Southern California Council of Camera Clubs

The Southern California Council of Camera Clubs (S4C) is a consortium of 17 photography clubs across Southern California, including the Thousand Oaks Photo Group. The S4C was founded in 1939 and has been a Council member of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) since 1953. S4C provides members of local photography clubs with unique opportunities to submit images into regional and international photo competitions, take part in regional workshops and meet members from other S4C camera clubs.

The S4C promotes photographic arts and education by providing venues for photo competition:

• Monthly digital image competitions. The S4C conducts digital photo competitions in four divisions (Pictorial, Nature, Photo Travel, and Photojournalism) between the months of October through April. All individual members of S4C clubs may enter images in these competitions free of charge. There are specific rules regarding image submission. The schedule for competitions for this year is provided below. Please review the S4C website for details about monthly competitions. 
• Year-end Competition. All images that have received either award or honorable mention during the monthly competitions are submitted to the year-end competition where the best of the best images are selected. The results of the year-end competition are presented later in the year.
• S4C hosts an Annual International Exhibition where photographers from around the world may submit photo images for competition. This competition is recognized by the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and is licensed by the Global Photographic Union (GPU). Please refer to the S4C website for details regarding the Annual International Exhibition.

For more information about S4C, please check the S4C website or email the TO Photo Group's representative, Mike Reyburn, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Thousand Oaks Photo Group is consistent winner at S4C competitions, and you can review galleries of our past S4C competition winning images. You too can become part of our winner's galleries, but only if you submit images to the S4C monthly competitions.

S4C Competition Orientation

Hutch Hutchison provided a detailed review of the what, why and how of S4C competitions. If you are interested in competing, this webinar will help you get started. S4C Photo Competition Orientation

S4C Key Competition Dates for 2023-2024 Competition Season

There are many revisions and clarifications to section definitions as a result of PSA changes. S4C strives to be consistent with PSA definitions and rules as much as possible. PSA has made strong statements regarding the use of drones, AI and protection of the plant and animal environment. Please read the summary of changes for the 2023-2024 competition year. Finally, S4C has instituted a policy regarding repeated disqualifications (DQs). Some entrants have repeatedly submitted images that have been DQ'd even after being told that these images violate one or more competition definitions. An occasional DQ is expected and accepted. This policy is only being instituted to stop flagrant violators of S4C guidelines and definitions. See our Policy on Repeated DQs for details.