What's A ShutterBug?

Webster’s has the following definition of a shutterbug – a person whose hobby is photography. It has become for some of us an avocation: shooting people, animals, landscapes, and especially families and grandchildren!

The ShutterBugs of On Top of the World are people who love photography and “bug” people in and out of the community with taking photos.  We also love to display them with the community’s ardent support. We have the time to learn and play now that we are retired!

In 2005, a small group of digital camera buffs decided to form our own club in OTOW that is dedicated to learning and enjoying our avocation…and have lots of laughs while doing it. We have evolved to having meetings or a field trip every week.

Our Mission is to foster growth, vision, and knowledge.  We encourage membership by fellow devotees from novices to semi-pros. 

We foster knowledge by having classes ranging from the basics to computer usage in enhancing their photos, challenging our minds and artistic visions. Our members have every level of cameras, from point ‘n shoot to digital DSLRs.

ShutterBugs travel far and wide across Florida for photo opportunities, including field trips to zoos, rookeries, alligator farms, horse ranches, butterfly farms, aquariums, unusual landscapes and water venues, boat trips, historical sites, etc.  It’s an educational experience to see how everyone’s “eye” sees something different. Plus, then we go to somewhere to eat, compare notes, and laugh!

At our monthly show ‘n tell, members show their photos from the field trip or the alternate “challenge,” and enjoy a gentle critique by fellow members on how to improve their photo-taking abilities, or computer skills to crop, enhance, etc. This encourages members to learn their cameras while shooting in different atmospheres, as well as lighting, speed, macro, ISO, white balance, etc.

Every year in November after judging by three or four outside pros, we have an exhibit. The photos are entered and judged in different categories: novice, intermediate, advanced, master, and modified. Three top winners and three honorable mentions are awarded ribbons in each category. Of course the top three have to move up a category the following year. We also allow the community to vote for their favorite, or as we call it, the “People’s Choice.”

Our photos are also displayed in Freedom Library and at Master the Possibilities educational center. The great feedback we received from those venues encourages us to keep shooting and learning.

If we’ve wetted your appetite, come share in the enjoyment of our hobby.

Marilynn Cronin

President