The RPS Journal, January 2018 by Think Publishing

Publish! How to create an inspirational photobook

Your guide to the Society's film Distinction

JOURNAL PAGE 61

JANUARY 2018 / VOLUME 158 / NUMBER 1

WWW.RPS.ORG

Real life in North Korea Nick Danziger lifts the curtain on a secret state

OPENING SHOT An inspired resolution

In February’s Journal we go behind the scenes with the actor and photographer Jeff Bridges, learn the secrets of capturing dance with Maria Falconer FRPS and dip into a remarkable archive of cruise-liner imagery

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE FROM all at the Journal. We hope 2018 brings you health, happiness and ample opportunity to indulge your love of photography. This is an exciting time for the Society as it prepares to move to new headquarters in the creative district of Bristol. Besides a quirky exterior, the building will offer space to stage public exhibitions and develop educational facilities. It comes at the perfect time, as the Society pledges to increase its outward reach by engaging more with its membership and the public. For details, turn to page 11. The baby whose image graces our cover represents fresh beginnings too – and much more. The sleeping child, photographed by the Honorary Fellow Nick Danziger, was born in Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, North Korea. Made during Danziger’s first visit to the secretive state, the image seems timeless, resonating across national and political boundaries. Danziger has given us an exclusive glimpse into his second visit to North Korea, during which he documented life beneath the radar of political sabre rattling. The results are fascinating, from a newly married couple to the hut representing the border between North and South Korea. As I write this, he is in Kazakhstan working on another documentary project.

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The fine-art photographer Julia FullertonBatten, featured in ‘Best shots’, also uses her skills to present real-life stories, albeit in a strikingly different manner. Find out about her projects, from tales of feral children to lives linked to the River Thames, starting on page 44. You might have noticed that in this issue we have given the Journal a fresh look, with new slots to alert you to developments in the world of photography. We have found innovative ways to feature work by some of the world’s best image makers – and to showcase photography by RPS members. Also in this issue, you can learn about the recently launched film Distinction, discover the work of three new Fellows and learn what makes an inspiring photo book from the respected publisher Dewi Lewis. Finally, as we launch the regular feature ‘Member stories’, we meet one photographer building bridges between the UK and Russia, and look forward to continuing building on the Journal’s fascinating journey through the world of photography.

KATHLEEN MORGAN Editor

VOL 158 / JANUARY 2018 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 1

Publish! How to create an inspirational photobook

Your guide to the Society's film Distinction

JOURNAL PAGE 61

JANUARY 2018 / VOLUME 158 / NUMBER 1

WWW.RPS.ORG

Real life in North Korea Nick Danziger lifts the curtain on a secret state

The Royal Photographic Society Fenton House, 122 Wells Road Bath BA2 3AH, UK www.rps.org reception@rps.org +44 (0)1225 325733 Incorporated by Royal Charter Patron Her Majesty the Queen President Robert Albright HonFRPS President Elect Del Barrett ARPS Treasurer Derek Trendell ARPS Chief Executive Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS Published on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society by Think Red Tree Business Suites 33 Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow G40 4LA thinkpublishing.co.uk EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Editor Kathleen Morgan kathleen.morgan@thinkpublishing. co.uk 0141 375 0509 Deputy editor Alec Mackenzie Contributing editors David Clark, Fiona McKinlay, Jonathan McIntosh, Gavin Stoker Design Matthew Ball, John Pender, Andrew Bell Sub-editors Sam Bartlett, Andrew Littlefield Advertising sales Elizabeth Courtney elizabeth.courtney @thinkpublishing.co.uk 0203 771 7208 Editor-in-chief Clare Harris clare.harris@thinkpublishing.co.uk Group account director John Innes

The fine-art photography of Julia Fullerton-Batten features in Best Shots

Every reasonable endeavour has been made to find and contact the copyright owners of the works included in this newspaper. However, if you believe a copyright work has been included without your permission, please contact the publishers. Views of contributors and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Royal Photographic Society or those of the publishers. All material correct at time of going to press. Circulation 11,374 (Jan-Dec 2016) ABC ISSN: 1468-8670

Cover Newborn baby by Nick Danziger HonFRPS

24 An image by Robert Gibbons FRPS

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38 Show you’re the reel McCoy with a Society film Distinction

JULIA RULLERTON-BATTEN; ALAMY; ROBERT GIBSON FRPS

CONTENTS

JANUARY 2018

CONTRIBUTORS

EVERY MONTH

PETER ROSS Nick Danziger (page 30) An award-winning journalist based in Glasgow, Peter Ross contributes to publications including The Guardian and Scotland on Sunday. He is the author of Daunderlust and The Passion of Harry Bingo

4 | BIG PICTURE The Red Cardinal by Clive Arrowsmith FRPS

20 | DISTINCTIONS The secrets of a successful Fellowship portfolio

7 | IN FOCUS Society views, news and more

66 | MEMBER STORIES Marija Lees LRPS in Russia

16 | BOOKS Includes new titles from David Levene and Dougie Wallace

80 | THE COLLECTION Portrait of Olga Caracciolo by Baron Adolph de Meyer

RACHEL SEGAL HAMILTON Photobooks (page 54) Freelance journalist Rachel Segal Hamilton specialises in writing about photography and visual culture. Her clients have included VICE, The Telegraph, Time Out, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art

62 The lowdown on some shining examples of the best lighting gear

NIGEL SPENCER Member test (page 65) A keen wildlife photographer and mountain climber, Nigel Spencer ARPS has travelled to the most remote corners of four continents in the pursuit of his images

FEATURES

THE GUIDE

30 | NICK DANZIGER The acclaimed photojournalist and Honorary Fellow captures images of daily life in the secretive state of North Korea

61 | LATEST KIT Gavin Stoker checks out the Panasonic Lumix G9

38 | FILM DISTINCTION As the Society launches a Distinction for filmmakers, panel chair Andy Golding FRPS shares his inspirations 44 | BEST SHOTS The skilled storytelling at the heart of fine-art photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten’s work 54 | PHOTOBOOKS Publisher Dewi Lewis HonFRPS offers expert advice on putting photography into print

62 | FIVE OF THE BEST The Journal’s illuminating selection of top lighting gear, including the Nissin i60A flashgun and the first on-camera flash from Profoto 65 | MEMBER TEST Nigel Spencer heads out and about with the Manfrotto Pro Light camera backpack 68 | EVENTS The next three months of great Society gatherings and get-togethers from the regions and groups

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BIG PICTURE

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The Red Cardinal By Clive Arrowsmith FRPS This image by celebrated fashion photographer Clive Arrowsmith FRPS was taken last November as part of a shoot commissioned by the Xposure International Photography Festival in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. ‘The organisers built a stage 18ft high with no back so I could shoot over some railings and straight across the water to Sharjah’s skyline,’ says Arrowsmith. ‘This image, The Red Cardinal, is the most dramatic from the shoot and the model is wearing a costume I designed. ‘It was taken using a Phase One camera with a P45+ back, which produces a 100Mb file in 16-bit mode. I wanted to include the moon, but it wasn’t in the right position in the sky, so I photographed it separately and added it to the final image in post-production.’ Visit clivearrowsmith.com VOL 158 / JANUARY 2018 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 5

PAGE 10

PAGE 12

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SOCIETY 365 COMPETITION WINNERS IN PRINT

WHAT TO SEE THIS MONTH: THE BEST IMAGES ON SHOW

JOE CORNISH HonFRPS SHARES HIS FAVOURITE PLACE

IN•FOCUS News, views, exhibitions and competitions

A fresh perspective

New Society HQ to be in Bristol’s ‘creative quarter’

ROOM TO FLOURISH The building in Bristol will allow the Society more space for Distinctions assessments, education and exhibitions

THE SOCIETY IS TO move later this year from Bath to new headquarters in Bristol’s Paintworks – a 12-acre redevelopment project on the site of a former Victorian paint factory. The area, known as the city’s creative quarter, is already home to businesses including the recently opened Martin Parr Foundation – a centre showcasing British photography and the works of the Honorary Fellow. The Society’s new fourstorey headquarters is complete but requires fitting out.

VISION OF THE FUTURE CGI images of the Society’s new Bristol HQ

STUDIO PORTRAITURE

Why not join this two-day workshop in Lacock on the weekend of 27 and 28 January, from 10am-5pm both days? It costs £127 for Society members. For more information see page 75

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IN FOCUS

BUILDING BLOCKS Early impressions of interiors for the new Society building show (this page) the main exhibition space and (facing page) teaching spaces

The Paintworks development, Bristol

Dr Michael Pritchard, chief executive of The Royal Photographic Society, said: ‘For some years it has been apparent that our current base at Fenton House, Bath,

A PLACE IN TIME

1853 St John’s Street, London

was unsuited for the Society’s needs. We needed a building that would allow the Society to expand events such as Distinctions assessments and public

activities, and an exhibition space that will showcase the best of photography. ‘Bristol is much more involved in the digital creative economy, including photography and the wider visual arts, and we need to be part of that. Having the Martin Parr Foundation nearby will also help make Paintworks a destination for photography and encourage people to visit.’ Around 15 minutes’ walk from Bristol Temple Meads station, the building will include classrooms, meeting rooms, exhibition areas

and staff accommodation. Robert Albright HonFRPS, president of the Society, said: ‘The building will help us fulfil our strategic goal – to educate the public by increasing their knowledge and understanding of photography – as well as meeting a key aim of this council to be a more welcoming and inclusive Society.’ It is hoped the new headquarters will open in September with a series of member and public events. Details will follow in a future issue of the Journal.

The Society’s inaugural meeting, on 20 January 1853, was at the Society of Arts in St John’s Street, Adelphi, London. Functions were held at various locations in London until 1899, when the Society found its first home premises

1899–1909 66 Russell Square, London

1909–1940 35 Russell Square, London

1940–1968 Princes Gate, South Kensington, London

1968–1970 1 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London

NEWS IN BRIEF SOCIETY SUBSCRIPTIONS The Society’s membership manager, Simon Bibb, has confirmed that there will be no increase to membership subscriptions in 2018. There will also be increased discounts for members on Society activities open to members and nonmembers. These include 25 per cent off all workshops, and 40 per cent off LRPS and ARPS applications. GOING UNDERGROUND A photobook inspired by the Crossrail project, An Elizabethan Progress, has been published by the Society. The images, which follow the route of the new Elizabeth Line beneath central London, have been taken by 16 members of the London Region. The book was edited and designed by Brian Steptoe FRPS. rps.org/shop/publications

SOCIETY SURVEY SAYS … Research into volunteering for the RPS has found that more than half of the respondents also give up their time for another organisation, while 60 per cent said they were happy with the face-to-face induction days offered by the Society. Find out more in next month’s Journal.

