About the Association
The North Wales Photographic Association — Cymdeithas Ffotograffig Gogledd Cymru — brings together the camera clubs of North Wales.
What NWPA is
NWPA is an association of 17 camera clubs. Its members are clubs, not individuals: a club affiliates to the Association, and everyone who belongs to that club is covered by the affiliation.
Membership is open to clubs in the counties of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham. Clubs from neighbouring federations may also apply to join.
The Association is run by an Executive Committee drawn from the member clubs. The Committee meets four times a year, and the December meeting is also the Annual General Meeting. The Association's Rules and Constitution were adopted at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 2 March 2025 and are published on the Documents page. NWPA operates an equal-opportunities code conforming to the Equality Act 2010.
The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain
NWPA is one of the fifteen federations that together make up the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain. The PAGB is the umbrella body for just under a thousand camera clubs across the country.
Affiliation to NWPA carries PAGB affiliation with it. Member clubs are asked to carry the following line in their own printed programmes:
Affiliated to the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain through the North Wales Photographic Association
Through the PAGB, members of affiliated clubs can apply for the Awards for Photographic Merit at five levels — Badge, Credit, Distinction, Excellence and Master (BPAGB, CPAGB, DPAGB, EPAGB and MPAGB). Adjudications are held twice a year, in spring and autumn, at venues around the country.
What the Association does
- Inter-club competitions. Two each year, usually in April and October. The winning clubs go on to represent NWPA at the PAGB's national inter-club championships — the PDI Championship and the Print Championship.
- A directory of judges and lecturers. NWPA maintains its own directory, and the PAGB maintains a national one. Both list people willing to visit a club for travelling expenses only.
- Insurance advice. Guidance for member clubs on public liability and trustee indemnity cover, with certificates held for affiliated clubs.
- Lectures and workshops. Held occasionally through the year.
- A monthly newsletter. Forthcoming events, competition results and salon acceptances, published as a PDF.
- The Recognition Award Scheme. For individuals who have made a significant contribution to the club scene in North Wales.
- Routes to wider recognition. Beyond the PAGB awards, members can work towards FIAP distinctions through acceptances in international salons held under FIAP patronage, and can enter the Masters of Print exhibition.
History
The Association was formed in 1981 by Ken Worthy, Margaret Salisbury and others, as a body separate from the Welsh Photographic Federation, which operates mainly in the south of Wales.
It has been running continuously since. A year-by-year record of every post-holder from 1981 onwards is kept in the Roll of Honour on the legacy archive.
The Legacy Archive
The Association's previous website ran for many years and holds a great deal that is worth keeping: exhibition galleries going back to 2018, newsletters from 2018 onwards, the Roll of Honour, and the record of the Frontiers project with the Royal Photographic Society. Rather than move all of it across, the old site has been kept exactly as it was and left where it is. It is no longer being updated, but nothing has been removed.