A: Click "Next Meeting" in the Quick Links box, or you can click "Activities" in the page menu — the next meeting is typically the first meeting you see in that list.
To see just meetings on that page, click "Meetings" filter link at the top of the list.

A: Click "Next Outing" in the Quick Links box, or you can click "Activities" in the page menu -- the next outing is typically the first outing you see in that list.
To see just outings on that page, click "Outings" filter link at the top of the list.

A: There are a variety of activites and topics we cover each year at our meetings. To see an overview of the types of things we do at meetings, look at our About Meetings page.

A: Themes are like an internal photography competition for club members. It is a chance to play the role of both submitting artist as well as judge in such a competition.
We strongly encourage members to use the scoring and commenting features of our site on theme images to practice judging photos to look for strengths and weaknesses.
Each theme receives submissions for about a month (depending on schedule set by current theme director), members can submit up to 3 images in a given theme. Once submissions close, a 1 week voting period begins where members can review the images, update their comments and scores, and vote for those images they feel best interpret the theme statement.
Once voting is complete, the top 3 images are awarded "ribbons" (ties are possible), and the top 10 images are reviewed at the next club meeting. While a theme is open the images are shown without artist names to avoid any possible bias in that regard. Once voting is done and the theme is complete, artist names are revealed.
Note: because of this requirement of anonymity prior to theme completion, we ask members NOT to put any copyright or other indentifying information in their photos.

     Themes are meant to encompass several intents by the original designers of the activity. It gives members an opportunity for some relatively stress free competition within the club, without occupying time at our meetings. It gives members a chance to practice "themed shooting", where they are asked to interpret a theme statement — something done in many multi-club / organization competitions (as well as requirements for those shooting contracted photography). It allows a member to develop their "critical eye" by playing judge in the competition, looking for strengths in an image as well as possible suggestions to make an image even better. By voting for top images, it allows the member to continue their role as a competition judge — where if they were asked to judge for another club, they would be expected to pick at least a Top 3 set of images. By receiving the feedback from other members, submitting artists can take a more critical look at their work and hopefully take useful comments to continue improve their photography in the future. Seeing how other members interpreted the theme, they may also find inspiration of subjects and techniques to try in their own work. And finally, by displaying the images at the end, with some nice virtual ribbons attached, it allows the public to see some of the best work of our members on display.

A: Click "Open XXX" (where XXX is the name of the theme) in the Quick Links box,
or Click "Activities" in the page menu to find information on themes.
To see just themes, click "Themes" filter link at the top of the activities list.

A: Click "Vote XXX" (where XXX is the name of the theme) in the Quick Links box, or
Click "Activities" in the page menu to find information on themes. A voting theme will usually be the first theme in the list.
To see just themes, click "Themes" filter link at the top of the activities list.
If you are logged into your account, a theme in voting phase will have a "Vote" button on the entry that will take you to the Theme voting ballot.
If you are not logged in, a "Login To Vote" button which will allow you to log into your account, after which you are taken to the voting ballot.

A: Members cannot vote for the images they submit. If you submitted any images to the current theme you will not see them on your ballot.
This is to avoid any bias with members trying to up-vote their own images in the competition.
Following the addage of "cream rises", if your images are truly the best they will rise to the top as other members vote for them.

A: Click "Complete XXX" (where XXX is the name of the theme) in the Quick Links box, or
for the first week after a theme completes, you can click "Activities" in the page menu to find Theme information.
The theme entry will have a "More..." button which expands the entry to give a quick summary of the results.
The "Gallery" link button will take you to the theme's gallery comment view which has additional information.
You can also go to the Themes gallery collection, and select the "comment view" (looks like:    ) for that theme. The Theme results information is at the top of that view.