YOU CAN HELP See the next issue for details of how you can support the building’s fit-out

DOCUMENTARY SHOW The RPS Documentary Photographer of the Year exhibition, titled ‘Capturing the Moment’, is on show at Horsham Museum and Art Gallery in West Sussex. It is open from Monday to Saturday, 10am-5pm. horshammuseum.org

1970–1980 14 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London

1980–2004 The Octagon, Milsom Street, Bath

2004–PRESENT Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath

INTERACTION; ALAMY

Appleby horse fair by Lynda Morris LRPS

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IN FOCUS MARBLEOUS By Stanley Matchett FRPS MBE I joined the Belfast Telegraph as a staff photographer in the early 1960s, often using a Rolleiflex with a Schneider Kreuznach f/3.5 lens. I joined the City of Belfast Photographic Society and, thanks to encouragement from senior members, I went on to achieve my ARPS in 1979 and my Fellowship in 1983. I was also awarded an MBE for services to photojournalism. This image was shot in the Shankill Road, a working-class area of Belfast. The kids were delighted to be photographed. Given that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a fan of the late, great documentary and press photographer Bert Hardy, I love this picture.

Society 365 competition HISTORY is in the frame this month

SALUTING THE KITTIWAKE By Henley Spiers My dive buddy salutes at the bow of the ex-USS Kittiwake (ASR-13) while a curious snapper looks on. Decommissioned, auctioned and scuttled off the coast, this famous former United States Navy submarine rescue vessel was once responsible for rescuing the black box from the tragic Challenger space ship explosion. The

shipwreck no longer sits in the same underwater position, having been pushed over during last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Caribbean hurricane season. Using a Nauticam underwater housing, this image was captured with a Nikon D7200 paired with a Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 lens at 10mm, and the settings f/9 at 1/60sec and ISO 200.

GET INVOLVED Inspired by these images? Then vote for your favourites and submit your photographs for the next monthly Society competition at rps-365.org

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ROBERT ALBRIGHT HonFRPS

President, The Royal Photographic Society

VoiceBox New year, new approach It is time to reflect and progress

DISMANTLED RAILWAY #4 By Ian Harris This shows the partly dismantled Five Arches in Radstock, Somerset, once a crossing of the Somerset and Dorset and the Great Western Line prior to

the major restructure of British Railways following the 1966 Beeching cuts. Captured using a Mamiya 7, this image is part of a series forming part of my current Plymouth

University MA project. This body of work examines the traces these railways that once crisscrossed north-east Somerset have left on our landscape and culture.

WHAT BETTER TIME TO reassess what we do – and ensure we are moving in the right direction – than the start of a new year? The council of the Society is a board of trustees with the additional attendance of the chief executive. At the start of each new two-year term of office, the trustees review the Society’s direction and goals. The Society’s objectives are spelled out in its royal charter: ‘… to educate members of the public by increasing their knowledge of photography and understanding of photography, and in doing so to promote the highest standards of achievement in photography in order to encourage public appreciation of photography.’ It is worth noting the emphasis on ‘members of the Council has public’ and ‘public appreciation’ and is been hard at why we run major work on its events such as the programme RPS International for the next Photography Exhibition. This is two years distinct from our obligations to our members. Award winners in our events might not previously have been members of the Society, although, of course, we encourage them to join. Council has been hard at work setting out its programme, including appointments to committees such as Distinctions, finance and the awards, and reviewing those volunteers on our Distinctions panels. For committee details, see the RPS website at rps.org/committees In particular, I would like to welcome Ray Spence FRPS as chair of the Distinctions committee, Joe Cornish HonFRPS as chair of the Fellowship committee, Cheryl Newman FRPS as chair of the awards committee and Mark Richardson ASIS FRPS as chair of the science committee.

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IN FOCUS

WHAT TO SEE THIS MONTH MERRIE ALBION: LANDSCAPE STUDIES OF A SMALL ISLAND Flowers Gallery, London 19 JANUARY–10 MARCH

Simon Roberts

astute chronicler of British life and events that bring people together. This exhibition is of published and unpublished work made over the past decade, including his series We English and National Property: The Picturesque Imperfect. flowersgallery.com

Broadstairs Dickens Festival, Isle of Thanet

SCOTTISH PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh UNTIL 8 FEBRUARY

INTO THE WOODS Victoria and Albert Museum, London UNTIL 22 APRIL

How trees

2 have inspired

photographers throughout the medium’s history is explored in images drawn from The Royal Photographic Society collection and the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. vam.ac.uk

SHOWING

This selection

3 of images from

the 2017 awards includes work by the overall winner, Angie Isac, plus photographs from each of the competition’s eight categories. sppa.photography

BRITISH LIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS Royal Albert Hall, London UNTIL 28 JANUARY

Around 80

4 winning and

shortlisted images from the annual competition are on show to the public on 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 and 28 January, 10am-1pm. Times may be subject to change. royalalberthall.com

WOMEN IN MEDICINE: A CELEBRATION Royal College of Physicians of London UNTIL 19 JANUARY

Photographer John Chase has produced this

5 series of specially commissioned portraits

featuring a number of today’s leading female clinicians, together with images of women from the history of medicine who have inspired them. rcplondon.ac.uk

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 National Portrait Gallery, London, until 4 February // Landscape Photographer of the Year Waterloo Station balcony, London, until 4 February // Swaps: Photographs From the David Hurn Collection National Museum, Cardiff, until 11 March // When We Were Young: Photographs of Childhood From the National Galleries of Scotland Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, until 15 April

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1 HonFRPS is an

PLAN AHEAD

Give it a go. Here’s our round-up of key competition dates

SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS Prestigious 1 international awards with a top prize of $25,000. The Open Competition and the Youth Competition close on 4 January, while the Professional Competition closes on 11 January. worldphoto.org

HEART VALVE VOICE COMPETITION The charity Heart 2 Valve Voice teams up with the Society for Patient Portraits: A New You. The competition is open to photographers aged 18 and over, and closes on 31 January. heartvalvevoice.com

OLYMPUS GLOBAL OPEN PHOTO CONTEST Open to 3 professionals and amateurs, regardless of equipment used, this competition includes the categories Getting Outside, Art, and Power of Life. It closes on 26 February. gopc.olympus-global.com/2017 14

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Winning shot Wildlife photographer Caron Steele ARPS has achieved a hat-trick with two awards and a Distinction ACHIEVING a Society Distinction might be enough to satisfy most photographers, but Caron Steele ARPS went on to win two major wildlife awards last year. A zoology graduate, Steele was recognised in the British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA) and Nature’s Best Photography.

Steele had a career in banking and advertising before she began running a farm with her husband in 1992. She now manages a conference centre, wedding venue and small business park on the farm estate, working on photographic projects in her spare time. Her winning image Emergence, which won the coast and marine category

of the BWPA, was taken off the Yorkshire coast, shows a gannet surfacing after a dive. Steele says: ‘As soon as I saw the image I was excited, as not only was the bird sharp but the scudding clouds had created wonderful patterns on the water. I was so lucky to have a combination of good light and calm conditions.’

IN FOCUS

NEWS IN BRIEF

OneToWatch Owen Harvey

EMERGENCE ‘This is a splitsecond moment captured with perfection,’ says Neil McIntyre, British Wildlife Photography Awards selector

HONORARY FELLOW CROWDFUNDS BOOK Nick Danziger HonFRPS is attempting to crowdfund his latest book project, Another Life. Featuring images by Danziger and text by Rory MacLean, the book captures the stories of 40 lives in many of the poorest parts of the world. It will be published by Unbound next autumn and distributed by Penguin Random House. unbound.com/books/ another-life

THE VOYAGE From 2 February to 7 May a new tapestry by artist Garry Fabian Miller HonFRPS will be showcased at Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh. This tapestry, Voyage into the deepest, darkest blue, is based on the amalgamation of two of his photographs. dovecotstudios.com

OWEN HARVEY BY GILLIAN THORPE

Caron Steele ARPS

ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ LECTURE Robert Gurbo, curator of the André Kertész Estate in New York, will give a lecture, André Kertész – The Real Biography, on 23 January. Part of the Colin Ford Lecture Series, it will be at the Royal Philatelic Society, 41 Devonshire Place, London, 6pm. Bookings close on 18 January.

Human stories are crucial for the work of this Society award winner THE LONDONbased documentary photographer won the Under-30s Gold Award in the RPS International Photography Exhibition 2017. Two of his images are in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 exhibition. When did you get into photography?

I picked up a camera for the first time at around 18 years old. I always felt the need for some form of creative outlet and, after playing music throughout my teens, wanted to try something new. Why do you focus on youth and youth subcultures?

I have always been

interested in the idea of identity as well as socioeconomics, style and heritage – all prevalent in youth and subcultures. I enjoy working with people who have something they are passionate about. What next?

I’ve actually just started a group project with 12 other photographers. The project is about place, people and a celebration of diversity. I’m currently photographing at the largest mosque in England, focusing on young adults who have dedicated their lives to religion. Visit owen-harvey. com

rps.org/events

IMAGES FOR SCIENCE The Society’s International Images for Science exhibition is on tour. Featuring captivating images with an engaging science story, the exhibition is at The Hive, Sawmill Walk, Worcester, from 31 January to 22 March, 8.30am-10pm. rps.org/events

Chelsea. Skinhead, London 2017 series

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IN FOCUS BOOKS

The world in a frame CITY David Levene Bluecoat Press (£25)

TOWN TO TOWN Niall McDiarmid RRB Photobooks (£35) McDiarmid has visited more than 200 UK towns over the past seven years, photographing people he has met. Town to Town presents around 16

60 of those portraits. McDiarmid often matches the colours of his subjects’ clothes with backgrounds. Beautifully shot and quietly contemplative, his engaging portraits represent today’s diverse communities.

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get in the thick of it and highlight the situations of individuals that have a much wider significance. He also has a strong eye for graphic compositions, most clearly seen when he’s shooting from a high or aerial viewpoint: the arrangement of brightly coloured restaurant chairs in Venice or the grid-like design of Barcelona’s streets. The photographs are arranged according to the longitudinal reference of their

SAN FRANCISCO NOIR Fred Lyon Princeton Architectural Press (£30) Lyon has been documenting the locales and cultural life of his native San Francisco for most of his life – he is now 93. His latest

book is mainly an after-dark exploration of less well-known areas of the city from the 1940s and 50s. Resembling stills from classic Hollywood crime films, his images are atmospheric, mysterious and undeniably romantic.

geographical location. This device often juxtaposes very different places on similar longitudes, such as Belfast in Northern Ireland and Fez in Morocco. Although the images weren’t originally shot with a view to making a statement about contemporary life, when brought together they not only give a broad picture of how we live today, but how societies shape environments, and environments shape societies.

WELL HEELED Dougie Wallace Dewi Lewis (£26) The latest collection of closeup, wide-angle, flash-lit images from Dougie Wallace focuses on dogs – specifically the most lavishly groomed and accessorised canines. Snarling,

bored, slavering or just startled, the dogs display a range of emotions, from aggressive to aloof. What Well Heeled lacks in variety of approach is made up in social commentary and entertainment value.

