RPS Visual Art Group Newsletter No. 11 October 2021

October 2021 No. 11

Welcome to the VAG Newsletter.

Firstly, we congratulate the following members their recently gained RPS Distinctions: LRPS

Anne Haile

LRPS Exemption

Kiaian Balloch

RPS Documentary Nicol Hockett ARPS Visual Art

Sharon Leighton

FRPS Visual Art

Martin Parratt, David Townshend, Mike Longhurst

45 locations where lines of latitude and longitude intersect over Britain and Ireland.

The project has support from, among others Simon Hill, president of the RPS and Nigel Clifford, president of the Royal Geographical Society.

When the project is completed there will be exhibitions featuring selected images and all images will be featured on the RPS website.

For further information about By Degrees please the project web page at https://rps.org/ groups/landscape/projects/by-degrees-homepage/ Mark Reeves ARPS

In this issue We have contributions from several sources.

Denis O’Reilly AIPF/ARPS from RPS Ireland describes his progress through distinctions.

Neil Scott FRPS shares his passion for abstraction and the unusual in his striking Red Series. David Townshend FRPS goes further again with his multi exposure techniques to offer us a ride through the cosmos. We also have reports on the very enjoyable and fulfilling Visual Art Group residential weekend in Buxton and Rollright sub-group events.

From Bob Bracher Solihull Photographic Society Introduces its inaugural ‘Solihull Salon of Photography’ The aim is to showcase about 100 visual art prints produced by photographers throughout the U.K. There will be two categories, Colour and Mono and three Fellows of The RPS will select the images.

The Court Yard Gallery in the Solihull Library will exhibit the prints and entries are invited in November/ December for the selection process in January 2022.

Full details were published on The Solihull Photographic Society web site by the end of September, but contact can also be made to Bob Bracher (Chair to The Salon) at spssalon2021@yahoo.com Bob Bracher ARPS From Mark Reeves I am writing to invite members of the Visual Art Group to take part in a new project called ‘By Degrees’. The aim is to photograph all of the

Circles We have two Print Circles. They send A4 prints round every 6 weeks or so, comment in a small book and pass on the mailing pouch to the next member on the list, so the print is away for several months. There's no charge for joining, and the only cost to you is the postage - about £3.50-£4.00 a time.

We currently have 5 Email Circles.

Membership is free. Each is run by a Secretary, and each has on average 10 members. They may have RPS distinctions, or not. Some people find it useful to try a few images for a possible Distinction Panel on their Circle members, to get an idea of the impact their image makes. Others are happy to share their images for the sake of the comments they receive, and not get involved in Distinctions, or else they have them already!

All the members of an E Mail Circle send an image once a month to all their fellow members, and at a specified time, all of them then send their comments to the other members. Sometimes there is some discussion outside the general circle emails (possibly of the "How did you do that?" type).

Some circles have marks for the top one or three pictures of the month, some don't.

Each Circle has about 8-10 members. Gill has places for 3 0r 4 new members in the Print Circles, so can admit a few straight away.

During the pandemic interest in the E-Circles has risen and we've had few resignations, so I am happy to put names on a waiting list, and hopes to find a place for people in the next few months - first come first served. Get it touch with gill@dishart.plus.com

October 2021 No. 11

PHOTOGRAPHY UNLOCKED MY CREATIVITY

By Denis O’Reilly AIPF, ARPS I received my first camera as a gift when I was 23 years old. It was the age of film and apart from knowing how to insert the film, press the shutter and have the film developed, I didn’t know much else about photography. For many years I was a ‘snapper’ and the camera was used just to record holidays and family occasions.

My interest in photography increased as I prepared for retirement in 2013. I bought myself a decent digital camera and invested in some photography lessons. My intention was to have a hobby that would give me some enjoyment and pleasure in retirement. My tutor was the chairperson of the local photography club (Kilkenny Photographic Society) and she encouraged all her students to join the club, meet other like-minded photographers and add to their knowledge of photography.

