I have great news!

After detailed discussions, I have come to an agreement with a party based in Auckland to continue all aspects of MyPhotoClub that I have previously indicated would be wound up.  This party is Kevin Akers and Ricardo Grecco, which for the purposes of this email I’ll refer to as ‘KA+RG’.

The arrangements are:

  • I will continue providing MyPhotoClub services to all photography clubs in Australia.  New clubs are most definitely welcome.
  • KA+RG will utilise the MyPhotoClub data structure and codebase to establish a separate instance of MyPhotoClub to provide:
    • International competition services worldwide, including Australia.
    • National competition services worldwide, including Australia.
    • Interclub competition services worldwide, including Australia.
    • Individual photography club services to photography clubs outside Australia.

To summarise our arrangement for Clubs and Competitions, the following table describes who will be responsible, for what, and in which country:

WHATWHEREWHO
Photography clubs
(including competitions between club members)		Within AustraliaColin
Photography clubs
(including competitions between club members)		Outside AustraliaKA+RG
International competitionsWorldwideKA+RG
National competitionsWorldwideKA+RG
Interclub competitionsWorldwideKA+RG

WHO IS KA+RG?

A quick introduction:

Kevin is a very experienced digital product lead and producer who has been a passionate amateur photographer since buying is first camera in 1985. He is a long standing member at one of the larger photography clubs in Auckland; joining their committee around 4 years ago to help the club as it grows.

Ricardo is an extremely experienced developer and has a wealth of experience in the WordPress development world, which is the underlying technology upon which myPhotoClub has been built. 

They have worked together as a team since 2015 and I can see that they’ll be a very successful team. They’re both looking forward to meeting you in due course.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

To ensure everyone understands how this transition works, the following explains what the changes mean for each group of users.

It is important to note that no transfer of data or sharing of information will occur without the explicit approval of the concerned individual or group.

1. CLUBS:

Photography Clubs Within Australia

  • There will be no change to the service for Australian clubs. 
  • I will personally continue to run and support all Australian club sites exactly as I do now.
  • Clubs can continue to add members, run competitions between their own members, and maintain their websites without interruption. 
  • New clubs in Australia are also welcome to join under the existing arrangements. 
  • Support processes and technical structures remain the same.

Photography Clubs Outside Australia

  • I am moving to a scenario where I will no longer support clubs outside of Australia. 
  • Existing photography clubs outside Australia will continue to be run and supported by me until KA+RG have their separate instance of MyPhotoClub up and running which we are aiming to complete before the end of the year. Exact timings for this will be confirmed shortly as we are all aware that you will be wanting to set up your 2026 calendar shortly.
  • Non-Australian clubs will continue to be able to add members, run competitions between their own members, and maintain their websites without interruption. 
  • With each club’s permission, their site (including the club, members and their data (including photos) will be transitioned to the KA+RG site. We will work with you to answer any questions you may have about this process in the very near future.
  • Both myself and KA+RG will work to minimise any disruption to you, your club and its members.
  • All new clubs located outside Australia will onboard to the KA+RG-hosted version of MyPhotoClub. 

2. COMPETITIONS

International, National, and Interclub Competitions (including those based in Australia)

  • I will reach out to each affected competition host to discuss.
  • To ensure a smooth transition, I will continue to provide these services for the next round of your competition, should it look to launch in the first 3 months of 2026.
  • Once KA+RG has its separate instance of MyPhotoClub up, a transition will occur. With your permission, the competition site, members and their data (including photos) will be transitioned to the KA+RG site. We will work with you to answer any questions you may have about this process in the very near future.
  • Any competitions looking to commence after 01 April 2026 will be doing so on this new instance.

Entrants (Club, National, International and Interclub)

  • Entrants within Club competitions – where the Club itself is based in Australia – will see no change and will continue to use the current MyPhotoClub system. 
  • Entrants within Club competitions – where the Club itself is based outside Australia – will be migrated to the new KA+RG instance.
  • Entrants in international, national and interclub competitions will eventually access these events through the new KA+RG instance.
  • While not all details are finalised, the process should be simple for the entrant to manage. Probably a password reset and they are away.

Competition Coordinators and Organisers

  • Coordinators for Australian club competitions will continue exactly as before, with no changes to tools or processes. 
  • Coordinators for Non-Australian club competitions, transitioned international, national and interclub competitions will work with KA+RG for event setup, data management, competition workflows and judging support. 

Judges

  • Judges working with Australian clubs will continue using the current system with no changes to access or process. 
  • Judges involved in Non-Australian club competitions, national, international or interclub events may receive access to the KA+RG instance, depending upon who you choose to use going forward.
  • The scoring and judging interfaces will remain similar, with the potential for enhancements to be introduced through KA+RG’s development program in the future – which they are keen to get your input into BTW!

FOR BOTH CLUBS AND COIMPETITIONS

Technical Support and Feature Development

  • I will continue maintaining and developing the Australian club environment. 
  • KA+RG will maintain and expand the separate global competition and non-Australian club instances. 
  • Myself and KA+RG have an agreement to work with each other to share development of the system so that both can obtain feature improvements going forwards
  • Myself and KA+RG have an agreement where I provide technical support to both environments as required.

Data Separation and Privacy

  • The Australian club environment and the KA+RG non-Australian clubs and competition environment will operate as completely separate systems. 
  • No club-level personal data from Australian clubs will be transferred to KA+RG once the transition has been completed.
  • Club-competition entry data for non-Australian clubs, and International, National, and Interclub Competitions will be stored by KA+RG only for the events they host.

What Will Not Change

The MyPhotoClub platform structure, and competition workflow remain consistent. The experience for Australian club members is unaffected, and I remain committed to supporting and enhancing the platform for clubs across Australia.

As KA+RG is using the same codebase, the user experience will not change, but I have no doubt that they will take MyPhotoClub much further as they look to support the photography community further in future.

What the future promises 

Kevin and Ricardo are extremely motivated to take MyPhotoClub to a wider audience, improving and refining what is already a sound product.  Australian clubs will continue to receive the support they have known will benefit from the cooperation outlined above.

More communications will follow as things progress. 

Kind regards

Colin Woods
e:  colin@myphotoclub.com.au 
m: +61 419 624 347
w: myphotoclub.com.au