DAVID LEVENE

AS A FREELANCE photographer working for The Guardian, and organisations such as Oxfam and Save the Children, David Levene has experienced a huge diversity of urban life around the world. His first book, City, features images made in 62 such environments over a 14-year period, with insightful analysis provided by Guardian journalist Oliver Wainwright. Levene’s photographs range from workers in Bangladesh clothing factories, to millionaires’ yachts moored in a Monaco harbour, to homeless people sleeping on San Francisco church pews. As well as these scenes from daily life, he has recorded major events, such as thousands of people temporarily living in the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp in Calais in 2015 and the aftermath of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Levene has the ability to

THE COLLECTION

MOST TALKED ABOUT

Peter Lindbergh

Actor Lupita Nyong’o features in collection that rejects pursuit of ‘senseless perfection’ Renowned for creating the supermodels of the 1990s, photographer Peter Lindbergh has made raw images his signature. His latest book, Shadows on the Wall, features intimate portraits of women – including Lupita Nyong’o – unenhanced by digital manipulation or heavy make-up. It comes after the Star Wars: The Last Jedi actor criticised Grazia

magazine for using a cover shot of her that had been airbrushed to remove some of her hair. Lindbergh says: ‘Most of the fashion-related media today prefer to take away the identity and experiences of their protagonists and replace it with senseless perfection.’ Shadows on the Wall is published by Taschen at £79.99

MY PLACE by Joe Cornish HonFRPS

What’s your favourite place to photograph? Wherever I am at the time. But the place I visit most frequently is the moor and woodland above my North Yorkshire home. It includes the obvious landmark hill, Roseberry Topping. Why is it a good location? 18

The landscape is extremely complex and varied: exposed rocks; old quarry and mine sites; pockets of indigenous woodland; larch, spruce and pine plantations; upland fields that include crops and livestock grazing. In the far distance stands industrial Teesside. The elevation of the moorland edge, more than 1,000ft above sea level,

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gives a wonderful perspective. What makes you return there? To practise. Practising my photographic technique is part of my identity. To continue to search for new walking tracks, views and perspectives. To deepen my understanding of and connection with the local terrain. Did I mention practice?

CREDIT SITS IN BOX 4MM DEEP

ROSEBERRY TOPPING

IN FOCUS

Distinctions success Congratulations to all these Society members on their latest achievements

BE INSPIRED Read stories of Distinctions successes and begin your journey towards accreditation. See page 20

LRPS October 2017 David Alderson, Avon Andy Barnes, Hertfordshire John Harry Baumer, Devon Matt Blair, Surrey Liz Bugg, Somerset Nick Cole, Wiltshire April Games, Powys Gerald Gill, Avon Anthony Green, Cheshire Beverly Hayes, Lancashire Garry Hayes, Lancashire Anthony Marshall, Newquay John Moore, Leicestershire Angela Morgan, Berkshire Trevor Rudkin, Northamptonshire LRPS Referrals August 2017 Paul Hudson, Essex Ian Nicol, West Sussex Hilary Lumley, Surrey Angela Taylor, North Yorkshire Leigh Foster, York Richard Drinkall,

CREDIT SITS IN BOX 4MM DEEP

Roseberry Topping on a summer’s day

East Sussex Stuart Burns, Kent David Sheldon, Wiltshire LRPS November 2017 Nicholas Alston, Essex Zoltan Balogh, Hampshire Richard Beech, Dorset Debbie Boobier, Avon Les Boyle, West Midlands Xiaoyi Chen, South Africa Yongli Chen, Beijing Stewart Gregory, Nottinghamshire Jim Haviland, Hampshire Paul Hendley, Berkshire Victor Herminda, Gibraltar Michael l’Anson, Norfolk Andy Jefferson, Cheshire Anne Overstall, Surrey Jane Perriss, Cornwall Richard Sharman, Dorking Martyn Smith, West Midlands Michael Smith, Southport Steven Smith,

Lancashire Simon Street, Surrey Adrian Walmsley, Hampshire LRPS Referrals October 2017 Jonathan Cowdock, Kent LRPS Multimedia November 2017 Keith Watson, Warwickshire LRPS Exemption 2017 Anna Chambers, Cumbria Jonathan Irvine, Kent Michael Malby, West Midlands Kenneth Desmond Campbell Mundell, Northern Ireland FRPS Fine Art November 2017 Richard Earney Robert Gibbons Peter Humphrey Da-Wei Jiao Carol McNiven Young FRPS Applied November 2017 Claudia Xiaoli Lee

ESSENTIALS JILLIAN EDELSTEIN HonFRPS ‘Because I started shooting before the digital age, I’d never go on a shoot without my trusty, old-fashioned Minolta light meter. It’s as old as time; it never lets me down and never seems to need the battery replaced. I have got good at guessing ISOs, apertures and shutter speeds if, for some reason, I leave it behind.’ JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 19

DISTINCTIONS Take your inspiration from these stories of recent successes

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START YOUR JOURNEY What are Society Distinctions? These are standards of achievement offered at three levels. For information visit rps.org/distinctions

Licentiate (LRPS) Applicants must show photographic competence in approach and techniques. There are no restrictions in subject matter at this level

Associate (ARPS) Evidence of a creative ability and personal style, plus complete control of the technical aspects of photography

Fellowship (FRPS) The highest Distinction is given for excellence and a distinguished ability in photography. It is open to Associates of the Society

Ahead of the curve A trio of Fellowship successes share the secrets of their portfolios WHILE SUBMISSIONS COME IN MANY forms, consistent features for success are a clear concept, illustrated through the photography, and an excellence in technique in the camera, printing and presentation of the overall submission. It will generally consist of a project clearly planned and executed in a way that communicates to the viewer what the statement of intent sets out as an introduction to the images. In November the fellowship board recommended six new Fellows of the Society â&#x20AC;&#x201C; five in the Fine Art category and one in Applied. We present three in this issue, with the others in the February edition of the Journal. The variety of approach in the Fine Art category is clearly illustrated with portfolios from Robert Gibbons, Peter Humphrey and Richard Earney. Gibbons based his submission on the work of botanical artists, emphasising detail and beauty in a series of delicately observed, carefully composed images. Humphrey explored spiral and helical staircases in London. Within the restrictions of his defined subject he showed great variety, a consistency of beautiful lines and a quality of light perfectly caught and composed. Earney, meanwhile, manipulated his chosen medium in a variety of ways, creating images he related to aerial views and landscapes in his imagination. My congratulations to all of them â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and to Dai-Wei Jiao, Claudia Xiaoli Lee, and Carol McNiven Young, whose submissions will be shown next month. Roy Robertson HonFRPS chair, Fellowship board

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DISTINCTIONS

Peter Humphrey This Fellowship journey began with a winding 500m staircase How does photography fit into your daily life? I belong to two camera clubs in Kent, so I am always looking to take photographs to enter into club competitions. The printing and mounting also take time during the photographic season.

FRPS FINE ART

Describe your FRPS journey I started taking these images in 2013 when I visited London’s City Hall. The 500m helical staircase was fascinating and I decided to seek out other spiral and helical staircases in the capital. I didn’t think about using them for a Fellowship portfolio at that point – it was only a couple of years later when I had a body of images that I sought advice on whether it was worth pursuing. Many of the spiral staircases are not open to the public, so I often had to get permission to enter a building to take

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photographs. Many of the locations questioned my motives, particularly in this security-conscious time. Others, such as City Hall, were only available to visit during the Open House London weekend, which happens once a year, so I had to prioritise which location to visit. Some were booked up and I had to wait until the following year before I could get the shot I wanted. What or who inspired your portfolio? In 2016 I contacted Paul Foley FRPS, who had helped me with my portfolio for Associate, and asked him whether he thought my body of images could make up a Fellowship panel. He encouraged me to start. Which portfolio image makes you proudest? I’m proudest of the City Hall

image, which started the whole process towards Fellowship. I particularly wanted the staircase to be devoid of people so I arrived two hours before opening time to be first in the queue. When they opened the doors I was first in the lift to take me to the top where I was then able to get the shot before everyone started walking down it. Another image, taken at Tate Britain, was accepted into the RPS Biennial members’ exhibition and is currently on display at the Royal Albert Hall. What piece of equipment can’t you do without? Many of the images are taken in confined spaces and I use a Sigma 15mm semi-fisheye lens on my Canon 5D MkIII to get the effect I am looking for. The flippant answer would be my eyes.

ABOVE

STATEMENT OF INTENT

Living close to London, my photography over the last five years has focused on capturing the architecture of London from a pictorial aspect. During an Open House London visit to City Hall I was struck by the beauty of the lines created by its helical staircase. That was

the start of a project to seek out and photograph some of London’s spiral and helical staircases found in hotels, car parks, offices, public buildings, galleries and department stores. The diversity in size, materials and design of the staircases provided me with a

challenge to photograph these, to demonstrate the different geometric shapes and lines that each one created and that may not be immediately apparent to those that use the staircases daily. I have post-processed the images to present these as a coherent portfolio.

Office of Adam & Co FACING PAGE

London City Hall PREVIOUS SPREAD

Heal’s Department Store

THE INSPIRATION ‘The 500m helical staircase at City Hall was fascinating and I decided to seek out other spiral and helical staircases in the capital’

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DISTINCTIONS

Robert Gibbons Discover a portfolio with its roots in the tradition of botanical art How does photography fit into your daily life? My interest spans 35 years and it is an important part of my daily life. During the past three years I have been awarded LRPS and ARPS, finally achieving the FRPS in 2017. FRPS FINE ART

ABOVE LEFT

Flame lily ABOVE RIGHT

Sunflowers FACING PAGE

Sword lily 24

Describe your FRPS journey My Associate was awarded in April 2016 with a portfolio of flowers. That encouraged me to immediately start work on my Fellowship portfolio. Having built some expertise, I would stay with the same subject but this would need to be to be markedly different and show clear progression from my Associate portfolio in order to stand any chance of success. When I began my portfolio I felt I had the idea but not necessarily all the skills to complete it. The process did what it ought to, pushing me to find solutions to practical, technical and creative problems

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Most of the flowers were sourced from garden centres or florists, with some bought as bulbs, corms or rhizomes, and grown in our small conservatory. Merely arranging and presenting each flower required the conjuring of all sorts of micro scaffolding, clamps and other paraphernalia to create a viable set. I enjoyed working through the challenges and learned much in the process. What or who inspired your portfolio? How to come to the subject with an approach that met the high criteria of Fellowship was the challenge. My inspiration came from an exhibition of the magical work of the Society of Botanical Artists – watercolour paintings of such fine detail and enviable skill. My portfolio would be an ‘homage’ to their work and in the style of the traditional botanical print in the hope that

my photographs may go some way to evoking the same emotion in others as their paintings did in me. Which portfolio image makes you proudest? Each finished photograph is presented in a simple way but took many hours of work, so I have an attachment to all of them. However, for me there is something special about the ‘Gloriosa superba’. The harmony and balance of the composition I doubt I could improve on. In every way it is nature most ‘Glorious’. What piece of equipment can’t you do without? I mix my studio flash with speedlights for small areas of accent light and use modifiers such as grids, snoots and diffusers that attach to them magnetically. These magnetic modifiers are invaluable – they are so effective and easy to use.

