Royal Photographic Society DIG News September 2017

DIG News - September 2017

‘Photo of a photographer taking a photo of a photo’ by David Pearson ARPS

Winner of the forum competition this past month.

DI EXPO 2017 This is it – September is DI Expo month. No more prevaricating – if you have yet to buy your tickets then you really need to get on and do it immediately. www.rps.org/DIGExpo We have a fantastic line up of inspiring presenters for you. Two studios for you to ‘have a go’ in. There are still one or two spaces for ARPS Advisory one to ones. And a strong assembly of trade organisations to tempt you to spend your money.

By holding it at the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport we are pretty central to the majority of the DIG membership. Communications are good whether you are arriving by road, rail or air. There are even hotel shuttle busses to take you from the airport/rail to the venue. With plenty of free parking and food available, we believe we have thought about everything to give you a really great day out.

Ticket prices are a snip at £25 p.p (DIG Members) OR how about the bargain special offer of 4 tickets for £100 (DIG membership not required). Everyone is welcome at DI Expo, whether a member or not.

It promises to be an excellent day. Some members kicked themselves two years ago for not making the effort to be there when they later heard how great an event it had been. Don’t be one of those regretting you didn’t make the effort this time round – come and join us.

We look forward to having the pleasure of your company.

NEW DIG DISTINCTIONS The RPS do not hold any Distinction Assessments in August so we have nothing to report this month.

<<<<<>>>>> Last month we congratulated Julie Francis for her recent LRPS success â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this month we thought you would like to see some of her work and read what she has to tell us about her experience.

Julie Francis LRPS I returned to photography about three years ago following an 18 year break. My old film SLR was updated with a new entry level DSLR. I joined the local camera club and was inspired by the wonderful images I saw from members. Within three months I had got the bug and traded up to Full Frame.

I attended various photography courses and taught myself Photoshop. I quickly realised I enjoy photographing people, especially portraits. In September 2016 an LRPS coaching session was piloted at our camera club and I decided to take part. We are very lucky to have two RPS Fellows guiding us and thus my journey began.

I attended one Advisory and one Assessment Day as a spectator, which was an invaluable part of the preparation. I learnt so much during the five months it took me to put the panel together and my photography has improved significantly as a result. You learn not to get too personally attached to any particular images and to become objective and self-critical. I had many sleepless nights re-arranging the images over in my head. But I will never forget that moment during the Assessment when my name was called. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done itâ&#x20AC;? I said to myself later that evening as I sat back and enjoyed a glass of champagne!

Designer Baby

Tewkesbury Abbey

FORUM It appeared to be a bumper month for the DIG Forum monthly competition in August: many more images and of a high quality. It was really difficult to make a choice and to vote, inevitably having to not vote for one that in any other month might have got a first. But congratulations go to David Pearson ARPS for his striking image (see cover of this publication). It is interesting to read the story behind this image from Davidâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;Ś.

I enjoy taking pictures in museums and galleries. The Saatchi Gallery was one that I had never visited so I took myself along. The current exhibition was 'Selfies', so, with my disdain for the selfie-stick, I wasn't really expecting to be impressed. But it was great, with everything from Old Masters' paintings, through photographs, videos, sculptures and interactive installations it was a worthwhile way to spend two or three hours.

I'd taken a few pictures of visitors admiring the works on display when I came across this chap. He was clearly trying to get a perfectly square photo of his subject but, with his camera above his head, he couldn't see what he was doing. After several attempts he lined himself up perfectly and got the shot - and so did I. I've been back since with a friend, hoping to get 'a photo of a photographer taking a photo of a photographer taking a photo of a photo', but it didn't work.

2nd place

3rd place

Cabbages by AndrĂŠ Bergmans

I Could Have Danced All Night by Janet Haines ARPS

GETTING TO KNOW YOU This month I am going to focus on two committee members who work exceptionally hard on behalf of DIG Members – Rex Waygood and Chas Hockin LRPS. Rex is nominally our Membership committee member. He contacts every member who leaves DIG in an attempt to find out why. He monitors all the various lists and if there is a graph to be produced to show us how we are doing, in a twinkle Rex has done one. He manages the DIG Forum and organizes the monthly Forum comp. When I am beaten by technology Rex comes to the rescue. I often think this man has ‘ a brain the size of a planet’. Puts me to shame that’s for sure.