A: If you are logged into your member account, when you view the "Image Comments" for a theme, you may see some numbers in a photo's entry. It would look something like:

8 / 7   σ1.2 (9)

The numbers are [average-score]/[# scoring members]   σ[Standard-deviation] (your-score)
In the example above, the image received an average score of 8 based on scores from 7 members. You personally scored the image 9. (if there is no number in parentheses, then you did not personally score that image)
The standard deviation of all the scores is 1.2. Standard deviation (indicated by lower-case sigma: σ) means most scores were within that range of the average. So in the example above, most scores were between 6.8 and 9.2 (subtract/add 1.2 to the average score). A low σ (e.g. 1.0 or less) means most people scoring that image agreed between their scores. If your score was outside that range, you are scoring the image above/below what most other members did.
Standard deviation in this case could be used to see if there is consensus on the scoring of an image. If the σ value is higher (e.g. 2.5), then that would mean people disagree on what the strengths and detractors are for an image.

The interpretation of statistics like these can be somewhat subjective. You have to take these numbers with a grain of salt — how much consensus can there be on an image that only received 3 scores?! Here we are applying hard math to something that has a high subjective component to it, as is the case in most art.

A: You need to log into your account to view member profiles and edit your own.
When you log in, you see your name in the navigation menu at the top of the page. Clicking your name will take you to your profile. Also note: you can access your profile under the Members menu that appears when you log in. In that sub-menu you also find "My Profile".

A: To get emails when things happen on the site (new photos posted, themes opening/closing, etc.), you must configure your notifications You need to log into your account to view member profiles and edit your own.

When you log in, you see your name in the navigation menu at the top of the page. Clicking your name will take you to your profile. Also note: you can access your profile under the Members menu that appears when you log in. In that sub-menu you also find "My Profile".

Click the "notifications" tab and look at the events available. Choose when you want to be notified (immediately, daily, weekly or never) and how to be notified: email or SMS (see question about SMS below!).

A: Our site does not support direct texting to your cell phone.
However most cell network providers support an email address that will go to your cell phone as a text message.
Often that address is something like your phone number at your provider's domain (e.g. 6045551212@virginmobile.ca). If your service provider allows this, then you can give that special email address to our system as your "SMS" address.

Go to the "Account" tab on your profile and enter this SMS email address into the SMS box.

A:There are a few steps required to reset your password:

1. Click the Login link at the top of the page (on cell phones, this will be under the page menu ().
2. Click the "I forgot my password" button.
3. On the form, fill out the email you use with the club (or your userid if you know it)
4. Click the "Reset" button
5. You will receive an email with a reset link — Click that link to return to the Password reset page.
6. Re-fill your email/userid, and then enter your new password in the password box as well as in the confirmation box.
7. Click "Save"

A:Sometimes a member may have some scheduling conflicts that prevent them from attending club meetings, but they are not yet ready to quit the club.

This situation often arises at the start of a new season in September. Contact the treasurer (treasurer@nwphoto.org) or the webmaster (webmaster@nwphoto.org). We will mark your account "inactive". This means you will not be able to log into your account on the site and your member galleries will not be visible — but are NOT deleted. Contributions to past themes and outing galleries can still be seen. We will keep an account inactive for up to one year -- if you are unable to return at that point we assume you are quitting and delete your account (we can accomodate extenuating circumstances).

Of course, if you pay your membership dues for the coming season, we leave your account active even if you are unable to attend meetings. (e.g. Perhaps you would be attending outings and participating in themes.)

A:We're sorry to see you go but recognize the fact that there are many reasons why a member may need to leave the club.

Let us know you are leaving the club by sending an email to the webmaster (webmaster@nwphoto.org). The webmaster will delete your account. When this happens, all your account info is removed as well as any member galleries you have on our site.

NOTE: to preserve the photographic legacy of the club, we ask your permission to continue to show any images you have submitted to theme, outing, or activity galleries. IF you would prefer we remove all of your photos (they are yours afterall), please indicate that when you contact the webmaster (It's easy to do at the moment of account deletion. After your account is deleted, it's a bit more of a headache for the webmaster).

A: Go to the "My Uploads" page, select the "DropBoxes" tab.
NOTE: You must be logged into your account to access the uploads page.
In the page menu you find it under the "Members" sub-menu. The Dropboxes tab lets you select the dropbox to upload files to (if there are no open dropboxes, you will see a message to that effect). The dropbox upload mechanism works similarly to other gallery uploads.
Each dropbox may have different limits as to what kinds of files you can upload. You may make changes to your submissions (titles, notes, and projection preferences, or even delete submissions if you change your mind) up until the close time of the box.