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DISTINCTIONS

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LEFT

Phalaenopsis amabilis

DISTINCTIONS

STATEMENT OF INTENT

I have always been drawn to the beauty of flowers and have come to admire greatly the work of botanical artists. I can only wonder on how they achieve such fine detail and almost photographic representation with watercolours and brush. My portfolio, therefore, is my ‘homage’ to the botanical artist. My intent is that each of my images should resemble a watercolour and for a moment fool the eye. I have in the construction of my portfolio used a painter’s approach, with great emphasis on observation and careful composition, spending much time slowly turning each flower or waiting for the critical moment of development before recording the image. Soft, revealing lighting suggests a work created in daylight. A necessary uniformity in background is relieved by frame edges unique to each flower to offer authenticity through subtle ageing and to separate each image as an individual piece within the portfolio.

THE INSPIRATION ‘My inspiration came after a visit to an exhibition of the magical work of the Society of Botanical Artists. The watercolour paintings were of such fine detail and such enviable skill’

FACING PAGE

Parrot tulip ABOVE

Orchid

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DISTINCTIONS

Richard Earney A faulty camera was the catalyst for this Fellowship project FRPS FINE ART

How does photography fit into your daily life? At the age of 11 my father gave me his camera and taught me the basics to keep me from getting bored on a holiday to France. He told me to go off and have fun. An hour or so later I

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returned with shining eyes, converted to photography, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve rarely stopped since. Describe your FRPS journey When I joined the RPS in 2003 I started the process of trying to gain the Distinctions the Society offers. After my LRPS I changed my approach to photography, making images that were part of a series. After a few false starts and a lot of thinking about what I wanted to photograph I gained my Associate. I started this project in earnest in March 2016 and have been obsessively working on it

since then, but it was a chance remark by a friend who made me realise these images could be the basis of a portfolio. I attended an advisory day in October 2016, and the feeling was that my portfolio had promise, but I needed to up the presentation quality and alter the reproduction size. My first submission, in March 2017, was rejected for not being a coherent enough body of work. In hindsight I was more familiar with the way the Associate was assessed. The Fellowship is assessed at a much higher level; how

FACING PAGE AND ABOVE

Warped topographies

high that is becomes more apparent once you go through the process. Paul Mitchell FRPS gave me advice and guidance. He explained the areas where the portfolio was not fulfilling the criteria – helping me towards making it more coherent through the improvements needed. My next submission, in June, was more successful, but there was one image that didn’t fit. I was offered a referral. With the image swapped the portfolio was reassessed in October and I received the wonderful news that I’d been recommended for the Fellowship. What or who inspired your portfolio? Its genesis was a ‘failed’ Polaroid taken about four years ago that ejected from a faulty camera. There was something beautiful

and otherworldly about the image, but I couldn’t work out what it meant to me. It took another go with a replacement camera and a lot of research into the structure of integral Polaroids to make the idea coalesce. The work of Paul Kenny provided huge inspiration and showed me that creative work needs time and patience. Which portfolio image makes you proudest? The central one, which nearly didn’t make it into the first submission until my wife pointed out the error of my ways. What piece of equipment can’t you do without? For this project it would be my (working) Polaroid SX-70 camera.

STATEMENT OF INTENT

Three years ago while photographing local landscapes with my Polaroid SX-70 the camera started ejecting films with faults, producing results that were strange and otherworldly. I was intrigued, so I researched the way Polaroids are made, processed and developed, and discovered that disrupting or subverting the film’s development process could mimic the abstract effects previously produced by the faulty camera. This portfolio displays landscape photographs taken with Impossible Project and expired Polaroid film. I manipulated them with water and by hand to resemble aerial landscapes and satellite imagery, with the intention of revealing imaginary fractured lands, disrupted river flows, impenetrable forests and glacial melts.

THE INSPIRATION ‘The genesis of the project was a “failed” Polaroid that ejected from a faulty camera’ VOL 158 / JANUARY 2018 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 29

INSIDE STORY XXXXX

The Mansu Water Park, Pyongyang, has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a volleyball court, basketball court, hairdresser, climbing wall, restaurant, cafe and bar. On entering

the leisure park all visitors must remove their shoes and kowtow to a lifelike statue of Kim Jong-Il on a set that resembles the beach on North Koreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s East Sea.

HIDDEN LIVES

The renowned photojournalist NICK DANZIGER HonFRPS has visited the secretive nation of North Korea for the second time. He tells Peter Ross why his journey has only just begun

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INSIDE STORY

‘T

HERE’S NO question,’ says Nick Danziger, ‘that the toughest place I’ve ever had to work is North Korea.’ The British photojournalist, whose sense of outraged compassion has taken him to some of the world’s most troubled countries, has twice gone on assignment to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK); in 2013, and in March 32

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2017. Each time he made the 28-hour train journey from Beijing to Pyongyang. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the DPRK, so it is perhaps timely to try to look behind the headlines that seem to yearn for military confrontation between North Korea and the United States of America. In Danziger’s pictures the martial drums are muffled, the doomsday clock wound back. He gives us, instead, ordinary life; ordinary, at least, in the North Korean sense. A couple celebrate

their wedding by bowing to giant statues of the country’s founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. Commuters wait for a train in one of the underground stations built deep enough to function as bomb shelters in the event of nuclear attack. He is not afraid to take a banal picture if banality is the truth. ‘There are many truths,’ he says. ‘It is a matter of trying to get under the skin.’ Western picture editors and the DPRK authorities are united in their desire for images of epic patriotic displays such as

INSIDE STORY LEFT

Newlyweds at Moran Hill in central Pyongyang BELOW

A wedding party about to enter a restaurant, Mirae Scientists Street BOTTOM

Statues of Kim Il-Sung and his son. All visitors to Pyongyang must pay their respects to these statues

the Mass Games in Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium. Newspapers like them because their colour and choreography are visual shorthand for North Korea’s absolute conformity; North Korea values them as a show of strength. Danziger is reluctant to satisfy either party. ‘I’d rather have the old granny walking across the street.’ Despite this, he did attend and cover the Mass Games – up to 100,000 performers bringing together elements of theatre, music, gymnastics and dance

‘If you work against them you get arrested or deported straight away’ in a spectacle of totalitarian kitsch. What was it like? ‘Frightening. It reminds me of Hitler, Nuremberg, those rallies. I would have been uncomfortable if I could only have photographed that. That, for me, is when you are falling into their trap.’ Danziger’s independent streak is why

Nick Danziger HonFRPS The award-winning photojournalist and documentary filmmaker made his first solo trip, to Paris, at age 13. The Society awarded him an Honorary Fellowship in 2007

his first visit had been particularly fraught. There were lots of fights with his government minders. ‘You always have two people who follow you, and there is a set programme which makes it very difficult for you to walk anywhere and shoot anything you want. If you do that, you’re going to get into trouble, and we know what happens if you get into trouble in North Korea. So I think you’ve got to work with them. If you work against them, either you get arrested or deported straight away. The arguments JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 33

INSIDE STORY LEFT

Pyongyang’s Sci-Tech Complex, on an island in the Taedong river. While there is no access to the internet visitors can surf the North Korean intranet BELOW

A family apartment on Mirae Scientists Street – developed in 2015 for professors and scientists, among the most privileged members of North Korean society RIGHT

Mansu Water Park BELOW RIGHT

Mirae Scientists Street

were because I kept pushing, pushing, pushing for what I wanted.’ On either assignment did he have to show his photographs to the authorities? ‘No … They never looked at any of my pictures. I think that’s really important. It’s a question of trust. They know my work from around the world.’ As he was there with the permission – not reluctantly given – of the state, how, in those circumstances, did he avoid becoming an accidental propagandist? ‘It’s very, very difficult,’ he says. ‘But I don’t believe that a photographer trying to do a traditional job in photojournalism is an apologist for that regime. I believe it’s important for us to know how ordinary people live.’ And, he believes, for them to know how we live in the west. 34

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‘That situation, for me, is when you are falling into their trap’ Engagement – conversations with those he meets – seem to be, for Danziger, as important as the photographs he takes. He might reveal to them, for instance, that the humanitarian aid – mostly food – which North Korea receives comes from its notional enemies, including the United States. Outside information of any sort is hard to come by in North Korea, where most people have no access to the internet or foreign media. Nick Danziger is 59. He lives in Monaco. ‘I came here because of strange

circumstances, adopting three kids.’ He rescued three parentless children – Satar, Khadija and Farishta, a boy and two sisters – from war-torn Afghanistan. ‘It was when the Taliban came to power in 1996 and I knew what would potentially happen to them. ‘They could very well have become “war bounty”,’ he explains – sold, traded and abused. ‘I couldn’t just leave them there.’ It is rare for a member of the media to make a humanitarian intervention of this sort. Could Danziger’s adoption of those children – now all adults – be a corollary of the philosophy behind his photojournalism? In other words, in his life and his work, he wants to be part of bringing social change? At this, he sighs. ‘It’s so awkward to

answer that. I’m just a guy with a few camera bodies and lenses. Probably when I was young I thought, “Yeah! I want to change things.” And maybe I thought pictures could. Photography is an extraordinary way to communicate, and it would be great if it helps in some way, but ultimately it’s a very selfish way to go about things. Probably it would have been better to become a surgeon rather than a photographer.’ He began as a painter and writer. The turning point came while covering the exodus of Kurdish Iraqis from Iraq after a chemical attack by Saddam Hussein’s forces. He was in a refugee camp in Turkey when the soldiers who were there to protect the Kurds opened fire on them, killing and injuring several. JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 35

INSIDE STORY

Thereafter, Danziger committed himself to photojournalism and bearing witness to suffering. Still, he has always had this ambivalence towards his own work. In the introduction to his first book, Danziger’s Travels, he wrote: ‘I feel that photographing people especially makes them into objects of curiosity and somehow robs them, and me, of dignity.’ How has he overcome or at least reconciled himself to that feeling? ‘I don’t think I have reconciled myself to that,’ he replies. ‘I can think of taking pictures of one person in particular, and I nearly gave up because I felt I was causing her more harm.” Who was that? ‘Mariatu. She was a young Sierra Leonean woman who was mutilated – had both her hands lopped off. Her recounting of that story, I think, reinforced that whole trauma. I’ve since met up with her again, and I think she’s very grateful that a short video using my stills was made, and her life has changed hopefully for the better. But I just thought, “Why add to people’s pain?” ‘Sometimes photographers have this idea that it’s cathartic for the subject because they can tell their story and get it out for the first time. But that’s bullshit. Better to be a psychologist.’ Although Danziger is hard on himself, he has little time for those who regard his work as voyeuristic and exploitative. ‘I get criticised often: “Why did you take this picture?” Well, if I’m not there, who is there? Why should I be the one criticised for a famine? We should be looking at ourselves, our institutions and governments, not just a photographer.’ His upbringing prepared him for a peripatetic life. Born in London, he grew up in Monaco and Switzerland, and from his early teens was travelling independently within Europe. ‘I was bred, if not born, abroad,’ he wrote in his book Danziger’s Britain. ‘I grew up with tastes, desires and ambitions unlimited by nationality, race or language. I have no real roots or loyalty to a particular locality.’ This is a recipe for empathy: Danziger does not see white western identity as the norm and the rest of the world as ‘other’. The son of Harry Lee Danziger, an America film and television producer, luxury hotelier, and one-time owner of the jewellery brand Cartier, Danziger is clearly a contemplative person, and would have been well aware, from a young age, that he had been born into wealth and privilege. Does this drive him to witness and record the darkness of the lives of others? ‘There is no doubt that I have “some” 36