So let’s find out a little about what makes him tick……

1. What first made you want to take up photography?

No idea as I started with a Box Brownie and just enjoyed taking pictures from an unusual PoV. I was probably only 12 and I struggle to remember what I did yesterday. I do recall a photo of my cat which I took at grass level; there was a lot of grass and not much cat. I went back to photography as my other hobby of competing off road in a LandRover made photography seem incredibly cheap as a hobby.

2. Do you have a photographer who particularly inspires you? Who and why?

Not much inspires me. Inspire implies I then do something, that is not always the case! I enjoy LensWork and the featured artists in that magazine always excite me, for example Robert Hansen with his series called Sundial Songs in the latest edition. (https://www.brightfamephotography.com/sundial-songs ) I love the architectural extractions by Jack Bolton ARPS and wish I had a fraction of his eye for beauty. I love found art, taking a beautiful image of an ordinary thing.

3. What are your personal photographic aspirations?

I very much enjoy helping and teaching others in their photographic journey. I am a mentor in my camera club and I get pleasure out of helping others improve. I also learn so I can teach.

4. What do you personally get out of being on the DIG Committee?

Exhausted? :-) Actually a sense of pride, fulfilment and achievement.

Finally we ask which of their own images they wish to show usâ&#x20AC;Ś.

Lots of my images are my favourites but usually briefly as I move on.

However there is one of my images that I continue to dislike.

Best of Friends

Why do I dislike it? Because it was happenstance, I was there, Nora threw in some bread, these two started fighting, I remembered I had a camera around my neck and I took 7 seconds of images. I won a Hall of Fame award with it on a website and was very cross as this is not my kind of photography! :-)

Chas Hockin LRPS Where would we be without Chas? He is an absolute star. He is the DIG web content manager, but is always willing to help out in many different roles. It is him who worked out how we could use ISSUU for our online publications, as well as being one of the Facebook moderators. He had predicted I would be asking him at some stage so didn’t wait for the questions but wrote this for us instead …..

I joined the RPS in 1999 when I successfully gained my LRPS. I was introduced to local DIG meetings by a friend and he encouraged me to attempt it. I was unsuccessful first time Chas at the pub

around but managed it the second time around with some personal mentoring – which doesn’t happen now. I also had a financial incentive as my friend and I regularly went on a Photographic Holiday to the Lake District, and the owners offered a discount to RPS Distinction holders provided they showed their work!

I retired from work in January 2014 and my initial thoughts were to set up a business selling prints. I had tried for an ARPS (and failed) but a number of people said the images were “commercial”. So I thought I would give it a go. Set up a website with all the printing, mounting and framing outsourced, prepared some folders and examples of mounts and got ready to go. The plan was to go to fairs and other events to show my work, and bring in the money.

At the same time as I retired I joined a local video club, as I thought producing videos would also help my business.

Then, at one of the Thames Valley Centre meetings, the former DIG web editor, announced that he wanted to stand down. In my work I had done web content editing, and I thought I could help. All the time, keeping the thought that I must keep busy in my retirement. I also then took up the role of competition secretary at my local camera club.

Chas’s favourite image is tree in the Lake District shot in IR

So the end product of all this was that I didn’t have the time to spend on the business as I was too busy with these other things. So after a year – and selling only one image – and that was to an ex-colleague who wanted to give me a leg up with the business – I closed it down. In a way, that was a good thing. I only set the business up to keep me busy, and if I was busy with other things which didn’t have as much hassle as a business, why bother with it?

So now I am the DIG web editor. Although I am doing it to keep busy, there is also the job of doing something constructive, so others can get some enjoyment, or learn something to benefit them. You can have a solitary hobby – and photography can be solitary sometimes – but there are occasions when you want to bounce ideas off someone, or just have a chat about things with fellow minded people, and the RPS and DIG in particular can facilitate this. But to get something out of it, someone has to put something in. I can do this – hopefully what I do is acceptable.

Talking about what I do, I have no control over the web design and layout, so I have to make the best I can with it. It was a steep learning curve to begin with, as my predecessor had (and still has) way more editing skills than I will ever have. So to get to grips with what he had done, was initially, a big jump. Plus the fact, I took over, just when DIG Expo 2015 was being heavily advertised, and there were lots of changes needing to be made to the website to accommodate these, so I found it a “challenge” shall we say.

I have now settled in, and as DI Expo 2017 is coming up, I must have been in this role for 2 years. I have had great support from all members of the committee, and particular Janet, the Chair. The website is not ideal, but it is going to be updated, and I will try and get involved to make it better for you.

PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITION By now all members who entered the PI Competition will have had their results. You may be interested to know we had 944 images in the Open class and 263 in the Altered Reality.

Unfortunately Martin Addison, who was originally one of the selectors, had to withdraw at the last minute. But Fiona Senior took his seat and we thank her for taking on the role at such short notice.

Our Selectors from left to right are John Tilsley APRS, Fiona Senior FRPS and Margaret Collis ARPS Some thoughts on the DIG 2017 PI Competition First congratulations to those of you who had an acceptance and commiserations if you did not.

I sat in on the selection process as an observer this year as I have done on several occasions since the PDI competition was introduced. I came away with the impression that the overall standard was not as high as in previous years. Also, the size of the entry was down, both a bit disappointing. The clarification this year of the definitions of ‘Open’ and ‘Creative’ appeared to have been successful with few images entered in the wrong class.

I suspect that some of you who entered this year are new to the exhibition scene and to competing with your images. If it is any consolation it is quite difficult, even for those of us with experience of entering exhibitions, to predict which images will succeed. Each of the three selectors scores each image between 2 and 5. A score of 12 was needed for an acceptance although images where one selector gave a 5 were also accepted as is common in exhibition selections.

It is not practical to preview all images so the selectors don’t really know the overall standard. In fact, each image is viewed and marked within 10 to 20 seconds. This year, as sometimes happens, it was necessary to remark the images scoring 11 in the Open Section to get the planned target of ~20% acceptances.

So what makes a successful exhibition picture? Of course, acceptance is always ultimately the subjective opinion of the selectors. They will be considering, amongst other things, impact, originality, technical quality and presentation. When images don’t get accepted it is often because of poor composition/cropping, poor colour rendition, poor or uncertain intent (What was the main intent/subject of the image?) Inevitably, the selectors will have their own pet likes and dislikes – and unfortunately ‘good of type’ is not always rewarded! Presentation plays a part – images with wide white borders do not display well on a large screen.

If you are disappointed at not having images selected you are not alone.

We have all had our favourite images rejected at some time or another.

If you are looking for advice, you could try the friendly DIG Forum you might even get some sympathy!

Don’t be discouraged if you were unsuccessful and enter again next year and don’t forget the Print Exhibition in March 2018 where you are guaranteed an acceptance.

Barry Senior Hon FRPS

Administrators watch as the selectors choose the Award winners.

The software records the selectors decisions.

A full list of all the awards and accepted images can be seen on our web page HERE

iPHONEOGRAPHY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Apps reviewed by Jo Cope TouchRetouch

By Adva Soft

This is a good app as it is very specific in what it does- namely object removal in one way or another. It is simple to use and I find it is more accurate than other apps that have object removal as part a wider range of tools.

I recommend you view the simple, quick tutorials to get started.

Within the tools on the bottom row there is a settings button which is context specific to that the tool on screen.

On the top row is a useful undo icon and a comparison icon. The export icon allows choice of file type and size and export into a wide range of other apps that you have installed.

TouchRetouch is available for iPhone iPad and Android. There is a version for Mac too. Make sure you download the correct app as there are some with the same name - make sure you get the Adva Soft one. It is not free but for less than the price of a cappuccino I feel it is money well spent.

KEN PAYNE TRAINING VIDEOS This video is really for beginners but advanced workers may pick up a tip or two, who knows. The link will take you to the web site. Although this is about changing hair colour it can be used for any elements.

click the image to link to the video

MEMBERS GALLERIES DISCOVERING JAPAN - Andy Norman LRPS After several years visiting and photographing other parts of Asia my wife and I finally had the time – and funds – to visit Japan in April 2017. My shopping list of places to visit in the country was far too long and impractical so we decided to concentrate on the main island of Honshu.

We arranged our own itinerary using various Internet resources. The fantastic railway network was surprisingly easy to navigate and we moved between bases in Tokyo, Nagoya, Takayama, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji.

Favourites - B&Ws Nigel Corlett Photographically, black & white is my first love, shooting across genres. This is simply a collection of my favourite B&Ws taken over the last few months, since swapping to Fujifilm’s X-series from a DSLR system. All the photos are taken on either an X-Pro2 or X100F, as JPGs using the Acros film simulation, with a minimal amount of postprocessing in Lightroom. I like to keep things simple, travel light, and a Rangefinder-esque approach, with one or two lenses, suits me perfectly; it takes me back to shooting film with a Leica MP. I hope you enjoy.

