PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Professional organizations in photography have
existed almost from the medium’s beginnings, and
have served a wide variety of purposes within the
general desire to advance one’s professional status
within the field. The most common purpose is educa-
tional, but some organizations evolve into for-profit
bureaus, or establish awards, publishing programs, or
exhibition spaces that overshadow other activities.
Unlike amateur photo clubs, which are largely open
to any one interested in joining (although there may
be dues or other fees), most professional societies
admit those with credentials only, and often are
by recommendation or nomination, the most famous
also being one of oldest, the Royal Photographic
Society (RPS) of Great Britain, based in London.
What a ‘professional photographer’ is enjoys a wide
range of interpretation, from those who are primarily
teachers, to those who earn their living from their
studio or photojournalistic practice, to those in
such specialized fields as evidence photography or
optical engineering.
Of historical importance, the Photo-Secession
was the pioneering American professional organi-
zation, arising out of the camera club movement,
which was largely made up of like-minded ama-
teurs of means. Structured much like the RPS
with a board of trustees and membership by invita-
tion, though short-lived (1902–c. 1910), this society
had an extraordinary impact on American and
international photography.
The Photographic Society of America (PSA),
based in Philadelphia, is the modern face of a long
tradition of photographic societies in the United
States that combined the interests of amateur and
professional photographers. In the early years of
the twentieth century, such organizations, including
the Pictorial Photographers of America founded by
Clarence White in 1915, were the chief organs for
the exhibition of photography in their annual sal-
ons, held in New York and Philadelphia for the
most part.
At the end of the century, PSA was an interna-
tional organization with differing membership
levels for the amateur or professional. It promotes
photography through fostering local camera clubs
for the amateur with competitions and prizes, as
well as an annual conference, monthly magazine,
and educational services including on-line study
groups. Their website is http://www.psa-photo.org.
The Photo League was a seminal organization
that promoted the specific agenda of promoting
socially aware photography. Formed in 1936 in
New York in opposition to the professional orga-
nizations that largely promoted Pictorialism, such
figures as Berenice Abbott, W. Eugene Smith, Paul
Strand, and Walter Rosenblum were associated
with the group over the years until it was black-
listed as being sympathetic to Communism and
ultimately disbanded in 1951. Many photographers
showed in The Photo League’s gallery; they estab-
lished a low-cost school, funded individual pro-
jects, and published the magazinePhotoNotes.
The Friends of Photography based in Carmel,
California, was another pioneering professional or-
ganization and an example of a support group
founded by photographers that became known pri-
marily for its exhibitions and publications. This
venerable professional organization ceased opera-
tions in 2001 after a distinguished history of support-
ing photographic activity, especially on the West
Coast, but with a nation-wide and international
influence. Established in 1967 after an initial meeting
held in the home of Ansel Adams and his wife Virgi-
nia, the organization’s purpose was to promote crea-
tive photography. Ansel Adams served as the group’s
first president with Brett Weston as vice president.
Exhibitions were promptly mounted at a former
school known as the Sunset Center, beginning a
long series of important photographic exhibitions.
Friends of Photography also ran the influential Mon-
terey Workshops, photographic master classes
taught by the leading figures of the day, including
Adams, Ruth Bernhard, Imogen Cunningham, Lee
Friedlander, Emmet Gowin, Mark Klett, and photo
historians such as Beaumont Newhall and Andy
Grundberg. After Ansel Adams’s death the organiza-
tion relocated to San Francisco in 1984 where it
continued its active program of publishing (notably
its long-running ‘‘Untitled’’ series) and fellowships
and scholarships including the Ferguson Grant for
emerging photographers and the Ruttenberg Fellow-
ship for excellence in portraiture.
One of the best known American professional
organizations is the Society for Photographic Educa-PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS