Coachella Valley Desert Camera Club.

This month the Journal's occasional article entitled Focus, which features a member or member-club, turns to the Coachella Valley Desert Camera Club.

The Coachella Valley Desert Camera Club (CVDCC), a member of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) since 1982, is located in Palm Desert, California. The club meets ten months out of the year--taking time off in the hot desert weather of July and August. CVDCC has five competitions and five programs alternating on the fourth Tuesday of the month. On the second Tuesdays, they hold meetings of the Digital Photography Special Interest Group (DIPSIG), which features talks and demonstrations of how to use image processing software and on advances in digital photography. This group has proven to be very popular, and has been a key factor in the club's rapid growth.

Coachella Valley members are also involved with community programs including an annual competition for high school seniors with the opportunity to win scholarship money. They also assist with the Riverside County Fair by providing support, taking photos, and helping with the photographic exhibition.

The club's annual awards banquet is held in January where the best photographers of the year are recognized. Judges for the club competitions are often local professional photographers as the nearest club is over sixty miles away. However, many S4C judges also welcome the opportunity to visit the Desert! Besides DIPSIG, the club attracts new members through its Web site (www.cvdcc.org), handouts at local camera stores and at the Riverside County Fair.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

CVDCC has recently completed their second year of the Coachella International Exhibition of Photography, a PSA-recognized competition, using software developed by club competition chairman/ webmaster, Stuart Lynn.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]