at the membership meeting for all entries.
Entrants should place their own prints on the display rack or table.
All due care will be exercised by the competition committee in the handling and judging of all entries. However, LPS cannot assume responsibility for loss or damage to entries.

JUDGE SELECTION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

If possible, judges should not be Society members. They should be qualified by training or experience in photography. However, in an emergency, the Second Vice-President may select two (2) judges from the membership, and they will work in concert. Judges must not have entered in the division in which they are judging.
The judge should select First, Second and Third places as well as (usually) three (3) Honorable Mention awards for each competition (but there can be more or fewer). The selections will be recorded for cumulative point totals that determine year-end awards.
In the event there is only one entry in any regular monthly competition, the judge will determine if the entry merits an award for points. If so, the entry will be included in the annual judging.
Before the judging starts, the judge will be provided an information sheet that will clearly set out the category with guidelines/restrictions as decided by the club, and general rules for that month’s competition.

JUDGING PROCEDURE FOR COMPETITIONS

All entries must be in their proper place before the meeting begins. After the judging has begun, no further entries will be accepted.
The Second Vice-President or his/her duly appointed delegate will preside over the judging procedure, and he/she will enforce the rules. It will be his/her responsibility to inform the Judge of the category and the awards to be made. Once the judging begins, the Judge, and ONLY THE JUDGE, is authorized to exclude any entry, no matter the opinion of any Officer or other member of the Society.
Prints should be judged on the display frames if possible, and digital entries should be judged on a computer or as projected on a screen.
The Judge should not mark on entries, nor be informed of any entrant’s name until judging has been completed.
Decisions shall be made solely by the Judge. No one else is authorized to comment or otherwise exert influence before or during the judging procedure.

MONTHLY AWARD POINTS:

Winning entries in each competition receive points as follows:
First Place -12 points, Second Place – 8 points. Third Place – 5 points, Honorable Mention – 2 points

YEARLY AWARDS

1. The Competition Year is January through December.
2. At year end, all prints that received a First, Second, Third or Honorable Mention recognition during the monthly competitions, and have been submitted in digital form (see Special Rules, 1e), will be judged by a qualified non-member judge. Digital entries that have received First, Second, Third or Honorable Mention recognition during the monthly competitions will be compiled by the club member normally in charge of digital entries and presented for judging at the same time as the submitted print entries. The judge will select a First, Second, Third, and Honorable Mentions for each of the digital and print competitions.
3. Awards will be made as follows:
  1. As determined by year-end judging:
    1. First, Second, and Third in each of the digital and print competitions, plus any other competitions authorized by the Board.
  2. As determined from yearly activity:
    1. The top three high point winners as determined by monthly awards in each of the digital and print competitions, plus any other competition authorized by the Board.
  3. Club Service
    1. An award or awards may be given in recognition for service to the Society.