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TOP

The Joint Security Area is the only part of the Korean Dimilitarised Zone (DMZ) where North and South Koreans forces stand face to face. The military demarcation line (the border) goes through the

centre of this building, with half of the table in the centre on the south side of the border and the other half on the north side of the border. The door at the far end of the building leads to

the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area. ABOVE

The entrance to Kaeson station. The Pyongyang metro is one of the deepest underground systems in the world

DANZIGER’S DEFINING IMAGES

TONY BLAIR AND GEORGE BUSH Hillsborough Castle, 2003

‘Ultimately photography is a selfish way to go about things’ if not a lot of guilt that, born in the right place at the right time to a certain background, I have had opportunities I would not have otherwise had,’ he says. But he is driven by a variety of factors, he demurs; guilt is just one. So much for the past. What of the future? Danziger has been given permission to return to the DPRK to run a workshop for North Korean photographers, and is trying to secure funding to make this happen. While there, he hopes to extend his own portfolio, and has sought permission to photograph Kim Jong-un. This, he believes, would make him the first western photographer to take a portrait of the supreme leader. ‘I’ve only started to scratch the surface,’ he says, ‘and that’s why I’m so keen to go back.’ To help crowdfund Nick Danziger’s next book, Another Life, visit unbound. com/books/another-life

I can hardly believe the unprecedented access I was given. I entered Downing Street days before the second Gulf War was launched against Iraq and Saddam Hussein. It took me to the heart of statesmanship: to the interaction between world leaders at a

critical moment in UK and world history. I was allowed to walk alone beside Prime Minister Blair and President Bush at Camp David and Hillsborough Castle, with President Chirac and Prime Minister Blair in the corridors of the EU in Brussels and no one in

hearing distance other than myself. I spent 30 days ‘on the road’ at No. 10 Downing Street and across the world at such close quarters I only used my prime wide-angle lenses, which is how I work across all my subjects.

MAH BIBI Ghor Province, Central Afghanistan, 2001 I have been attached to Afghanistan since the mid-80s when the country was occupied by the Soviet Union, and have returned over and over again. My work in war zones concentrates on the effects of conflict on the non-combatants, often women and children. I took this photograph of Mah Bibi as a result of her pushing through a crowd of men to tell me her story – I understand some Dari. I have often returned to the same people I have photographed, even if

decades later. I have returned to Ghor province on three occasions since 2001 – the Taliban were still in power then – and I have never refound her. A few years ago an

Afghan Red Crescent volunteer relayed a message to me that he thinks she died in childbirth when she was approximately 15 years old – not an uncommon fate for girls of that age.

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FILM DISTINCTION

A PIECE OF THE ACTION

If you have a talent for making movies, why not pursue the Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s film Distinction, says ANDY GOLDING FRPS 38

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LEFT

Toshiro Mifune as Kikuchiyo in Seven Samurai, directed by Akira Kurosawa (1954) RIGHT

Buster Keaton in The Cameraman (1928)

ALAMY

PASSION FOR photography almost inevitably accompanies a love of the moving image. Stills and film share their roots, have developed side by side, and require some of the same tools. The Society’s Distinctions are designed to recognise and encourage the best in photographic production. Distinguished photographers, scientists and artists view thousands of images each year to consider their technical, communicative and conceptual merit. By honouring the achievements of image makers at the levels of Licentiate, Associate and Fellow, Distinctions drive practitioners to achieve the heights of creativity and insight.

‘Distinctions drive the achievement of creativity and insight’ Recognition of excellence in filmmaking has long been embraced in the multimedia category of Distinctions. Now, with a growing interest in film beyond the extended sound and slide show or interactive piece, the Society is recognising movie production as a distinct category. The film Distinction will offer recognition for those who identify clearly as filmmakers, or who would like their film productions, as well as their photography, to be recognised. It is aimed at amateur filmmakers, students, commercial filmmakers and artists.

The Distinction will recognise achievement in film production from key competencies at Licentiate level, and advanced conceptual and technical skills at Associate level. At Fellowship level it will honour excellence in – and equating to – the highest industry, professional and artistic standards. Aimed at global filmmaking across diverse cultural, traditional and contemporary practices, the Distinction will encourage quality, innovative and challenging moving-image production, from concept through cinematography, to post-production and presentation. For more information about the Society’s film Distinction visit rps.org/distinctions/film JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 39

FILM DISTINCTION

The Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night by Richard Lester, a film which encapsulated the cultural shifts of 1960s Britain

A LIFE IN FILMS

My passion for movies began with a love of stills, says ANDY GOLDING FRPS, chair of the film Distinction panel

ALAMY

HE TURNING POINT FOR me was the French work The 400 Blows (1959), screened in a scruffy grammar school room converted into a film club by inspirational teachers. Until then my movies had been westerns and war films on the black and white TV; or James Bond, Mary Poppins and reruns of Flash Gordon at the local cinema. I was already immersed in photography, since my grandfather had given me a Brownie 127 for my fifth birthday. The film opens in a school room that looked like my own, and explores the experience of a rebellious teenager in Paris. Henri Decaë’s

cinematography is close up, amid the action, the camera often hand-held. It emulates raw, realist documentary filmmaking, startlingly resembling the black and white street photography of Honorary Fellows Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau then featuring in the pages of Creative Camera. This challenging, subtitled work led to the subterranean world of arthouse films. Membership of the Bristol Arts Centre allowed us teenagers to see European films free of the dead hand of

‘The films focused on the political, social and sexual issues of the age’

repressive early-1960s censorship and opened us to the revolution that was the French nouvelle vague, or new wave. The films’ focus on social, sexual and political issues fed into my experience of the seismic shifts in 1960s British music, culture and fashion, culminating in Richard Lester’s exhilarating Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night (1964). The fabulous offbeat images supposedly shot by Ringo Starr when his character bunks off from rehearsals, along with the intrigues and pleasures of Michelangelo Antonioni’s swinging London, photographer-centred film Blow-Up (1966), inspired my dream of a future in photography and film. The world of film continued to open up through the work of the surrealist Luis Buñuel (The Exterminating Angel, 1962, and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie , 1972); and the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, 1954). American film noir was also an influence. Most significant for aspiring stills JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 41

FILM DISTINCTION

MEET THE SOCIETY’S FILM DISTINCTION PANEL A distinguished line-up of assessors looks forward to seeing your work

ANDY GOLDING FRPS

The chair of the film Distinction panel is principal lecturer in photography and film at the University of Westminster, London

RAVI DEEPRES FRPS

An award-winning artist, filmmaker and photographer whose recent work includes choreographic film/photographic pieces for Sadler’s Wells and New National Theatre, Tokyo

Jacqueline Andere and Silvia Pinal in The Exterminating Angel, directed by Luis Buñuel

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‘The world of film opened up through the work of Luis Buñuel’ I went on to study photography and film at the Polytechnic of Central London in 1978. I ended up specialising in photography but never lost the desire to create moving images and photographs that looked like movies. So, like La Jettée, my collaborator Allan F Parker and I created films out of photographs for slide shows timed precisely to sound tracks. Notable was Nightmail – a title referencing Harry Watt and Basil Wright’s 1936 movie – screened in Japan to accompany avant-garde electronic band Salon Music’s tour. I have also worked with the filmmaker Mitra Tabrizian (Gholam, 2017), creating large-scale photographic works, such as The Blues, that look like film stills and confront viewers with tableau that challenge attitudes to ethnicity, gender and immigration.

SEAMUS McGARVEY FRPS

The Northern Irish cinematographer was awarded The Royal Photographic Society’s prestigious Lumière Award for contributions to the art of cinematography in 2004

STEVE CLARK-HALL FRPS

The British producer whose career spans more than 50 years was behind the films Sherlock Holmes and The Man From UNCLE

ALAMY

photographers mesmerised by cinematography was La Jetée (1962), a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film created entirely from black and white stills. Independent film crossed over with experimental works and installations. Wavelength, a 45-minute piece by artist and filmmaker Michael Snow, was shot over one week in December 1966 and consists of a view of a room in an industrial building. A fixed camera zooms so imperceptibly slowly that the only other member of the audience at the Arnolfini in Bristol ran to the projection booth screaming that the projector had stuck and the film was driving him crazy. Also influential were the large-scale, grandiose video walls of Bill Viola’s Nantes Triptych; Berlin Files (2003), the stunning collaborations of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller; and Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho (1993), where John L Russell’s cinematography for Hitchcock’s 1960 film is slowed down to allow an appreciation of each frame.

DICK POPE FRPS

The British cinematographer best known for his work with the director Mike Leigh includes Mr Turner and The Illusionist among his achievements

BEST BEST SHOTS SHOTS

WHEN LIFE IMITATES ART

From a stranded whale to feral children, JULIA FULLERTON-BATTEN takes real-life stories and lights them up like a cinematic production WORDS: KATHLEEN MORGAN

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OPHELIA, 2017 The Old Thames, 2017 I was enchanted by the story of Ophelia since first seeing Sir John Everett Millais’ painting in the Tate Gallery years ago. During my research for my project The Old Thames I discovered the Hogsmill River is a tributary of the Thames, enabling me to include the story of the Millais painting. The Reverend Kevin Scott, vicar at St John the Baptist Church, Old Malden, kindly guided me to the spot where Millais created the first stage of his masterpiece in 1871. I replicated every flower present in the painting, understanding their importance to its content. I also used an antique dress for my model and ensured that her features, hair and skin colouring etc were similar to those of Elizabeth Siddal, who was Millais’s model for Ophelia.

