Past Presidents

Anaheim Camera Enthusiasts (ACES) photo club was formed in 1970) as a competitive camera club. It consisted of amateur photographers from a wide area in Orange County California who were anxious to gather together to share and show their images. The club from the beginning was very popular and membership normally ranged in the 40 to 50 member size.

The images presented were originally either Prints or Slides and this remained true for about 25 years. Then in about 2004 a new medium was introduced into the club. Digital Photographed arrived in the form of the Canon D10 Digital Camera. This new medium was accepted by ACES at first as a source for Prints. Photographers took images with the Digital camera and printed them for competition with analog prints.

At first the digital prints shower poorly compared with those from film. But quickly digital improved in quality and ease of production and its popularity began to eat into the film world. At the end of 2005 ACES acquired its first Digital Projector and Digital images began to be presented.

The impact on Printed images was immediately. Easier to produce and less expensive the digital image all but killed prints. The same kind of thing began to happen with color slides. Quality of the digital images quickly out paced color slides and slides began to lose their supporters.

In ACES the color slides were supported by long time photographers and a battle raged. Those favoring slides had been in the slide business for years were generally older than the new crew of digital people. They did not want to start over but first buying all new equipment and then having to learn how to use computers and all that goes with that. Club membership began to shift from slides to digital and the transaction was complete by the end of 2007.

ACES acquired its own digital projector at the beginning of 2007 and the world changed forever. Prints have all but disappeared and slides are gone. ACES is now in its second generation of projectors and the club is clearly committed to Digital.

In addition to pure competition one night a month there has always been a second night each month to just meet and share casual images. It is called Share a Picture night and it is held on the third Thursday of each month. Here there are no judges and only members can participate in the meetings. People are free to bring in a wide range of images in either Prints or digital. You may have a picture which really is not very good from a technical standpoint but you just like it and want to share it. Bring it in and flash it on the screen and tell the story behind it. The audience will discuss it with you and it is fun for all. You may also have an image you need help with. Bing it in and present it and ask for inputs. The audience will review it with you and provide recommendations. A fun time for all.

In addition to our meetings we try to get out and about once a month. We identify possible photo places and provide details as to how to get there. Meeting times are set and suggested goals for the visit identified. People attend the outings and capture images of interest. They can then edit them and submit them to the ACES Outings Gallery to share with other club members. Members can view what others got and compare to their own images from the outing. And they can leave comments regarding the images.

And as ACES Members may each have their own Private Gallery at no additional costs. They can share up 25 images which other members can view and comment on. And they can change at any time the content of that gallery. Add or subtract images at will.

Snacks and drinks are offered at all meetings. Members take turns in providing the snacks and every takes part in disposing of them.

All clubs need some money so ACES has an annual fee of $40. And we offer a raffle. We sell tickets for $1.00 each and draw a number. The winner takes 50% of the money and the club gets the other 50% to operate the club. It works well for us.

ACES is a good club. We operate out of nice facilities and we have good equipment. People are friendly and meld well together.

Roger Evans