RPS Digital Imaging Group News October 2018

DIG News - October 2018

‘Blue and Gold’ by Chas Hockin LRPS Winner of the DIG monthly competition for September.

BRIAN BEANEY FRPS – Exhibition

Unfortunately by the time members get this DIG News this amazing exhibition will have finished. To those of you who managed to get along I am sure you weren’t disappointed.

Having loved Brian’s work from the very first time I saw it my travel diversion to Wingfield, Suffolk was well worth the effort. Brian and his family met me there and with the curator, Moira Ellice ARPS (Chair of Creative Eye Group), I was given a personal tour.

It was great to hear Brian’s stories about the various images. Even in the 1960’s he was doing composites in the darkroom as shown here in ‘Dawn at Bealings’.

Photographed and Printed in 1961 using a Microcord twin lens reflex camera.

It’s printed using the warm bath technique. It simply means as soon as the image starts to appear in the developer, the paper is carefully lifted out and placed into a warm bath of water at 70F. This action causes the dark areas to stop developing and allows the light areas to continue.

Seeing the original in the exhibition made me wonder if our digital prints will last so well as this one had.

As an artist he brings his many talents together as he manipulates his images to create the final masterpieces. Over the years DIG has been lucky to have Brian contributing to DIGIT and looking through the archives there was a particularly good explanation as to how he works in Issue 42 – Summer 2009. This copy of DIGIT can be downloaded through the following link, but remember you need to be logged in to

the RPS site to see this hidden DIG page http://www.rps.org/specialinterest-groups/digital-imaging/about/the-full-digit-archive Over the years Brian won many awards in the DIG annual competitions.

I have found a further two issues of DIGIT with his images on the cover – Issue 46 Summer 2010 and Issue 65 in 2015. In Issue 46 on page 20/21 is one of the most extraordinary examples of how Brian can see the potential in the most unprepossessing subjects. Where us mere mortals just see tangled roots Brian sees faces and spends an inordinate number of hours transforming the mundane into another masterpiece.

One that somehow escaped the selectors one year in the DIG Print Exhibition was perhaps my personal all time favourite – ‘Man in the Mirror’. How that didn’t at least pick up a Ribbon amazed me at the time and still does to this day. Just look closely at the detail and enjoy the humour.

Brian tells me that he is now enjoying painting and finds sitting with his paints and just letting things ‘happen’ very relaxing. I was hoping to see what comes out of his amazingly inventive mind as I am sure it would be both interesting and impressive.

Alongside Brian’s retrospective exhibition was the Eastern Region print exhibition and prints from the Nature Group as well. Both well worth seeing too. Wingfield Barns was a great location, albeit rather off the beaten track. So when Moira puts on further exhibitions there I would encourage you to make the effort to visit.

Well done and thank you Moira for putting on this Retrospective and for the enormous amount of work and time you have dedicated into framing, hanging and promoting this exhibition. If you ever want to hang the DIG Print exhibition alongside others then do just let us know.

Man in the Mirror

Now for one of Brian’s recent paintings…..

The Title is “ Organic Abstract” Size 24 x 30 in.

It was accepted in this years Annual Exhibition of the Ipswich Art Society.

Below – left to right are Moira Ellice ARPS, Chair of Creative Eye Group and curator of the exhibition. Brian Beaney FRPS and Janet Haines ARPS, DIG Chair.

MONTHLY COMPETITION There was some really good work submitted last month but as voting begun it was evident that ‘Blue and Gold’ was a popular choice and as they say ‘cream rises to the top’. This lovely abstract was a worthy winner. But all is not as it seems at first glance and so we will find out more from Chas….

Recently I was on holiday In the USA and decided to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps, which is located near Quantico, Virginia.

It is an imposing modern building with impressive design features. One of the features was the central support for the roof, which was an angled column covered in a shiny metallic material.

(See image 1)

Image 1

Image 2

I was struck by the reflections on the metal and so I took a closer picture of the column. (Image 2). After cropping to get the angled line going from corner to corner, I opened the image in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and used the "Bi-Color user defined" filter with the upper colour blue and the bottom colour gold/orange. (I don't think I changed these, so these may be the default). This effect brought out the effect of the reflections even more, so I was pleased with the result. The reason I chose that filter? Don't mind admitting it - trial and error. Just worked my way down the list...... I do not have the "eye" that "sees" what a picture could be like after processing. I just snap away and then see if it has potential, and then play. Most of the time it doesn't work, probably because I haven't got an idea in mind beforehand.

Chas Hockin LRPS Well this one worked Chas so keep experimenting.

2nd placed was ‘Sunflower in Field’ by Jenni Cheesman

3rd placed was ‘At the Window’ by John Bull LRPS

RPS AGM and Awards A couple of us from the DIG Committee attended the RPS AGM, armed with some proxy votes from a few members. Disappointingly there were insufficient members there to form a quorum, so the emergency rule was invoked which requires a 30 minutes delay. However during that time we had three presentations, two of which we will cover here.

Firstly our own John Long ARPS got a long service appreciation certificate. This was presented by President Robert Albright and the summary makes extremely impressive reading.