As usual click on the gallery images to see their work.

FAREWELL TO CLIFFORD BROWN LRPS DPAGB As we have already said elsewhere when a member leaves DIG Rex contacts them to find out why. This routine process turns up some unexpected little gems now and again – the one we are about to tell you about is one such recent communication.

Clifford Brown has been a very long term DIG member but has now resigned both the Society and DIG membership. We are sorry to see you go Clifford but as usual your wit and comments are worth sharing with the membership…….

You may not have realised, my resignation from my membership of the Digital group resulted from my resignation from RPS membership in general, due to my advancing age. Having reached the age of ninety and no longer able to get around as I used, I felt it wise to sever the link before being unwillingly cut off, against my wishes, by the great reaper!

I certainly enjoyed my Digital Group visits immensely, regularly taking part in print and DPI exhibitions, and will miss the excellent magazine.

However, the LRPS which I gained in 1990 is no more, which means I am no longer regarded as a competent photographer. But, hang on, I decided to go for a DPAGB instead of the ARPS, and that says I can still take the odd snap. So that is what I am doing. I recently took an interest in focus stacking, inspired by the work of Levon Biss, I made some gear to do this and you might like to see the results, along with a motley selection of other stuff, on this link https://www.instagram.com/cbdabble/?hl=en

The Digital Group has certainly been the highlight area of my photographic life, starting with Barrie Thomas at Milsom Street, then to Glenys Taylor's and subsequently Ilton.

Going back a step, I remember at Distinctions 'A' Panel day, when digital photography got off to a dodgy start. An 'A' was awarded to a projected panel of Mandelbrot Fractals! I remarked to my friend "this is not digital photography, it's mathematics". The 'A', of course, was disallowed later; but it did show how ill prepared for digital the 'A' panel was at that time.

This all changed when Barrie came onto the scene with the Digital Group. At that time, like so many of us, I had no digital camera, we scanned film and post processed in Photoshop. I was using PS version 3 (a pirated copy of course!) how different from my present subscription PS CC. Club photography was largely film users. I was secretary of Weston-Super-Mare Camera Club - now Bleadon Photographic Group and we were struggling with our membership in 2002. I suggested to our Chairman, Ken Tapley, that we apply for an 'Awards for all Grant' and go digital. We worked out a sensible strategy and the application was successful. It enabled us to buy a digital projector, laptop, software and the odd accessories. We introduced workshops into the club programme and immediately lost two members, who said "we will never use digital" (it didn't last!) this left us with only nine members. However, after some suitable publicity of our award in the local paper, and the future intentions for the club, our membership increased threefold. I'm glad to say we are still going strong.

Well, that's enough of my rambling of the past. Though limited, my present photographic interest is still there, no longer enjoying cruises and visits to distant parts, I find plenty to snap away at home. Pinhole photography is still a passion, so much easier in digital. See http://pinholeday.org/gallery/2017/?id=141 You may have seen my contribution to the RPS-Western Region leaflet enclosed with the October issue of the Journal. I also have a piece in the current issue of Photographica World, the journal of PCCGB, I have attached a PDF, which you might like to see.

Can I conclude by saying how much your efforts have contributed to the success of the Digital Group, I will certainly enjoy and follow its progress on the Web. Best wishes, Clifford.

Clifford is an inspiration to us all – he is still enjoying his hobby and learning new tricks. He doesn’t need to travel but find things closer to home.

Thanks for being a member Clifford – good luck in your future endeavours.

DIG CENTRES ROUNDUP Living in central southern Scotland? You only have a short time to go to get their next meeting in your diary so read on…….

A reminder that our next regular group meeting is Sunday 17th Sept at the Parish Church in Bridge of Allan.

To start the autumn season we will be entertained and enlightened

by George Neilson ARPS with a talk on both his personal and his Sports photography.

Often overlooked in favour of landscape and portraits work, Sports photography can be a real challenge to the photographer by calling on many skills from the technical, to capturing a moment and telling a story. George has been a long standing member of the group and am sure will bring his own individual character to the meeting with a new talk. He promises to be very interactive with the audience.

The presentation will be followed in the usual format with an open discussion with images from the group. Please bring along some prints to share, it will help us if you let the Centre know if you are intending to do so before the day.

