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SAPA started from a suggestion put out by a Miss C. Mackenzie, of the original Wimbome Camera Club, to a small group of Photographic Clubs in the area.
She suggested that they should get together to arrange print and slide competitions in a rational manner.
Nine clubs were represented on Thursday 12th March 1964, at the old Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wimbome, and
they formed the Stour and Avon Photographic Association (SAPA).
The Officers Elected were as follows:
Chairman: Mr. R.J. Percy (BDH Camera Club) (Poole & District Camera
Club)
Vice Chairman: Mr. A.W. Cresswell (Blandford Forum Camera Club)
Hon. Sec./ Treasurer: Miss C. Mackenzie (Wimbome Camera Club)
The other participating clubs were
Femdown Camera Club, Kinson Camera Club, Ringwood Camera Club, A.M.L. Photographic Society (No longer in existence),
Poole Power Station Camera Club (No longer in existence). By 2012 there
are 13 member clubs in SAPA.
The print and slide competitions mentioned earlier
were "All versus All" prints, where all the clubs within SAPA are invited to take part in a quite serious battle, to see who can produce the best prints.
Later in the year an "All versus All" slide competition
would be held.
By 2010, with changing technology, and the
preference for digital photography rather than film, the slide
competitions had been replaced by Projected Digital Image
competitions.
In addition to the two "All versus
All" competitions, there is the SAPA League competition between
three SAPA clubs in four groups (from 2011-12, Swanage Camera Club was
not competing in the League). The winner of each group goes onto a
League Final, usually held in April of each year.
The last competition of the season is the Best of Year, where two prints and two
PDIs are selected by the club (normally their highest-scoring entries
in the League rounds), and these are judged to find the first, second
and third in each of prints and PDIs. This is a competition for photographer of the year in both
media.
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