When two friends met to practice their photography skills together, they never thought they were starting what soon turned into a full-fledged club.
But now with nearly 100 members popping in and out of Femme Photo Club, that’s exactly what happened.
“I started it with my friend Katie who I went to film school with and it started off as us two wanting to practice our photography skills on a regular basis — kinda like an accountability buddy,” says Cora Beckett, who created the club a year and a half ago. “We just wanted to have a set time to meet every month, but we decided to open it up to the public and it blew up. We weren’t expecting it to be so popular. I think it just speaks to the testament that there aren’t a lot of spaces that are for femme creatives exclusively, so (the club) met a need that wasn’t being met previously.”
Diana Cadena, right, places items on a frame to be exposed on photographic paper as part of a lumen photography process during Oct. 6’s monthly meetup with Femme Photo Club.
“We’re trying to combat perfectionism by not focusing on the end product, but getting together and being with community and being playful,” Beckett adds.
The club is in place for women, transgender and femme people to learn and practice photography skills in a welcoming environment — all skill levels are welcome. Generally about 30 people meet each month to hear from an instructor, followed by hands-on photography experience.
The guest teachers might have a 20-minute lesson or an hour-long instruction where you could learn about long exposure and self portraiture, or perhaps lighting, composition and how to direct models. A $10 donation is suggested to go toward the models, but no one is turned away for a lack of funds. No RSVP is needed.
Perla Torres watches a presentation on lumen photography with other members of the Femme Photo Club during their monthly meetup on Oct. 6.
“I usually always at the end of the lesson will have the people who are more comfortable with manual exposure (for example) raise their hand,” Beckett says. “So you don’t have to just ask the person who is teaching. The community is all knowledgeable if you need to ask for help — it’s very peer-to-peer learning.”
After the lesson is a hands-on photo session, usually with three of four models. In the past, Femme Photo Club has used vintage clothing from the Desert Haze Market and florals from Talk Soil To Me to enhance the photoshoots.
“It’s just one way we’re expanding the community. It’s just nice that we’re all collaborating together,” Beckett says. “Competition is such an illusion. We’re all just uplifting each other.”
Femme Photo Club members gather to create lumens using natural materials such as flowers during their monthly meetup on Oct. 6. Lumen photography is an alternative process where a camera is not needed and photo paper is exposed by the sun with materials laid on the paper.
Above all else, Femme Photo Club is a space for like-minded community members to gather with one another.
“(Photography) can be a very insular individual activity that you do and that you cultivate, but I think so many of us — whether it be after COVID or just living in a world that is very capitalistic and single-family-unit-oriented — we’re all trained to be hyper-fixated on our individual selves,” Beckett says. “When it comes to being in this club, where it’s about community and you take all the pressure off yourself about succeeding in a certain way and it becomes about play, I think that’s something that’s lacking and really necessary for joy.”
Eden McEwen, left, reacts to her artwork as Nicole Hayes, right, opens her frame during a meetup of the Femme Photo Club on Oct. 6.
Since starting Femme Photo Club, Beckett has not only seen the club grow in numbers, but also in skill. Beckett loves being able to nurture relationships with people they respect and feel inspired by.
“Seeing people’s growth in such a quick amount of time — I have friends who join the club who didn’t know how to do manual exposure and it just took them a couple times of being in a group setting when they had a lot of intimidation learning on their own,” Beckett says. “Now they’re taking phenomenal photos that are better than my pictures and all they needed was access to education. That’s probably the most rewarding thing for me, is seeing all these people I truly care about thriving in a way that’s joyful.”
McKenzie Campas, center, uses a portable darkroom to lay out photo-sensitive paper during a gathering of the Femme Photo Club on Oct. 6.
Since Beckett was a child, they have always found a safe haven in movies. After joining theater in high school, they quickly realized they enjoyed the production elements far more than being on stage.
After college, Beckett landed a job as a documentarian for an advertising agency. A few months ago, though, the Tucson native took a leap and moved to the Big Apple — a move that was made possible partially because of the Femme Photo Club.
Julianna Lucero, center, checks the transparency of a flower petal during a monthly meetup of the Femme Photo Club on Oct. 6. On this Sunday, they learned about lumen photography, an alternative process where a camera is not needed and photo paper is exposed by the sun with materials laid on the paper.
“I had a lot of encouragement from folks in Femme Photo Club because we have a very wide range of skill levels so there are people who are professional photographers who come and then we have total novices,” Beckett says. “One of my good friends, Brittney Christie, showed up at one of the Femme Photo Clubs and she got me my first gig here in New York.”
An example of a lumen made by Femme Photo Club member Melissa Williams.
Since Beckett is no longer in Tucson, Femme Photo Club has created a board of several people to keep the club thriving — and each of them are enthusiastic about keeping it alive.
“I just love the community we have. We just hype each other up so much because it’s easy to,” Beckett says. “It makes me so happy to uplift other people and shine a light on other people’s talents.”
Femme Photo Club typically meets once a month. Keep up with the club on Instagram to see where they'll be next.
After laying out materials in a frame, light sensitive paper is placed underneath the objects and exposed to the sun as part of the lumen photography process.
Marizo Siller experiments with oil on a frame as part of lumen artwork during a monthly meetup of the Femme Photo Club on Oct. 6.
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