Start time is 1.30 and doors open at 1pm.

Full details at http://www.rps.org/events/2017/september/17/digscotland-centre---september-2017-meeting

Ist of October sees the inaugural meeting of the new DIG SE Centre. It promises to be a really good meeting so if you live within driving distance then I heartily suggest you get yourself booked in. See you thereâ&#x20AC;Ś..

SPOTLIGHT ON AN OVERSEAS MEMBER This month we have a contribution from one of the Australian Chapter members Ann Langan. Interestingly she tells us a little more about the Chapter and her role within the group.

THE AUSTRALIAN CHAPTER NEWSLETTER, A HISTORY When Peter Hunter ARPS, founding Convenor of the Victorian Chapter of The Society, and his wife Dee Starr ARPS, who put out the monthly Newsletter, decided to step down from office in 1991, my husband Jack Lanagan ARPS became Convenor, and I became Newsletter editor.

The Newsletter was then just that â&#x20AC;&#x201D; notices of meetings and photographic events to come, and a brief write-up of the previous meeting. This remained the format until 1995.

John Pollard FRPS then suggested that, as the representatives of an international learned society, we should be doing something more advanced than that. After some discussion and hesitation, it was resolved that this might be done, but there were limitations on how much was possible.

At that time, before the Victorian Chapter became the Australian Chapter, we had fewer members to call on, and by reason of the distances, activities took place in Melbourne almost exclusively.

We made no attempt, then or since, to put out a professsionally printed publication, as the small number of Victorian members made that too expensive. What we were aiming for was a range of articles presenting our members' interests and enthusiasms, and outlining their researches into photographic subjects, whether history, literature or techniques.

Our longest-running project at that time was the Woodbury Project, involving a group of keen historians, tracing the movements and activities of photographer Walter Woodbury in Victoria, and examining his development of the Woodbury printing technique. Some of the group travelled long distances to follow clues, as far as Redfern in Sydney where a Woodbury press still survived at that time. Max Melvin ARPS sent regular reports on their progress. Eventually the group produced a book embodying their researches, a copy of which is in The Society's archives.

Between gorges, Katherine River

Another contributor was Alan Elliott OAM ARPS, a keen explorer of early techniques of taking, printing or otherwise showing of photographs. His series on the catastrophic effects of early projectors was memorable.

Fortunately photographic projection these days is less likely to be lethal.

A series contributed by the late Tom Scott outlined the techniques and some of the adventures of aerial photography in World War II. Tom had joined the RPS as a Life Member, with great confidence, while serving with the RAAF in Britain in World War II.

Our range of subjects has covered special techniques such as autochrome, underwater photography, travel and portrait photography, reviews of current photographic exhibitions or publications, a Secretary's Report of news from our parent Society and our own Chapter, and occasional contributions from RPS members outside Australia, such as our member Sudo Hidesawa in Japan.

Hilltop farm At the start of 2013, the Victorian Chapter became the Australian Chapter, greatly widening our membership and opening the Newsletter to a number of new contributors, in addition to the members from other states who had subscribed in previous years. This made very little difference to the format or means of production. It was not until 2014 that regular coloured supplements began to be included. I was still organising the text, while Jack arranged the colour section. From the beginning of last year I have mostly done both.

Once the master copy has been laid out I take the pages to the local copy shop to have the printed copies done, though there are many more subscribers who prefer to receive an emailed copy. This involves a regular monthly two-day rush session at a fairly predictable time. Like many monthly magazines, we omit December.

Ann Lanagan

Lake Mungo hill and trees

Gippsland barn

So frequently we hear members complain that DIG is all about manipulated images, but that really is not true. Take as an example the statistics of the entries in the recent PI Comp. That more or less represents the balance – after all it is what you, the members, entered so therefore must be representational.

Look at this publication – just 3 altered images. For DIGIT we are very cognizant of keeping the balance in favour of non- manipulated works and articles. The DIGIT Challenge series does cover both straight and altered images, but here we are hoping to inspire those of you with the desire to produce something a little different to have a go themselves.

Photography is an art form – anyone here want to debate that point? As such DIG aims to support all genre and specialisms from record shots to photographic art. We aim to be inclusive to all.

So let us be done with this myth that DIG is all about fiddling and diddling and just embrace the entire spectrum of our art. <<<<<>>>>> DIGIT is at the printers and should be landing on your door mats in the next 10 days.

Regards

Janet

Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org