MR JOHN LONG ARPS SUMMARY OF SERVICE TO THE SOCIETY Joined the RPS: 1979 Awarded LRPS: 1980 Awarded ARPS: 1990 Scribe for various Distinctions specialist panels: 1988 onwards (roughly 25 years) Helped with various events at RPS HQ: 1991 onwards Includes acting as a steward for many exhibitions and Chairing the organising committee of the International Slide Exhibition for 2 years.

Western Region, Deputy Regional Organiser: 1991 to 2001 Awarded the Fenton Medal: 2001 Digital Imaging Group: • Joined 1998• Committee member and Exhibitions Coordinator volunteer from 1998 to 2015 • Awarded the first DIG Life membership 2014 LRPS Panel: • Member 2001 to 2004 • Chair 2004 to 2010 Distinctions advice/mentoring: • One-to-one from 2004 onwards Distinctions Manager - sent images from prospective members on CDs• Mentoring directly for hundreds of failed and prospective applicants (LRPS & ARPS) over many years RPS website: Contributed to and moderated the RPS Forum Opened and checked every day for a year or more

Well done John. I am sure many of your DIG friends will join me in saying thank you for your years of service and congratulate you on receiving the President’s Commendation certificate.

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As many of you may already know the HQ staff member Nicola Young (Volunteer Support Manager) is leaving at the end of October. Nicola has been a breath of fresh air in this new role, which she has embraced and fulfilled admirably. To thank her for the work and support she has given to the various DIG Volunteers during her time with the RPS DIG Chair, Janet Haines, made a short thank you speech and presented Nicola with some pretty flowers by way of saying ‘thank you’ and wishing her well in her future career.

Nicola Young receiving thank you flowers

DIG MEMBER DISTINCTIONS After the summer recess Assessments are starting up and we have the following members to congratulate this month.

Robin Cooter LRPS Neil Davidson LRPS

Rugby Ferndown

John Boyd ARPS (NH) Maggie Bullock ARPS (NH)

Rothwell Northwich

DIG MEMBER GALLERIES Two more member galleries for you to link to and enjoy. Remember to get your work featured upload some work to your own RPS Gallery by going to My RPS and following the links there.

Click on the images to take you to their galleries.

DIG PI COMP – Award Winners Presentations.

DIG S E Centre Joint Organiser Melanie Chalk presents the overall RWT Trophy to Sue Dixon LRPS (right).

At the SEDIG Centre meeting recently, we had the pleasure of presenting two of our group with awards and certificates from the recently judged Projected Digital Imaging Competition. Sue Dixon a very recent recipient of her LRPS, had been persuaded by Avril Christensen and Melanie Chalk, the very new, SE Centre Organisers, to send some entries, into this free to enter competition. Acting on their persuasive chat, she did enter just two entries, imagine her surprise when she opened the email informing her of her Gold Medal in the Open section, for ‘Fight or Flight’, but not only that, but had been awarded the ’Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy’ for the ‘Best in Show’ Another of our talented photographers, Janine Ball, also received a Certificate of Merit for her composite image ‘Onesie Washday’, in the Altered Reality section. Janine creates very imaginative images made up from many parts and is very skilled at processing.

Sue was presented with the Trophy and Gold Medal by Melanie Chalk Co Organiser of the SE Centre. Janine was also was presented with her certificate. Many congratulations to them both , so pleased to have two of our group amongst the award winners this year!

Barry Senior Hon FRPS presents a RPS Ribbon to Rex Waygood for his image in the Mono class.

The Chair of Bristol PS presenting Barry Mead FRPS (right) with his ribbon and certificate for his image in the creative class.

Penny Piddock (Chair of Dorchester CC) presents the Mono class RPS gold medal to Lisa Bulkalders

Chris Wilkes-Ciudad being presented with his award by fellow member Eddy Lane at a recent meeting of the small Wiltshire based Camera Club "Nonpareil". Chris was absolutely delighted to receive the award and was heartily congratulated by the club members

We need DIG members to consider volunteering for a key role.

DIG Chair At the AGM in 2020 the current Chair is going to stand down. We therefore need to find an enthusiastic individual who is prepared to come on to the DIG Committee at the AGM in February 2019 (or before) to work as the Vice Chair in anticipation of taking over in 2020.

Succession planning is vital if we are to enjoy a seamless handover.

With a year to get involved and up to speed on the issues the new Chair would then find it easier when they take over.

We are happy to chat to you about the role without any initial commitment from you at this stage.

Please respond to drbjbrown@gmail.com if you are at all interested.

DIG CENTRES All DIG Centre meetings are open to everyone. Each puts on a minimum of 4 meetings p.a., offering varied and inspiring content. All welcome to every DIG meeting; members and nonMembers alike.

By clicking on any of the Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.