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RETOUCHING: NICK NEDELJKOVIC @ HAPPY FINISH

Julia FullertonBatten A Hasselblad Master, the multi-awardwinning fine-art and commercial photographer’s work is held in a number of prestigious galleries’ permanent collections

BEST SHOTS

T IS AS BIZARRE AS IT IS beautiful. The image shows an incongruous group gazing at the lifeless body of a whale stranded on a riverbank. The characters’ outfits suggest they come from different walks of life. What unites them is the tidal river that led the unfortunate whale to certain death. The Whale, lit like a cinematic production, is part of the most recent project from the fine-art photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten. The river is the Thames, winding its way for around

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330km through the lives of those who live near it or work on it. The river enchanted Fullerton-Batten enough to spend months shooting stories for her latest work, tentatively titled The Old Thames. Besides The Whale, images include Ophelia, inspired by the Sir John Everett Millais painting, and The Baptism, rooted in the religious ceremonies that once took place on the river. ‘Normally I spend a whole year producing just one body of work and then shoot it in three or four days, but this time it’s been a slower process,’ says

Fullerton-Batten. ‘I’d think of an idea, produce it and shoot it, so the images also are photographs throughout different seasons, which I think is quite lovely.’ The Germany-born photographer, who lives with her husband and two young sons in Chiswick, began by wanting to capture images of people whose lives are linked to the river. She soon realised how impractical this would be if she were to use the cinematic style for which she has gained international recognition. ‘At first I wanted to go out and just photograph people who walk at low tide in really

beautiful light,’ she says. ‘I thought, how am I going to do this? I don’t just go out with a camera. Am I going to go out with three assistants and approach someone and say, “Have you got an hour for us to light it?” That really wasn’t going to work.’ Fullerton-Batten has instead used actors and models to portray multilayered stories that span centuries and can leave the viewer pondering what has happened to whom, why and when. Each of her projects tells a story, giving the viewer a glimpse of damaged lives and broken dreams, or cherished

LEFT

THE WHALE The Old Thames, 2017 A female northern bottlenose whale was discovered in the Thames in January 2006. It was the first time a whale had been seen in the river since records began in 1913. Sadly, she died the next day as

she was being rescued. The skeleton is now at the Natural History Museum. ABOVE

THE BUTLER AND THE LITTLE PRINCESS In Service, 2014 In Edwardian Britain more than 1.5 million people were

employed as servants. In Service exposes some of the goings-on in the houses of the privileged class in that era. TOP

REFLECTION IN WATER Teenage Stories, 2005 In Teenage Stories I

portray the emotional dynamics of the female adolescent – self-consciousness, mood swings and vulnerability. I shot the images on location in model villages so that the girls appear to have outgrown the world they live in, as in their day-dream existence.

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BEST SHOTS

RIGHT

THE LONELY ROAD A Testament To Love, 2013 A Testament to Love is a narrative about the struggles of life when love goes wrong. Each image is set against a cinematic background, which is inspired by the style of locations and lighting in Hollywood films from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the work of Edward Hopper. BELOW

THE DIVORCE Mothers And Daughters, 2012 For this project I worked with real mother and daughter pairs in their own environment, rather than with models or actors. I only needed to orchestrate the sitters moderately to show the essence of their emotional bond. They created their own small world together, reviving memories of my own relationships.

FACING PAGE, BELOW

CATHY KEEN The Act, 2016 This project is a multifaceted study of women who engage voluntarily in the UK sex industry, their reasons for choosing this career path, and their feelings about their work. It includes images, and stories in text, as well as online videos. The project took me on an unexpected and daring adventure, seeing life from a distinctly different perspective. In the end I invited 15 women to take part in The Act. They included Cathy Keen, a 36-year-old who began erotic dancing to pay university fees.Nearly two decades on, and with regular clients forming lasting bonds, she says that the choice to strip is what defines feminism; she is not a victim of force.

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hopes. Many of the characters are rooted in real-life stories, although the images are highly stylised and infused with colour, giving them a surreal quality. Fullerton-Batten cites William Eggleston and Cindy Sherman as major influences. The Act (2016) portrays 15 real-life sex workers photographed on sets specially designed by Fullerton-Batten. ‘I wanted to approach it from the women’s viewpoint,’ she says. ‘These are women who are well educated and they’ve chosen this lifestyle. It’s what they want to do.’ She realises the project – and an accompanying book decorated with a lace restraining band – is controversial, but matter-of-factly defends it. Fullerton-Batten’s first fine-art photography project, Teenage Stories (2005), is a commentary on her own experiences, including her parents’ marital break-up. ‘There was a lot going through my mind at the time and the semi-autobiographical nature of this and the following related projects shows how cathartic the process of shooting these was for me,’ she says. ‘Even though my parents’ divorce had happened many years before I was still processing how it had affected my teenage years. I

‘These are women who are educated and have chosen this lifestyle’ needed to make sense of the emotional upheaval caused to my sisters, my brother and me. I still couldn’t understand how our close-knit family life was suddenly torn apart, or that ours was the first family among those people who we knew whose parents divorced.’ Teenage Stories was created as Fullerton-Batten tried to make her mark in the commercial field following five years of assisting other photographers. She used three model villages – in the UK, Spain and Belgium – as the backdrop for Teenage Stories to emphasise the psychology of the transition from adolescence to womanhood. The project quickly won her recognition, allowing her to develop a distinctive style that would lead to awards – and those elusive advertising and editorial commissions. Mothers and Daughters (2012), a poignant set of images inspired by her own maternal relationship, returned to the fall-out of domestic upheaval. One image in particular, The Divorce, hints

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BEST SHOTS

YELLOW DRESS Awkward, 2011 Here I show the social limitations and anxieties that girls endure in their relationships with the opposite sex. I asked my models to show neutral facial expressions with static body posture and minimum gestures. Through location, sombre colours and the use of subtle lighting techniques I was able to increase the tension between the sexes, in some instances between the same sexes, almost to breaking point. 50

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BEST SHOTS

BELOW

YUEN Blind, 2013 How do people who have never seen dream without the background knowledge stored in their memory? I decided to investigate, and try to

portray their world sympathetically with my camera. Yuen, pictured here, has a degenerative disease of the retina. She loves dancing, so asked me to shoot a backdrop that was like a ballroom with chandeliers

at the sharp sense of loss she felt, even in adulthood, after her mother left the family home in Germany and her father returned to his native UK with Julia and her siblings. ‘We left everything behind, just packed a few suitcases, and started afresh in Oxfordshire,’ says FullertonBatten. She affirms, however, that she now has a good relationship with both parents, but that her love of photography was inherited from her father. ‘He was a really active and vivid photographer. He was very passionate about it and would spend hours in his makeshift dark-room at home and emerge with amazing prints.’ Besides The Act, Fullerton-Batten speaks most passionately about her 2015 project Feral Children. The series of 15 images reimagines stories of children who were abandoned or lost and isolated from human contact. It was sparked by the autobiography of Marina Chapman, a Colombian who had been kidnapped in 1954 and left to fend for herself in the jungle aged five years old. ‘She survived for about four years by following the behaviour of capuchin monkey,’ says Fullerton-Batten. ‘Being a mother of two kids I thought how could anybody survive one or two nights, let alone a child? I started looking into it and found all these stories of [feral] children who have survived. I thought it was such 52

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RIGHT

MARINA CHAPMAN Feral Children, 2015 Kidnapped aged five years old from a village, then left in the Colombian jungle, she survived by living with monkeys for five years before being found by hunters. She

ate berries, roots and bananas; slept in holes in trees, walked on all fours, and had lost her language skills. Later she was adopted by a family in Bogotá and moved to Yorkshire in the UK, where she married and had children.

a terrible subject and I wanted to get it out there.’ Fullerton-Batten speaks warmly of her own children, explaining she moulds her life as a photographer around them. ‘I often work in the evenings,’ she says. I have two boys – they’re eight and 10, still quite young. I always find as a photographer it doesn’t matter how busy I am in my career, I still want to spend time with my boys. My husband does the school drop-off, I do the collection, and they’re around.’ She also seems to live and breathe for her work, managing her fine-art projects – usually one a year – around editorial work for GQ, The Telegraph and The Guardian, and advertising work for clients such as Lacoste and Sony. While fine-art photography is a different world, her years of assisting on advertising shoots have paid off. ‘The background I’ve got in advertising – working on the production of a shoot – very much prepared me [for art photography]. Because it’s self-funded and I’m paying the whole team I have to cut costs where I can, so I’m doing my own production and it’s time consuming.’ Her secret, if she has one, is to follow the instinct to create. Relentlessly. ‘I never keep still. I’m creative and always want to be shooting. I feel so inspired.’ Visit juliafullerton-batten.com

‘The child survived by following the behaviour of capuchin monkeys’

WHY THIS IMAGE WORKS Julia Fullerton-Batten uses her images to present the idea of feral children, even though each one is based on a specific, real child.

How has she done this? Here, she has shown the Marina Chapman story as a richly constructed scene on a stage. Even though the child is shown in

motion, there is a sense of a tableau vivant: the monkeys and the child hold their pose long enough to give us time to read and consider her story.

PAUL ASHLEY LRPS Editor of the Society journal Contemporary Photography, Ashley is a committee member of the RPS Contemporary Group

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PHOTOBOOK

WANT TO MAKE A PHOTOBOOK?

Take advice from Dewi Lewis HonFRPS, who publishes some of the greats of photography WORDS: RACHEL SEGAL HAMILTON

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HOW TO IMPRESS The renowned publisher Dewi Lewis knows the raw ingredients for a great photobook: ‘I look for something that surprises me’

ALAMY

VEN AFTER THREE decades publishing photography books, Dewi Lewis finds it hard to pinpoint precisely what he likes. ‘I don’t know until I see it. It’s about feeling it has a value, whether social or aesthetic. It’s a sense there’s something new, something fresh about it or it’s telling something in a different way. That’s what I’m always looking for: something that surprises me.’ While some publishers have a narrowly defined remit, this has never been the case for Lewis, an Honorary Fellow and recipient of the Society’s inaugural award for Outstanding Service to Photography. His catalogue speaks for itself. Over the years he has published now classic series by the likes of Martin Parr HonFRPS, Chris Steele-Perkins HonFRPS and Tom Wood; street photography by Bruce Gilden and Dougie Wallace; and landscapes by Simon Norfolk. ‘I suppose I have eclectic interests,’ he says. ‘I’m as interested in documentary photography as I am in fine-art photography. For me it’s about projects.’ This eclecticism is reflected, or perhaps rooted, in Lewis’s early career. Growing up in north Wales in the 1960s, he wanted to be a pop star. Instead he studied English literature at Cambridge University, played in bands and organised music events. After graduating he stayed in Cambridge, working as an arts programmer for the local authority. At just 22 he was solely responsible for running the city’s folk festival. London beckoned, and a oneyear postgraduate diploma in arts management at City University, before several years spent working in theatre for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Moving to Manchester to head an arts association in Bury, Lewis turned an JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 55

PHOTOBOOK

empty bank into a gallery and a grade II-listed 1850s former town hall into an arts space before founding Cornerhouse centre for cinema and the contemporary visual arts. It was an exciting time in which sleep was scarce, experimentation was rife and creative forms mingled. ‘It was about finding things that inspired me and trying to put them on for other people,’ says Lewis. That principle – that the arts should be accessible – has stayed with him ever since. It was at Cornerhouse that Lewis began publishing photography. ‘From conversations with photographers it became clear that an exhibition wasn’t as satisfactory as a book,’ he says. ‘Back then no one was really publishing so it was almost impossible to do. I did a bit of speedy research and then launched with John Davies’s A Green and Pleasant Land in 1987.’ Publishing was something Lewis did 56

