Alan is a member of the RPS, living in the SE region. He is now retired, however in his professional photographs career he took many Royal portraits. Alan wrote to me recently and gave permission to use this image. In his own words:
“I just wondered if, via your newsletter, your members may be interested in a recent and (for me) a surprising and delightful event at the end of my career; something of a 'crowning glory' as it were. My portrait of King Charles (then Prince Charles) used as Canada's new postage stamp”
Welcome to the SE region August 2023 Newsletter
1. Introduction
2. What has happened in the SE region since the last newsletter
3. News in the region
4. Planned events for the next 6 months and a taste of future events
5. Hello to new members
6. Congratulations to new distinction holders
1. Introduction
Thanks, and congratulations must go to Alan Shawcross for his portrait of the then Prince of Wales. If you have any newsworthy or simply great images, please let me know for future issues.
2. What has happened since the last newsletter?
Firstly, we have decided to issue the newsletter on a bi-monthly basis.
The main event from our perspective has been the survey we released around a month ago. We have been concerned with the difficulty in filling any of our face to face events and hoped this might provide som e answers.
We have over 700 members in the region and received only 53 replies. This is rather indicative of the problem we have. In drawing some conclusions, you need to bear in mind that 50 out of 700+ is a small number, nevertheless it is all we have to go on at present.
Key points from the survey
1. Over 80% of the respondents live in Sussex and Surrey, with Kent in the minority. If this is indicative, then the epicentre of the region is around Horsham/Crawley area.
2. Over 75% of the respondents already have a distinction.
3. Around 45% of the respondents were working towards a distinction, with L/A/F being equally distributed. Out of these a surprisingly high proportion prefer print as a medium for submission.
4. For those working towards a distinction, out of the 26 responses, online and F2F advisory events were the highest response, with selecting a subject just behind.
5. From the list of “what events would people be interested in ” , the short answer is all the F2F events we are doing or have done in the past. This is essentially Pre-Processing, in areas like Coastal, Street, Flower, Wildlife and Woodland.
6. The age demographic from 47 responses is 72% over 65 and almost 98% over 50. No surprise to us.
What do we conclude from above?
1. If we keep targeting the same RPS membership demographic for our F2F events we are likely to get low attendance. We will therefore also target non RPS members and hopefully they will be inspired to join the RPS.
2. We will advertise using Facebook photo groups and any locally known groups.
3. We will continue to offer Pre-Processing events. (Although anyone can visit locations to do things on their own, a group is mutually supportive and a group leader, well organised with some examples and suggestions and a plan adds a great deal of value).
4. In terms of Distinctions, we will not be offering an ARPS advisory day but will try to find an advisor for Zoom based LRPS advisory day.
I imagine that some of the above this maybe qui te disconcerting news to some of you. Please let me know what you think and if you are willing to help find our way forward through with help at events or via the SE committee.
3. News in the Region
You may remember I talked about trying to link click events to distinctions. After talking to a professional photographer and much discussion, we have concluded that distinctions are such a wide topic, that we are attempting the impossible. Instead, we are giving a free Zoom talk on how you might approach taking images in the environment of the click event.
4. Planned events for the next 6 months and a taste of future events
RPS SE event programme -August 2023 - November 2023
(Status
of event correct as of 29/07/2023)
13/08/2023
28/08/2023
19/09/2023
29/09/2023
Broadstairs Folk Week - click event
Agricultural show at Edenbridge and Oxted - click event
British Wildlife Centre now full
Distinction LRPS advisory day (no link yet as advisor & date still TBC)
01/10/2023 2023 AGM (no link yet) This will be online
11/10/2023
22/10/2023
October
11/11/23
Birds of Prey workshop (no link yet as waiting info from venue)
Ramsgate Royal Harbour and in the footsteps of Van Gogh and Marx - click event (no link yet)
Crossness Pumping Station - Paul Burgess is looking for a date to lead an event at this amazing venue, possibly with models
Street Photography in London - Photograph the famous sights and people in London (link available this week)
The AGM agenda is below:
1. Welcome and apologies
2. Minutes from AGM 2022
3. Finance report
4. Regional Organiser report
5. Election or approval of officers
6. Online survey results
7. Any Other Business
8. Talk by external speaker - yet to be determined
9. Thanks from Andrew Page - Positive View
10. Online exhibition poll results
Led by
John Gough
Paul Burgess
Paul Stillman
John Gough
Paul Stillman
John Gough
Paul Burgess
Paul Burgess
As you can see, we are proposing an online exhibition which you will shortly get full details of in a separate email. The subject matter is images taken since January 2023 in/around the region.
Let’s see what diversity our region has to offer. This is not a competition; however, we will ask the AGM attendees to vote for their favourite!
You may be aware of an initiative by Digital/Landscape Interest group called TWT. This stands for Talk, Walk, Talk. The first talk is Zoom based by Richard Ellis of Landscape, followed by a walk with camera in 1 of 30+ walks around the UK, including the IOM and Guernsey. Finally, the participants are going to get together to talk about their images. This will be in person if possible. There are 4 TWT events in our region. Folkestone, Whitstable and Newhaven. Do have a look using this link, it’s a great initiative.
5. Hello to new members
A very warm welcome to all of the following:
Sian Tyrrell, Claire Hill, Daan Olivier FRPS, Rob Ryan, Martin Bamford, Martina La Trobe-Bateman, Martin Steel, Mark Bryan, Phil Dimes, David Peek, John Daniels, Joshua Stockwell and Mike Tatlow
6. Congratulations to new distinction holders, (when information permits)
This report is one I am still unable to get at present
Finally, I have the first sad news that Roger Crocombe has left the RPS SE committee after many years of service. I would like to record our sincere thanks to Roger for his many years of service on the RPS SE committee. His contributions have had a real effect on the region. Roger was one of the key members who initiated our very successful Zoom based Photoshop and Lightroom workshops. Roger himself led many workshops, all free. His enthusiasm and his ideas will be missed.
More importantly, with more sad news, Roger has also suffered a major illness just recently and we wish him a speedy recovery and I am sure best wishes from all those people who have come to know him through his work with the RPS SE.
If you have any ideas for the region or want to help, contact me at southeast@rps.org. There are only 5 of us left on the committee. help is urgently needed!
John Gough, RPS SE Regional Organiser