'We're losing a bit of history': The camera club keeping print photography alive

In the age of the smartphone, Northern Ireland's oldest camera club is helping to keep print photography alive.

Vittorio Silvestri, president of the Central Photographic Association (CPA) camera club, believes "we're losing a bit of history" because of the decline in print images.

The club, currently located in south Belfast, dates back to 1906 and is this year celebrating its 120th anniversary.

Silvestri has been in the CPA for four decades and in that time has seen membership decline from more than 70 people to about 30.

"The numbers are dwindling," he said, adding that there are not many young people active in the club.

With camera technology on smartphones getting better by the year, Silvestri says doors have been opened for the younger generation when it comes to making photography more accessible.

"However, we're not really seeing them come into the club because of that," he said.

While smartphones provide access to the world of photography to everyone, Silvestri said the images taken on them are not the same as "expert prints".

"That's where the phone images would tend to fall over a conventional camera. Phone images don't have the same quality, the same technology to be able to print well," he said.

"Prints are dwindling."

Speaking of photography competitions, he said: "What we are seeing is that print submission has gone down and digital submission has gone up and, you know, we're happy enough with that.

"But I think we're losing a bit of history because we're not seeing the prints."

In order to preserve some of that print history and to mark the club's anniversary, past and present members have contributed their pictures to a photobook put together by Silvestri.

Over the years, members of the CPA, including Silvestri, have provided print photos to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), whose role is to identify and preserve access to records of historical, social and cultural significance.

This means the print photos and the history behind them have somewhere to live on.

"I do think it's important that images are printed for a record purpose," Silvestri said, adding that this is a reason he decided to publish the photo book.

To mark the 120th anniversary of the club, Silvestri took on the task of printing 120 photographs in the book, two from each member.

However, having realised the club does not have 60 members, he branched out and tracked down past members to contribute too.

Those who took part also provided a written history of their photos to be included in the book.

Robert Sergeant joined the CPA about 10 years ago and sat as chairman for two of those. His photos appear in the book.

"It's nice to see that printed material," he said.

"It is something you can throw on the coffee table, and if people come in to the house, it's much easier letting them see something physical than having to drag out a phone and saying, look at this."

Both Silvestri and Sergeant are encouraging young people who are interested in photography to join the club.

Silvestri said there is "no better place to learn how to use a camera than a camera club".

"When you're in a club … there'll be somebody that will mentor you, that will buddy you and will take you along your journey using your camera and I think that's really important."

Bringing it back to printed images, Sergeant said: "The thing about camera clubs is we still have a strong reliance on the printed material, in that you tend to find that people who have phones and use their phones only for photography don't tend to get that hard copy," Sergeant said.

He said there is "always something very nice" about seeing your own images in large scale.

The book was launched at Belfast Central Library, where an exhibition showcasing the club members' work is on display until later this month.