“This is the first time that Minot has won the award,” said Tim Zeltinger, one of the contact liaisons between the N4C and Minot Camera Club.

The Small Club of the Year award is presented to clubs with fewer than 20 paying members. There are 41 clubs across the seven states in the N4C, and 13 of those are small clubs.

To win the award, small clubs must have the highest number of points at the end of the year.

These points are obtained during the monthly competitions in which photo submissions are judged by the N4C. First place, second place, third place and honorable mentions all receive different point values. The monthly competition season runs from September through May.

Submitted Photo This photo by Tim Zeltinger is titled “Ghost of North Dakota.” The photo placed third overall in the pictorial category during the North Central Camera Club Council’s 2023-2024 season.

“In previous years, we had probably about 20 entries per year,” Zeltinger said. “This year I pushed and there were 232 prints submitted for the year end judging and over 400 digital images.”

Throughout the year, those 632 total images were judged, tallying up points for the club as a whole.

“We knocked it out of the ballpark,” Zeltinger said.

The N4C contest categories the Minot Camera Club enters submissions for each month are altered reality, pictorial, nature, travel, journalism and black and white.

In addition to the Small Club of the Year Award, Minot Camera Club’s president, David Abernathey, also placed first in the pictorial prints category.

“That’s quite an honor. Out of 400 and some entries, he got first place,” Zeltinger said of Abernathey’s award.

Zeltinger himself placed third in the pictorial category. Two members of the Minot Camera Club also received honorable mentions for their submissions. Crystal Johnson received an honorable mention for her wheat harvest scene in the best of the best black and white category and Todd Johnson received two honorable mentions in the journalism category.

“The members we have, I feel, are some of the top photographers in the Minot area,” Zeltinger said.

The Minot Camera Club had a few new additions to the club this year but Zeltinger said more people are always welcome. The club has been active since 1952 and meets at 6 p.m. the first and third Mondays of the month from September to May at the Minot Public Library lower level first meeting room.

In addition to the club’s monthly meetings, the club hosts outings and field trips to encourage members to broaden their skills and capture new subjects.

Although there are membership dues to join the club, members do not need to have an especially fancy or expensive camera and are welcome to use their phones.

“At the awards convention that we just had there was actually a cell phone class,” Zeltinger said. “It was kind of surprising to see what cell phones could do, that I never knew you could do.”

The N4C has recently had ongoing discussions about AI photography and have currently decided to limit photography to non-AI, pure photography to allow the skills of the photographers to really come through.

Both Zeltinger and Abernathey view photography as an art form and as a medium in which emotions can be expressed.

“Whether it be a friend or a family or just a complete stranger, if you can impact them, it’s totally amazing,” Zeltinger said.

“It’s just peaceful,” Abernathey said. “Going out and taking a picture, either night photography or landscapes, whatever you can see.”

This is Abernathey’s second year as president of the Minot Camera Club. Abernathey is from Glenburn and took a break from photography during his electrical apprenticeship but rejoined the Minot Camera Club in 2019.

“He’s an amazing photographer,” Zeltinger said of Abernathey. “I can tell which photos are his.”

Abernathey’s photography mostly gravitates toward nature-based subject matter, and showcasing the beauty of nature is one of the reasons Abernathey is drawn to photography.

“For me, I guess, the club pushes me a little more to go out and take more pictures or learn different techniques,” Abernathey said.

“It’s the same with me,” said Zeltinger. The good natured rivalry among club members and among the different clubs in the N4C is what pushes each photographer to do better and learn more.

“It works well. I give them techniques, they teach me things, I teach them things, places to go, things to see and do,” Zeltinger said. “It’s not just a click of the shutter.”