Thames Valley Centre

DIG Eastern Centre

DIG Western Centre

WELCOME to our new members this monthâ&#x20AC;Ś Keith Rose LRPS Brian Leader Tim Sawyer Nick Symes Mary Crowther ARPS Tony Hale LRPS Shing Kit Lee Caroline Morse Claire Watson Tony Mancell Sue Wright David Haynes Peter Jordon Adele Gibson LRPS Lorraine Clifton

Colchester Lossimouth Leeds Winchester Brighouse Pinner Hong Kong Englefield Green Helmdon Leamington Spa Uxbridge Sherborne Standford-L-H Stevenage Richmond

Hugh Robinson Caroline Morse Richard Beech LRPS Paul Offredi Derek Mason Malcolm Balmer Pete Menzies Judith Macbeth LRPS Gerald Phillipson Philip Barns ARPS Les Hawkins Bruce Deacon LRPS Don Hodgson Andy Davis Robert Manley

M Keynes Englefield Weymouth London Melksham Sherborne London Rothwell Payrignac Runcorn Whitstable Bedford Lee-on-Solent Ashford London

DIG 2018 MEMBER SURVEY About every 18 months to 2 years DIG committee asks our members to complete a short Members Survey. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too long or onerous, but it genuinely does help us keep track of what members expectations and opinions are. We work hard to deliver good value for our members but need to ask you to do your part in giving us feedback via the survey to help us stay abreast of change.

May we ask that you personally take the time to complete the online survey which you will find at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DIG18Y8N58X3 We do read the answers; we do take action from that which you tell us.

So please do give us the feedback and your thoughts.

Here is an example of the results in 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I wonder how different this might be in 2018 and whether we need to change the emphasis at all.

DIGIT Issue 78 is now at the post-out stage from our printers. So your latest magazine should arrive any day.

If you are a DI Online member you will shortly receive an email from us with the link to read it online.

SIG LINK By clicking on any of the Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.

Historical Group

On Saturday 3 November, Geoff Blackwell hosts the annual Research Day at Sheffield Hallam University. Details are on the website and you are very much encouraged to sign up and present a ten-minute contribution on a topic of your choosing. Contact Geoff on gblackwell@fastmail.fm

DOCUMENTARY

A&H Group

Imaging Science Group

Headquarters asked for us to promote this..

A UK MEMBER John Marshall LRPS is from Goole, East Yorkshire so not living in an area where DIG have a Centre. On the premise that members living is such areas lose out a tad we invite one each month to contribute to DIG News so that we can enjoy their work.

The Ramblings of John Marshall LRPS My interest in photography began at a very early age although these were random snaps of my family and places I visited on holiday or walking.

My passion for taking pictures was piqued by the introduction of Group B rallying in 1982, which gave unprecedented levels of power and excitement for the spectators.

I was hooked and bought my first â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;seriousâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; camera, a Ricoh KR10, to record the events. This was a short-lived love affair when, after four magic years and many hundreds of photographs, Group B rallying was banned, following the horrific deaths of Henri Toivonen, his co-driver Sergio Cresto.

Turmoil You may be surprised that none of these photographs appear with this article, but being young and foolish I decided that the photographs I had taken of the sport no longer had the same appeal and destroyed them along with the negatives. With hindsight this was not the greatest decision I have ever made but there we go.

Mooring

As you can see the photographs presented here represent a small selection of photographic subjects I now take, which are quite wide and varied. So, I suppose the loss of one subject has been a good thing in opening up my eyes to the world around me once again.

My only problem now is getting to the places and into the positions to take the photographs. Having lost my leg some eighteen months ago, I am now having difficulty, at the moment, of not being able to traverse inclines and being somewhat unsteady on uneven ground. Hopefully this will improve when my prosthetic can be adjusted to suit more adequately the activities I want to do.

Charlotte

China Goth (composite)

Rusted Lily

AN OVERSEAS MEMBER Our overseas contributor this month hails from down under - Wembley, Australia to be precise.

Originally from Sussex where I went to school and university, my career in engineering and law took me to many parts of the world. I first visited Perth in Western Australia in the 1980â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at the time of the America Cup where I now live. I have had a camera for much of my life, but it has always been viewed as a recording device: for events, people, structures, and occasional parties. I never viewed it as an instrument of artistic expression, but being married to a pianist invoked the need for artistic change, and I started to learn more of the art of painting with light.

Iceberg

I took the OU/RPS Course: a great introduction to the mysteries of post processing and colour management, and to photography itself. More recently I went to France to learn more about the requirements for the LRPS (a work in progress!). I also joined a local photographic society: Westside Photography Club, and have had some success in their bimonthly competitions.

Battered Bruiser Upon retirement, my photographic interests are based on the natural history of our environment, as well as travelling overseas. Living close to a large lake, 6km from the centre of Perth, enables regular visits to

photograph the visiting birds, whilst avoiding the large population of Tiger snakes (notechis scutatus). Recent overseas travels have taken us to Greenland and Iceland, the Maasai Mara, and Greece. We plan to return to the Mara next year and find tigers in India too. Whereas photography for me remains an amateur pursuit, it has provided a continual challenge in finding my own expression and provides a framework for continual learning and enjoyment.

Osprey

Model

My personal apologies that DIG News is a little later than usual this month. I was touring around the UK and not able to spend sufficient time at the computer to compile this issue prior to returning home.

DIG New is for the members, about the members and by the members.

If you have anything interesting to tell us about, an exhibition or something key about your photography, then we are always pleased to hear from you.

Regards

Janet

Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org