A: Go to the "My Uploads" page, select the "Themes" tab.
NOTE: You must be logged into your account to access the uploads page.
In the page menu you find it under the "Members" sub-menu. The Themes tab has a list of all open themes accepting photos. Select the theme you want to upload to.

A: Go to the "My Uploads" page, select the "Outings" tab.
NOTE: You must be logged into your account to access the uploads page.
In the page menu you find it under the "Members" sub-menu. The Outings tab has a list of all club outings. Select the one you wish to upload to.

A: Go to the "My Uploads" page, select the "My Galleries" tab.
NOTE: You must be logged into your account to access the uploads page.
In the page menu you find it under the "Members" sub-menu. The My Galleries tag has a list of all your current member galleries, select the gallery you wish to upload to.
You can also create a new gallery on the fly on that tab.

A: If you are uploading to online galleries (themes, outings, members), the max image size is 1920x1080 pixels. Files must be under 3 megabytes.
If you are uploading images to be projected at a meeting, our club projector's resolution is 1920x1080.
For competitions, it depends on the specifications of the competition, and you will have to check the rules and specs for that particular competition.

A: Go to the "My Galleries" page.
NOTE: You must be logged into your account to access the uploads page.
In the page menu you find it under the "Members" sub-menu.

A: Go to the "Recent" photos page.
It is found under the Photos sub-menu.
NOTE: During the night an audit runs looking for recent changes to the website. Photos appear in the recent list only after that nightly audit runs. So a photo submitted today does not show up on the recent page until the following day.

A: Go to the "Outings Galleries" collection page, found in the Photos sub-menu.

A: Go to the "Themes Galleries" collection page, found in the Photos sub-menu.

A: Go to the "Member Galleries" collection page, found in the Photos sub-menu.
There you will find a list of members who have posted photos in their own galleries. You can then select a member whose galleries may interest you.

A: Go to the "Recent RFC" page, found in the "Members" sub-menu.
Like the recent photos page, this list is updated each night based on recent site activity.

A: You need to log into your account to make comments on photos.
When you log in, then on any singular display of a photo (carousel view, single photo view, or if the photo is in a comment view of the gallery) you should see a pencil icon (). Clicking on the icon will open the commenting panel. You should see the photo in question as well as two text entry boxes, one for "Strengths" and one for "Suggestions". Enter the elements of the photo you feel add to the composition in the "Strengths" box, and in "Suggestions" offer any comments about what you might change IN THAT PHOTO to improve it (including how that specific shot could have been shot differently in terms of depth of field, exposure, etc.)
Remember to click the "SAVE" button when you are done entering your commments.

NOTE: You cannot comment on your own photos.

NOTE: You cannot comment on theme photos after the theme is complete.

A: You need to log into your account to see comments and comment indicators.
When you log in, then on any display of a photo (carousel view, grid view, single photo view, or if the photo is in a comment view of the gallery) where you have left a comment you should see the "commented" icon (). This icon indicates you have already left a comment on that photo.

A: If have more comments to make on an image, you are free to submit a second (or third, or eighth) comment.
Themes are the only galleries that have a cut-off for commenting. Once a theme is complete, comments on those images are disabled to preserve the thinking of members at the time. But all other galleries (member, outing, competitions) allow you to add as many comments as you like at any point in time.

A: With the exeception of comments on Theme photos you need to log into your account to read comments or see comment indicators.
In the gallery collections page (Themes, Outings, or Member galleries), if any photos in that gallery have comments, you will be able to access the gallery comment view by clicking the comment view icon: .
The gallery comment view page lists out all photos that have comments, and the comments on those photos.

On pages listing single photos (gallery carousel and grid views), if the photo has comments you will see the "comment" icon ().
Click the comment icon to go to the photo viewing page, at the bottom of which will be the comments on the photo.