It was a bit overwhelming at first as I felt everyone else was more advanced than me.

That was certainly true in many cases. The advantages though were that, apart from the social aspect of mixing with other photographers, I was exposed to different levels of skills, knowledge, expertise and genres of photography.

At that stage I really had no idea of the direction I wished to pursue with my own Photography, and was dabbling in different genres without making much progress or improvement.

Two things happened that accelerated my development and progress. One was a visit of a ‘Flower Photographer’ as a guest speaker to the club. Her work was truly inspirational and was the motivation I needed. While I tried to emulate her style, it didn’t work for me. But I realised that what I was truly passionate about was gardening and particularly flower gardening. I was a keen gardener growing my own flowers from seed and had studied flowering plants over the years. Now I started photographing them as well.

The other spur to my progress was a concerted effort within the club in encouraging members to apply for distinctions. While some members of the club already had distinctions, there were many new members who were comfortable where they were at and needed gentle persuasion to stretch themselves. I was one of them.

Peony Coral Sunset

All the while I was honing my skills in flower photography.

Photographing flowers in situ was challenging because of lighting conditions and, particularly, wind. I explored the work of other flower photographers such as Jacky Parker, Kathleen Clemons, Harold Davis and Mandy Disher and took inspiration from their individual styles.

That led me to concentrate on photographing flowers indoors in natural light. No wind to contend with. I set up a little studio in my sunroom and invested in a light tent in which the flowers were placed. The light tent helped diffuse and soften the light.

All the flower photographers that inspired me were using textures to enhance and complement their flowers. Using textures is more flexible than using different coloured backgrounds, as in post processing you can use different blend modes and opacities to achieve your vision. More time was spent on learning about textures – how to make them and how to use them in post processing. All this is available for free on YouTube. It is important to invest time and maybe a little money in learning new skills and techniques.

One of my flower photographs was chosen as part of the club’s colour panel for the National Shield Competition in 2017 and won a bronze medal. This boosted my confidence and I felt that I had now reached a level that was recognised by experienced judges.

October 2021 No. 11 as a cohesive body of work and demonstrate the applicant’s individuality and sustained ability in photography’.

My increasing knowledge of textures and how to use them to create a distinctive style of flower photography would be critical in achieving my Associateship. So too was having mentors from my LIPF application to guide and assist me again.

Nostalgia

The following year, 2018, I applied for my Licentiate (LIPF) and was successful. I thought at the start of this process that my panel would consist of a number of flower photographs. It only had one and the others mainly consisted of Still Life photography. As part of my Preparation, I asked two members of the club to be my mentors on the LIPF journey. They were experienced members of the club who had achieved high standards in their own photography but were also very experienced in panelling. We can become too protective and defensive of our own work, so it’s important to get other knowledgeable photographers to ‘throw their eyes’ over your work and give you an honest opinion, then work on their advice.

Their assistance and guidance was hugely invaluable especially when it came to the panelling of my submission. I took a big risk in buying a printer two months before the distinction sitting and printing my own panel. It worked and gave me enormous satisfaction that I was fully involved in the process from shot to print.

At this stage I was on a trajectory towards my Associateship (AIPF) So I decided not to take a break but to apply for this distinction in 2019. As already said, I found that my passion was for flower photography so it was no surprise that my application for the AIPF distinction would be under the Fine Art genre.

Many friends and fellow club members had commented that I was developing my own individual and identifiable style of flower photography. This was encouraging because to achieve the AIPF distinction I would be required to produce a ‘panel that should sit

I spent many hours advancing my skills in using textures and invested in some digital software to create my own individual textures to enhance and complement the flowers. As already mentioned, I photograph my flowers indoors, using a light tent to diffuse the natural light. They are photographed against a white foam board background, as this gives me more flexibility in adding and manipulating the texture in post-processing. I use two types of textures. One is out of focus shots of flowers from the garden. So out of focus that they are rendered as just blobs of colour. The other is to create a digital texture in a paint programme. For this, I import the RAW file into the paint programme, use the eyedropper tool to sample colours from the flower. These colour samples are then added to the colour swatch. Using digital brushes, I will then create a texture using those colours. The RAW file and the texture file are then imported into Photoshop and that’s when the magic happens. I try to make my flowers work for me and so I will shoot individual portraits, bouquets in vases using macro techniques.

In 2020 I joined the Royal Photographic Society to broaden my knowledge and to learn from and be inspired by the creativity of other photographers. I’m also a member of the Visual ArtGroup of the RPS. I love receiving my journal and newsletters and reading about other photographers and their genres of photography. The RPS website is an excellent

October 2021 No. 11 source of knowledge, inspiration and connectivity with other photographers. I was delighted when RPS Ireland was recently formed and is now actively providing online presentations and workshops. Hopefully their programme will develop to on location workshops when it’s safe to do so My photography journey has been a very enjoyable and important part of my life in retirement and has allowed me to express the creative artist within that I didn’t know existed. It’s not over yet!

If you are on this journey too then find something you are passionate about; learn all you can about the subject, invest time and maybe a little money in enhancing your skills, and don’t be afraid to ask for and take advice from other experienced photographers.

MY RED SERIES

By Neil Scott FRPS I have always had an eye for the abstract and recently I have been developing an interest in minimalism and surrealism in my photography. Conflating all three concepts makes for images that are, perhaps, absurd and I developed my personal ABC of abstract photography – to Amuse, Bemuse and Confuse.

Sometimes a single idea in my mind leads to a single image, but more often it leads to what amounts to an obsession, and the original idea grows like Topsy.

Denis O’ Reilly AIPF, ARPS

Closet tomato

The images here all stem from one of these simple images – Closet Tomato, an image which I created some years ago and which has had some success in international salons.

From this beginning I searched for simple objects that had the same red colour, or which could be painted with the same acrylic paint.

Most images were photographed against a white infinity curve, a large sheet of white card held in a curve to avoid any straight lines or edges. Lighting is similarly simple – “God’s Light” as some call it – daylight coming in through a window. The best light comes on bright, overcast days when the shadows are soft. Occasionally I would bounce light back on to the objects, usually with another sheet of white paper, but sometimes with the help of a professional reflector. So as well as the subjects being simple, my equipment is similarly uncomplicated, maintaining my minimalist rationale.

October 2021 No. 11 The subjects themselves came from many sources. Some just happened to be lying around the house, some were tweaked with the red acrylic paint. Others I bought on eBay after getting a mental vision of what was needed – such as the Nail Clippers or red glove. I was surprised by how many of the objects I found or obtained had the same red tint – serendipity came to my aid here so I did not have to resort to the paint tube very often.

Caught Red Handed followed on from Closet Tomato (Amuse).

Caught Red Handed

Nail Clippers

I am particularly pleased with my Busted Flush image.

It is the same bathroom cabinet but with the original chrome knobs which I changed for the tomato shot. Red Light -the light bulb with the bayonet cap painted with red acrylic paint – was originally part of another minimalist “all white” project. There are puns such as Bird in the Hand (Amuse). Pursuit in Red and Pawn give the impression that the red objects are about to be consumed by inanimate predators (Bemuse).

Busted Flush

The idea came as I was photographing an ordinary ace of diamonds playing card. It was a fairly simple matter to photograph the card, change the diamond to a heart in Photoshop, before printing the image out on white card and creating this anomaly – is it the Ace of Hearts or the Ace of Diamonds? (Confuse) I was taking images of the red pepper on the same day as the ones of the needle and red thread when the idea of Running Repair came to mind so I surgically incised the pepper and then surgically sutured it. (Bemuse).

The Last One

The other images in this set are just examples generated by my fertile imagination.

Neil Scott FRPS

October 2021 No. 11

IMAGINING THE COSMOS

By David Townshend FRPS No telescopes were employed in the making of this article Covid lockdown in 2020 may have confined me to my garden and imposed strict limits on where I could point my camera, but it did not constrain my imagination. Multiple exposure impressionist photography enables me to look beyond what is there in front of me – and I decided to look to the far reaches of the universe!

It is always good to include a quote from a famous photographer in support of your creative intent. I’ll be greedy and offer two. Minor White is quoted as saying the artist ‘should not only photograph things for what they are but for what else they are’, and his friend Alfred Stieglitz said ‘Every photograph has an equivalent idea or emotion attached to it.’

For my successful FRPS panel this year, my Statement of Intent said: “I enjoy exploring how to represent the natural world in different ways, creating images that are striking, intriguing and sometimes enigmatic - like halfrecalled memories or dreams tantalisingly just out of reach.”

I imagined an underwater world: “I want to create a panel that depicts an alternative reality. Plants in pots on my patio look glum in the dreary, wet weather. My aim is to transform these plants into an imagined world, a vividly coloured dream, the home of water nymphs.”

From an Underwater World to the Cosmos During lockdown I created many abstract and impressionist images in my garden and noticed that certain images (eg 3) made me thing not of gardens but of planets. I decided to let my imagination run riot and create a series that represented the cosmos.

What did I have to work with? I had my garden – flowers, leaves, stems, structures, shapes, light and shadows. I had my Canon 5DIII camera with its in-camera multiple exposure software, together with Lightroom. And I had

my imagination. I didn’t decide precisely what I wanted to create or how I would produce it – my good friend serendipity played a key role.

I then needed to understand what my ‘cosmological’ images were revealing to me.

Fortunately I had the invaluable assistance of my daughter and son-in-law, Vicky and Callum, both with far more expertise in astronomy than me. As a consequence, not only have I been stimulated by this exploration but I have also learned a huge amount about the universe.

So, with my images and my new-found knowledge, let me take you on a journey across the cosmos.

A Journey through Space (First row) As we travel into space we look back to see Earth from the International Space Station (1). Sadly we are reminded of our damaging impact even beyond Earth’s surface as we come across human space debris (2). We approach the Sun (3) but, deciding that going too close would be unwise (4), we head out across the Solar System.

(Second row) We pass close to the frozen surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa (5) – it has the smoothest surface of any known solid object in the Solar System. On Jupiter itself, electric storms rage (6). Further on, a planet will soon darken as an eclipse approaches (7). As we leave the solar system a comet shoots past (8).

(Third row) We look up to see the embracing Milky Way and beyond into deep space (9).

Then suddenly the Eye of God is upon us – the Helix Nebula in the constellation Aquarius (10).

In deep space we experience phenomena that really stretch the imagination. A stellar nursery (11) which, as its name implies, is where stars are born through the contraction of dust and gas.

(Fourth row) Then we detect mind-blowing cosmic filaments (12) the largest known structures in the universe, containing most of its mass. And surrounding everything is cosmic microwave background (13). This is faint background radiation detectable only with a radio telescope and, being the oldest electromagnetic radiation, it provides evidence of the early universe. Phew!

October 2021 No. 11

But it is not all over yet.

In one direction there is a supernova, the massive explosion of fading star (14). And far, far off in the other direction we find that long-sought evidence of extra-terrestrial life on another planet (15).

If you are interested in any of these cosmic phenomena, and want to see how my images reflect them, just type the names into Google.

Of course you might see completely different things in these images.

Indeed I have used two of them elsewhere where I have imagined something quite different. That is the fun of abstract and impressionist images!

When you look at impressionist and abstract images, what ideas are conjured up in your head?

Let nothing stand in the way of your imagination.

October 2021 No. 11

VISUAL ART GROUP Residential Weekend, Buxton This year’s autumn residential weekend was held in Buxton from 8th to 11th October. It was a great weekend, with a very full programme of talks and workshops and it was very well received and enjoyed by the participants.

Our base was the Palace Hotel, located in the centre of Buxton. Altogether there were 46 of us, this included members, partners and guest speakers. The Buxton weather was surprisingly mild and sunny and throughout the whole period not one drop of rain disturbed our enjoyment.

On Sunday we peaked; wonderful bright sky, lots to do and a festival in town to add even more interest. The landscape group had good conditions, whilst in Buxton, others ran around collecting material for the weekend challenge ‘water’ Mimi Mollica led another group on the streets for candid/documentary photography. The afternoon finished off with excellent and dynamic talks from Martin Addison FRPS on his very unique approach to photography, and by a talk on architectural and minimalistic photography from Les Forrester ARPS.

On Friday evening we caught up with old friends and found some new ones. The evening programme kicked off with a detailed and comprehensive presentation on landscape photography from Robert Harvey ARPS. This was followed by the first ‘show and tell’ session, which was fully attended and featured prints. These included Colin Lamb’s successful L Panel, David Townshend’s F panel and a selection of floral prints from Val Glenny, who was attending her first residential weekend with the Visual Art Group.

Saturday brought overcast conditions and we had limited success in the landscape group, led

by Robert Harvey. However, all were happily engaged in outdoor photography of some sort before returning to The Palace for absorbing, lively and intense presentations from Nettie Edwards and Mimi Mollica.

Mimi’s ‘Find Yourself’ workshop in repose

All too soon it was over At least, for a few months until we reform for the next one. During the final show and tell session we said farewell and many thanks to Andreas and Sue Klatt for their untiring work on these weekends over several years. They are stepping down now and future residential weekends will be arranged and organised by Mike and Sally Kitchingman.

This has been a superb get together in a great location, with good company, good food and drink and a town and surrounding area full of interest and photographic challenges.

Look out for notices about the Spring 2022 residential weekend. Preliminary planning indicates a long weekend in Brighton between 6th and 9th May.

At Ramshaw Rocks

Looking forward to seeing you there!

John Cavana ARPS

October 2021 No. 11

2021 PRINT EXHIBITION BOOK The selection of your images for the square format exhibition book of 2021 has taken place.

SELECTORS’ CHOICES

We are pleased to show the Gold Medal winning image and the three images that were chosen by the selectors as their personal choices.

Congratulations are offered to all the contributing members, especially those who are listed for special mention.

GOLD MEDAL WINNER

Strangers in the Night by Roger Wooton FRPS Selected by Jay Charnock FRPS

Running Man No. 1 by Fred Barrington ARPS

Seeking Stability by Antony Long Selected by Nat Coalson ARPS

October 2021 No. 11 and it seems that the Sugar Loaf and Skirrid appear quite often in the pictures. I have also shown scenes of village life, from tea parties to scarecrow challenges.

Raglan, cutting the Jubilee Cake

‘Down Country Lanes’ has been an absorbing project which is still ongoing as I believe rural life needs to be recorded as it is ever changing.

No Batteries Required by Philip Dove LRPS Selected by Carol Palmer ARPS

From Robert Hughes LRPS A new documentary book entitled ‘Down Country Lanes’ Robert writes: Having had success with my first Photo Documentary Book ‘End of an Era Abergavenny Livestock Market’ I decided to pursue the rural theme with a new photo project.

This time I wanted to tell the story of rural communities in S. E. Monmouthshire within a ten mile radius of Raglan. The project has progressed from 2010 to the present and is particularly pertinent now that Brexit has happened and Covid-19 has struck. These factors have had a significant impact on the rural community and some new funding and working practices will be needed, although these have yet to be decided.

The book depicts many scenes on local farms, showing activities as wide ranging as preparing sheep for local shows to harvesting maize. We are also blessed with photogenic landscapes which I have tried to capture within the pages

Point to point judges

The Book is available online at www.roberthughesphotographer.co.uk Robert is a member of the Visual Art Group and is the Secretary of Print Circle C His preferred phtotographic medium is monochrome, shot with a Leica M, using a range of lenses.

