Welcome to the CACCA Website!

The Chicago Area Camera Clubs Association (founded 1936) is a progressive photographic organization composed of about forty clubs and over 1000 people who are actively engaged in every phase of photography.

Competition

Schedule

Scoring

Rules

Annual Salon

Judges Handbook

CACCA COMPETITIONS

CACCA offers a variety of competitions throughout the year. For specific details on size restrictions, submission requirements, class divisions, etc see the Rules section of this website.

After each month’s competitions, Best of the Month images and point standings for both Interclub and Individual Competitions are posted on this website along with the names of those individual photographers whose images were honored by being chosen to receive awards, honorable mentions, and Best of the Month. At the end of each year, at CACCA’s banquet in June, plaques/trophies are awarded to clubs and individuals with the highest standings and to Best of Year winners.

INTERCLUB COMPETITIONS

Interclub Pictorial Slides, Pictorial Digital Projected images, Large Color Prints, Large Monochrome Prints, Small Color Prints, Small Monochrome Prints. Competitions are held each competition year on a monthly basis beginning in October and ending in May. Each Club may submit up to four (4) entries from four (4) different makers per competition. Small Prints may be of any size which fits on an 11in by 14 in. mat board while Large Prints must fit on a 16 in by 20 in mat board.

INDIVIDUAL COMPETITIONS

In these competitions where subject matter is restricted, photographers compete as individuals rather than as a member of a club team.

INDIVIDUAL NATURE

CCACCA conducts three Individual Nature competitions during the year in two divisions, slides and small prints. Photographs entered into Nature Competitions may depict observations from any branch of natural history, and must do so in a fashion that a well-informed person will be able to identify the subject matter and to certify to its honest presentation. Any view may be used, including micro and macro photographs.

Ineligible are photographs of artificially produced hybrid plants (e.g. garden flowers) or domesticated animals, mounted specimens, obviously set arrangements, derivations or any form of photographic manipulation that creates a false or misleading impression of the natural history subject

The story-telling value of the photograph will be considered along with its pictorial quality. Obviously recognizable man-made elements shall not be present except for scientific wildlife banding and in the rare instances where man-made elements enhance the story (e.g., where wildlife adopts a man-made location). Even in those instances, the man-made elements should be unobtrusive.

INDIVIDUAL PHOTOJOURNALISM

CACCA conducts three Individual Photojournalism competitions during the year in two divisions, slides and small prints. Entries in the Photojournalism Competition must depict man and his environment. These will generally consist of story-telling pictures or sequences as seen in news media and periodicals, including human interest, spot news, documentary, and humor. Contrived situations or photographic manipulations that alter the truth are not allowed. The journalistic value of the photograph shall be weighed along with the pictorial quality.

INDIVIDUAL ALTERATION OF REALITY

CACCA conducts three Individual Alteration of Reality competitions during the year in Digital Projected Images division. Entries in the Alteration of Reality Division must exhibit a departure from realism by creativity of subject matter and/or photographic manipulation. Entries that are “straight” photographs with no evidence of creativity or departure from realistic presentation are ineligible. Any and all techniques used to alter the image are eligible. The best combination of imagination and execution is the intent of the Alteration of Reality competition.

INDIVIDUAL PORTRAIT

CACCA conducts three Individual Portrait Compretitions during the year in two divisions, slides and small prints. Photographs entered into Portrait Competitions may be either living humans or animals. The human or animal shall be the main subject and shall dominate the picture. The chairperson has the right to disqualify any entry that does not meet this requirement. Ineligible entries include, but are not limited to, plants, glassware, and other inanimate objects.

INDIVIDUAL SPECIAL CATEGORY

CACCA conducts seven Individual Special Category slide competitions during the year as a single Class of competition. Subject matter of entries in each monthly competition is restricted to the pre-announced category for that competition. Images may not have been previously entered in a CACCA competition.