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‘I want there to be a narrative, even if the work is abstract’ in addition to running an organisation with a staff of 100. In 1994 he left to start his own, eponymous, imprint which he now runs with his wife Caroline Warhurst. Twice a year they invite submissions by post or email, and receive thousands, but Lewis finds that often it’s by meeting him in person at portfolio reviews that photographers can really make an impression. ‘They need to have worked out no more than two or three sentences to introduce the work,’ he says. ‘I need to know what it is, where and why. As a reviewer you’re always looking for something that will give you a way in.’ Think carefully, he says, about

whether the body of work should in fact be a book. ‘My starting point would always be to say to any photographer: why do they feel they need a book? And why do they feel they deserve a book? Generally photographers are not selfcritical enough. They’ve got to have something to say.’ He points to projects such as Tom Wood’s All Zones Off Peak, shot over 20 years, and Matthew Finn’s Mother, shot over 30, adding ‘you don’t have to take that long, but neither can you expect to do something in a matter of a few months’. When creating a book, Lewis says, the content leads. But a close second is its arrangement, the edit and sequence. ‘I’m not that interested in collections of great images. I want there to be a relationship between the images, a narrative, even if the work is relatively abstract. That narrative can be a visual

MARTIN PARR HonFRPS The British photojournalist offers an satirical view of modern life. Black Country Stories, an exhibition of his work, is at the Martin Parr Foundation until 20 January. Visit martinparr foundation.org

SPONSORED CONTENT

5 TIPS ON HOW TO CREATE A STANDOUT PHOTOBOOK Ella Rothenstein from publishing platform Bob Books explains how to impress

Create a completely customised, professional photobook and never look back. Self–publishing gives you total creative control and the luxury of being able to produce your portfolio or coffee-table book from the comfort of your own home, and in your own time. Whatever the subject, the publishing platform Bob Books helps you tell your story and make your mark. Here are simple tips on how to make the most of your very own photobook.

BE OBJECTIVE

Consider each 2 image objectively. Be unsentimental – remove any pictures that are low in resolution, or ones that don’t stand alone. Print out your images and place them physically in front of you to decide on an order and help extract a narrative. Even organising your book by the colour or tone of your images will give a more coherent structure.

CHOOSE A FORMAT Decide on your

3 preferred format.

one, as much as an information-based one. If the work is strong but badly edited it falls apart. Print quality will depend on the type of work. Say Simon Norfolk’s Afghanistan wasn’t well produced and printed, those landscape images would disappear – you’d always be frustrated and unhappy. With The Teds by Chris Steele-Perkins, the print quality is extremely high but because it’s a combination of text and image you could get away with a lower quality and it would still be a very interesting book.’ He continues: ‘Design is critical but I’d split that two ways. Firstly, how the images work on the page. They need to be placed correctly so it feels right, feels comfortable as you’re reading it. Secondly, are you using interesting materials? How does it feel as an object? But that’s the icing on the cake.’ Over the last 10 years or so Lewis has noticed a kind of one-upmanship

HAVE A MESSAGE

Content is key. 1 Think about what are you trying to communicate. Whether it’s a collection of photographs from a particular journey, specific series or project, documenting nature or people, make sure there’s a clear message. What will your readers take from the book?

With hardback, paperback and our popular lay-flat style, different sizes and paper types including matte and gloss, you are spoilt for choice. Psst … Bob Books offers a 15 per cent professional discount and free logofree option. With helpful videos and a friendly UK-based customer care team, there’s plenty of support on hand.

CREATE YOUR BOOK Choose from a

4 number of tools to

create your book: our most popular and flexible being our very own Bob Designer software. Free to download, it gives you countless design options, hints and extras. We also have an online

book creator tool, PDF to Book – the best option for those fluent in Adobe InDesign who want to simply upload their book and print – an iPad and iPhone app, and others.

PUBLISH AND ENJOY

Ta-da! Once you’ve

5 ordered your book,

publish it in our online bookshop to share your creation with friends and clients either privately or publicly. For those who want to sell their book and keep the profit, this is easy and free. Enter our regular photo of the month and book of the month competitions and winners will get valuable exposure through our newsletter and social media channels – a great way to join an exciting community of photographers and photobook specialists. Make a book. Tell your story. Visit bobbooks.co.uk

PHOTOBOOK

CHRIS STEELEPERKINS HonFRPS The photographer who was born in Burma and raised in Britain is renowned for his portrayal of life in England and developing nations

of design, to the detriment of content. ‘Some designers are simply thinking, “How am I going to make this look special?” Totally acceptable if the content is great but, if not, it’s a waste of time.’ It’s one among many industry shifts that Lewis has seen since the 80s. Most obviously, there are many more publishers than before. Too many? ‘Yes, because there aren’t enough books that need publishing,’ he says. ‘There are more people buying photobooks but

‘Martin Parr talks about it being the golden age of the photobook’ there are even more books. Print runs are down so costs are going up. ‘Martin Parr talks about it being the golden age of the photobook. That’s true – it’s a golden age in terms of the books being produced, and the opportunities available for photographers at a certain level – but

what worries me is that most photobooks now are financially supported, usually by the photographer.’ An emerging photographer with limited resources may, he explains, successfully crowdfund their first book, but what about when it comes to their fourth or fifth? ‘Photobooks could become a minority sport: very expensive to produce, something quite elite,’ he says. ‘And that undermines the democratic aspect that, I think, has always been central.’

MY FAVOURITE PHOTOBOOKS

New York (1956) William Klein

We published a version of this in 1995 but I’d still choose the 1956 original. It’s a revolutionary book. His work was and remains so powerful. Our book is great, and has more images, but this is printed in gravure and I love the quality. It’s a classic.

Diane Arbus (1972) Diane Arbus

I first saw this in Manchester Public Library during a lunch break when I was in the process of setting up Cornerhouse. It just knocked me out. As a book, it’s very straightforward, just images on the page, but those images are so strong.

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Looking for Love (1989) Tom Wood

This is very much of its period, when British colour documentary was coming to the fore. It’s probably one of the most developed of Tom’s projects as he kept going back to the Chelsea Reach nightclub.

The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton (1986) Martin Parr We reprinted this in 2009. I still think it’s Martin’s best work. It describes a period I remember well. I was brought up in a faded holiday resort called Rhyl on the north Wales coast so it had echoes for me.

Love on the Left Bank (1954) Ed van der Elsken

We did a facsimile of this in 2010. It’s really significant because stylistically it was very new, very strong black-and-white work but it develops this narrative of a group of young people trying to survive in Paris in the 50s.

Dewi Lewis selects his top five titles

THE GUIDE

EQUIPMENT. ACTIVITIES. WORKSHOPS

JANUARY

Five of the best Gear spy Member stories Event listings

LATEST KIT BY GAVIN STOKER

Panasonic Lumix G9

The latest mirrorless Four Thirds sensor camera comes with all mod cons Do mirrorless ‘G’ series offerings with Four Thirds chips compromise on image quality when compared to their larger, more conventional, rivals? Panasonic often shows large comparison prints at launches to illustrate that its sensor and lens combinations – often Leica-

branded lenses at that – are just as capable of realising high levels of detail. It has gone a step further with the G9, in claiming the highest image quality in its Lumix series history (dating back to the early 2000s). Part of this is down to a 20.3-effective-megapixel sensor that omits a low

pass filter to eke out extra detail, plus improved image stabilisation. A large OLED electronic viewfinder, 80-megapixel high-resolution option for Jpegs and Raw files, 4k video and up to 60fps continuous capture further up its credentials as a DSLR alternative.

Price: From £1,499 body only Sensor: 21.77-megapixel Four Thirds CMOS Lens: Optional. Kit options include a 12-60mm or Leica-branded 12-60mm Display: 3 inches, tilting, 1,040K dots Weight: 658g, including battery and memory card More: panasonic.co.uk Summary: Premium-build camera comes with semi-professional specification and implementation, both inside and out

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THE GUIDE 5 OF THE BEST

LATEST KIT

BY GAVIN STOKER

Lighting solutions Banish the darkness during the winter months with the latest illuminating equipment 1. ROTOLIGHT ANOVA PRO 2 £1,558.80 This portable yet big and bright location – or studio – light doubles as a continuous light source and highspeed sync flash, making it as suitable for videography as it is photography. Utilising 920 LEDs, it is both powerful yet cool to the touch.

2. ROTOLIGHT NEO 2 £299 Tempted by the Anova, but need a handheld, portable option? The smaller Neo 2 again operates as a continuous light source and high-speed sync flash with no recycle time so, uniquely, it can keep pace with the rapid-fire burst modes of the latest premium digital cameras.

3. PROFOTO A1 £849.60 This first on-camera solution from a favourite among enthusiasts and pros lays claim to being the world’s smallest studio light. With a maximum output of 76 watts and a round head for naturalistic effect, included are a dome diffuser, wide lens and bounce card.

4. NISSIN I60A £2,92.38 A punchy, compact, mini flash with a guide number of 60 available in Canon, Nikon, Sony, Micro Four Thirds and Fuji X series fits, this is part of the Nissin Air system, meaning it can be remotely operated via a radio controller, affording control of up to 21 flashguns set up in three groups.

5. NANGUANG CN-ST432C FLEXIBLE LIGHTING KIT £799.98 Mains or batterypowered wraparound lighting solution. Its panels are 50 per cent brighter than previous iterations and feature 432 LEDs. Flexible panels measure 300x600x2mm, with a weight of just 140g and two in each kit.

rotolight.com

profoto.com/a1

nissindigital.com

kenro.co.uk

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THE GUIDE MEMBER TEST

A carry-all camera bag

Society member Nigel Spencer reviews one of Manfrotto’s largest rucksacks ON TRIAL Manfrotto Pro Light camera backpack PV-610 camcorder/VDSLR SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE YOU can never have enough camera bags, but however many you possess you often don’t have one that is right for your next photography session. I spend a lot of time photographing wildlife with a long lens so was interested to try out a large backpack to test the effectiveness of using it as a ‘long-lens bag’, especially when carrying my gear for long periods of time. As this is one of Manfrotto’s largest camera bags I was keen to see how it coped with lots of camera equipment and several days’ walking.

WEIGH IT UP While it holds a lot of gear, it could use a few smaller pockets for compact items

FEATURES

The main compartment is spacious and can be packed with an enormous volume of camera or video gear. There are four big pockets that can be accessed from inside the camera bag and externally. I found that these pockets easily held other lenses, a spare camera body, waterproof trousers and lunch. There is also a laptop pocket and tripod pouch.