October 2021 No. 11

Update on the Rollright sub-group After an interval of over 18 months the Rollright sub-group met for a Members’ Day on 21st August. As always it was well subscribed despite the absence of Mrs K’s Ploughman’s lunch. A full day was spent on catching up with old friends, sharing images and prints and generally having an enjoyable time.

The next meeting will be on 27th November and it will be a Speakers’ Day. Linda Wevill FRPS will give a wide ranging talk including ‘in-camera creative techniques’ Robert Friel ARPS’s presentation is entitled ‘Going Mobile’ and will include projected images and prints Martin Addision FRPS will finish the day with ‘Explorations in creative images and music’ This is a newly developed presentation and we will be among the first to see it.

A reduced exhibition followed at Nat Coalson’s delightful Photiq Gallery in Leamington Spa, from 7th to 27th August. Again no launch was possible. Quoting Nat, ‘It looked great and the event was a resounding success!’

Our last exhibition for the year, was at the handsome Heseltine Gallery in Middleton Cheney, Banbury, and was held to open their Gallery to the public after being closed since March 2020. Lord Heseltine came to the launch, on Saturday, 25th September, as did several Friends of the Heseltine Gallery, some of our committee members, and two of our ‘winners’ and their partners. It was a good day, as people were at last able to meet and mingle and we were made very welcome by the Gallery members. This exhibition ended on 22nd October. Many favourable compliments were received, such as: ‘Wonderful diverse exhibition’; ‘Good to see prints again’; ‘Excellent exhibition of great quality images to re-open the Gallery’; ‘Superb – really varied and uplifting’.

Also, keep your diaries free for 19th March 2022 when the next Members’ day ‘show and tell’ session will take place.

The venue for all meetings is the Village Hall, Long Compton, Warks CV36 5JJ. Lunches are no longer served so members need to make their own food arrangements. Hot drinks will be available, as well as biscuits and cake for morning and afternoon breaks.

John Cavana ARPS

Visual Art Members’ Print Exhibitions

Looking back In spite of Covid and all its ramifications, I’m pleased to report that the Visual Art Group had three very successful exhibitions during this past year, taking the opportunity to show the VAG Members’ 2020 prints. Thank you and congratulations to all who had their prints in this exhibition, and to all those who were involved with the admin. You did a great job.

We opened the year at the inspiring Patchings Art Centre, Calverton, Nottingham, on 19th June; the exhibition ended on 1st Aug. There was no launch due to Covid restrictions. To quote Patching’s Director, Chas Wood, ‘Thank you once again for providing such a wonderful exhibition at such a necessary time.’

Lord Heseltine Thanks are extended to Robert Herringshaw who volunteered to talk to the Chenderit School’s older children about photography and the RPS – he was glad to note their interest.

Thanks too are due to Mike and Sally Kitchingman, and to Martyn Pearse, who volunteered to help with the weekend stewarding at the Gallery.

October 2021 No. 11

Useful Committee Contacts Chairman: John Cavana ARPS visualart@rps.org Secretary: Carol Paes ARPS visualartsec@rps.org Treasurer and Membership Secretary: Mark Deutsch LRPS mrkdeutsch@aol.com Circles Secretary: Gill Dishart ARPS Gill@dishart.plus.com

Committee members at the Heseltine Gallery

Looking forward Congratulations to all whose photos were selected for the upcoming Square Images issue of the VAG Magazine, which is being designed by our own Paul Mitchell FRPS. This promises to be a fabulous edition, given the high standard of the prints.

Wendy Meagher LRPS

… and finally Given the state of my health I have reluctantly decided to retire from the Visual Art Group chairmanship and its committee at the end of this month. Guiding the group over the last four and a half years has been a major part of my life - a privilege and a great honour, challenging but fun.

This would not have been possible without a strongly motivated and harmoniously working committee to whom I am personally and on your behalf truly grateful. You are in good hands, and I wish you all the enjoyment, the aesthetic and creative stimulation, which this fabulous group deserves.

Andreas Klatt ARPS