Photography Merit Badge

[odin]

I'm just getting into MB counseling and feel I'm very strong in firearms-related issues. However, I've been thinking of other areas where I could contribute and where counselors might be a little more sparse.

My question is: how popular is photography as a MB and are there many qualified counselors in your district/state? Is this an appropriate question to ask the scout councils at the district level?

[riverwalk]

I don't know how popular it is, Nationally. But check with District, then Council if you're willing. I've done this for one rarely asked for in my area. I went beyond District to Council, to be helpful on one MB. Haven't been asked, so haven't had to travel yet either, haha.

It may simply be a case where if they know there is a Counselor, they might think about it.

[longhorneagle]

A good way to see how popular a merit badge is in your area is ask your local scout shop how many they sell a year.

[lifescoutforlife]

Go to http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-500.html this will tell you how many scouts took each MB in 2005 and how many have taken it since it has been a MB. But like others have said, ask your local scout office if they have been selling them to troops because scouts have taken the badge.

[ICanCanoeCanU]

It's not a very popular badge in our area but there are still many that are interested. I would think this badge might catch more interest since digital camaras have taken off. The badge doesn't reflect the change in technology though.

[jr56]

You could check with your council and see how many counselors they have signed up to do photography merit badge, councils can always use more qualified merit badge counselors willing to work with the boys.

[scoutmasterbob]

Photography is one of those MBs that requires specialized intrest for a boy to do, however, we have don it as troop and built a month program and an outing around the merit badge.

We had pretty good intrest, and good success.

In this day and age, every one has a digital camera.