HANDLING

It is too big for airline hand luggage, so whether there is a need for the laptop pocket is debatable, but I used this for extra storage. On the downside the tripod holder is useless, but this is common and no worse than other bags. It would benefit

from a few smaller pockets, perhaps in the lid, for memory cards and other items.

PERFORMANCE

NIGEL SPENCER ARPS Spencer is a Midlands-based photographer who specialises in expeditions, macro and wildlife. See his images at nigelspencer.co.uk

THE VERDICT

Although listed as a VDSLR bag, my 600mm lens with the camera body attached fitted into the bag with ease. I used the backpack on several occasions while out all day photographing deer, covering quite a few miles. I found it to be reasonably comfortable, and the zip locations and gear access are both good.

Overall, the design is good and works well when used for a longlens set-up. It is huge, and definitely holds a massive quantity of lenses and other accessories. However, beware: this bag is big and it would be easy to pack lots of items, making it very heavy when full.

NIGEL SPENCER ARPS

GEAR SPY GAVIN STOKER KEEPS HIS EYE ON THE BIG RELEASES To go with the Panasonic G is the Leica DG Elmarit 200mm f/2.8 Power OIS lens. It is suitable for wildlife and sports photographers, as it offers a 400mm-equivalent

focal range when it is twinned with a Four Thirds sensor. It costs £2,699. Talking of Leica, it is launching a new camera. The CL is capable of shooting 24-megapixel files at

up to 10fps and features an integral 2.36-million-dotresolution EVF. Wider lens support comes courtesy of the M and R system lenses via adapter. Expect to pay around £2,250 for

the camera body alone. A new Leica M system lens is arriving early this year: the Noctilux-M 75mm f/1.25 ASPH. Expect to pay £10,250 for it.

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THE GUIDE MEMBER STORIES

To Russia with love

Marija Lees LRPS shares her adventure to Yaroslavl as part of an international photographic project

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

This project was initiated by the Department of International Relations in Yaroslavl, Exeter’s twin city. Although they’ve been twinned for 29 years most citizens know little about their twin city. My work tends to focus on people, photojournalism and street photography, so I was drawn by the strong storytelling element this project offered, and the opportunity to connect international communities and cultures. Alexey Lobanov, a landscape photographer from Yaroslavl, joined me in the project. He visited Exeter in the summer of 2016, and was won over by its scenery and smiling people. I went to Yaroslavl soon after, in January 2017. 66

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WINTER WONDERLAND

I’ve always had a fascination with Russia and deliberately chose to visit in winter because the climate is so integral to the fabric of the country’s society. Having done some skiing in -10° in my earlier years I thought I was familiar with the notion of cold weather, but nothing prepared me for the biting cold of -27°. Yaroslavl was like a fairy tale: breathtakingly beautiful, serene and majestic. Rich in heritage, history and magnificent churches and monasteries it’s easy to see why it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

TALK OF THE TOWN

I wanted to capture the living, breathing spirit of the city, so I was excited to roam around with my camera and chat to people – from the fishermen on the frozen Volga River to children having fun in the snow. At -10 ° the city streets were lively, but as soon as the mercury dropped to -20° or lower they were deserted. Yaroslavl doesn’t get

many tourists in the winter so I was a little bit of a mystery to passers-by, but everybody was very helpful. We may not always be on the same page politically but it’s lovely to realise that deep down we’re all the same.

OUTSIDER’S PERSPECTIVE

Alexey and I held a joint exhibition at Yaroslavl’s History Museum in May 2017 and I think visitors were interested to see how my perspective as an outsider informed my view of the city. We’re holding another exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum from 16 January until 1 April, so I’m looking forward to seeing the reception it gets.

VISUAL STORYTELLING

The real power of photography lies not in capturing technically accurate images but rather drawing viewers in via the narratives photos depict. Photography as a form of storytelling helps connect people, regardless of culture and country.

MARIJA LEES LRPS

FROM EXETER TO THE SNOWcovered banks of the Volga, Marija Lees LRPS embarked on a journey to build bridges between the UK and Russia, documenting her journey on the way. She was met with sub-zero temperatures – and warm hospitality.

MY LIFE

MARIJA LEES LRPS

Originally from Croatia, Marija Lees LRPS moved to Exeter 37 years ago after meeting her husband in London while studying for a modern languages degree. Having worked in investment accounting for 20 years, photography has long been a creative outlet for Lees. She joined Exeter Camera Club in 2010 with the goal of achieving her Licentiate, which she was awarded in February 2013. CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT

Churchgoers in Rostov Veliky; Girls having fun in the snow – Yaroslavl; Cat in the window – waiting for spring; Village house – traditional Russian village house (usually made of wood and brightly painted – in blue or green)

MARIJA LEES LRPS

Village dog – looking for company; Mother and child – evening walk in Tutayev; Birches and domes – church in the village of Vysotskoye; Ice fishing on the frozen Volga – Yaroslavl;

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EVENTS

THE GUIDE EVENTS

REGIONS

Meet photographers and view work in your area CENTRAL Mike Sharples arps, 07884 657535 mikes.sharples@virgin.net

Winter meeting members’ day Saturday 3 March, 10am-4pm

Winter meeting of the Rollright group Village Hall, High Street, Long Compton, Shipston-onStour CV36 5JS Andreas Klattt, 01608 684848, rpsva@klatt.co.uk EAST ANGLIA

EAST MIDLANDS Stewart Wall ARPS, 07955 124000 stewart@stewartwall.com

Save the date: military photography and beyond Sunday 18 February, 10.30am-4pm

Details to follow Whatton Jubilee Hall, Church Street, Whatton in the Vale NG13 9EL Stewart Wall ARPS, as above

Save the date: focus on visual art photography Sunday 11 March, 10.30am-4pm

Details to follow Whatton Jubilee Hall, Church Street, Whatton in the Vale NG13 9EL Stewart Wall ARPS, as above

Ian Wilson ARPS, 07767 473594 ian@greenmen.org.uk

Inaugural meeting Saturday 10 February, details and cost TBA The Costessey Centre, 1 Longwater Lane, Costessey, Norwich NR8 5AH

Documentary photo essays workshop Saturday 17 February, 10.15am-5pm, £65/£55/ £50 group members

EIRE Michael O’Sullivan info@mosullivanphoto.com

LONDON Judy Hicks and Neil Cordell londonevents@rps.org

Regional exhibition – ‘An Elizabethan Progress’ Monday 8 – Wednesday 31 January, see website for

See the Documentary Group for more information

Ken Lennox HonFRPS Sunday 11 March, 11am-4pm, free

The photojournalist and newspaper picture editor has won many press awards during his career and is probably best known for his work as a royal photographer, especially with Princess Diana. This event is being sponsored by the region Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton CB22 6RN 68

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we’re offering if we can. It appears that a lot of you do still use this section to plan your Society activities … so we haven’t changed it, much. Where an event is organised by a special interest group we’ve listed it in full detail

opening times, free

Whitechapel Ideas Store

Regular meeting of the SW London Group Tuesday 9 January, 7-9pm The Prince of Wales, 138 Upper Richmond Road, Putney SW15 2SP London RO2, londonro2@rps.org

in that section. If an event is organised by a region, you can find full details about it in the regions section. Remember, events need to be listed on the Society website to appear here. EMMA WILSON

GO TO

rps.org/events for the latest event updates

Colin Ford lecture series: ‘Andre Kertész – the real biography?’ Tuesday 23 January, 6-8pm, £5/free to group members See the Historical Group for details

TBC, London BA2 3AH London Cave, londoncave@rps.org

Regular meeting of the SE London Group Tuesday 23 January, 7-9pm

Open meeting to discuss the formation of a North London subgroup Monday 15 January, 7-9pm, free

Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, London SE10 8RS London Cave, londoncave@rps.org

Canonbury Tavern, 21 Canonbury Place, London N1 2NS Judy Hicks, londonro2@rps.org

The Crusting Pipe, 27 The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8RD London Bookworms,

AGM and ‘Much larger than life’ – Spike Walker ASIS FRPS Thursday 18 January, 6.30-9pm

See Medical Group for details

Street walk Saturday 13 January, 9.45am-2pm

The Bookworm Club Wednesday 17 January, 6.30-9pm

LondonBookworms@rps.org

Take a closer look at military photography with the East Midlands Region on Sunday 18 February

London Region AGM and launch of Celebrating London phase II Wednesday 24 January, 6.45-9pm, free Wetherby Preparatory School, 48 Bryanston Square, London W1H 2EA Judy Hicks, londonro2@rps.org

The London Naturally group Sunday 28 January, 10.30am-1pm

All details TBC, but please put the date in your diaires London Naturally, london_naturally@rps.org

Street walk Saturday 10 February, 9.45am-2pm

Regular monthly walk for those who enjoy street photography London Cave, londoncave@rps.org

Regular meeting of the SW London Group Wednesday 14 February, 7-9pm

CREDIT SITS IN BOX 4MM DEEP

How do you use this guide to get the information you need about member events, workshops and other Society activities? Late last year we sent out a survey asking this very question, because we think it’s a good idea to improve what

Find details of Society activities over the next three months

EVENTS THE GUIDE

The Prince of Wales, 138 Upper Richmond Road, Putney SW15 2SP London Web, Londonweb@rps.org

Centre, Queen’s Road, Craig-y-Don, Llandudno LL30 1TE Martin Brown LRPS, as above

The Bookworm Club Wednesday 21 February, 6.30-9pm

North Wales advisory day (LRPS and ARPS) Sunday 28 January, 11am-5pm

The Crusting Pipe, 27 The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8RD London Bookworms, LondonBookworms@rps.org

Sunday-morning walk with the London Naturally group Sunday 25 February, 10.30am-1pm

London Naturally, london_naturally@rps.org

Regular meeting of the SE London Group Tuesday 27 February, 7-9pm Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, London SE10 8RS London Cave, londoncave@rps.org

London Region street walk Saturday 10 March, 9.45am-2pm London Cave, londoncave@rps.org

Regular meeting of the SW London Group Tuesday 13 March, 7-9pm The Prince of Wales, 138 Upper Richmond Road, Putney SW15 2SP London RO2, londonro2@rps.org

The Bookworm Club Wednesday 21 March, 6.309pm The Crusting Pipe, 27 The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8RD London Bookworms, LondonBookworms@rps.org

Sunday-morning walk with the London Naturally group Sunday 25 March, 10.30am-1pm

London Naturally, london_ naturally@rps.org

Regular meeting of the SE London Group Tuesday 27 March, 7-9pm Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, London SE10 8RS London Cave, londoncave@rps.org

Craig-y-Don Community Centre, Queen’s Road, Craig-y-Don, Llandudno LL30 1TE Martin Brown LRPS, as above NORTH WEST Brian Smethurst, 01942 719766 bsmethurst@hotmail.co.uk

Contemporary North West weekend meeting – new venue Saturday 13 January, 1-4pm See the Contemporary Group for more details

Andy Astbury: landscapes Sunday 14 January, 10.30am-3.30pm

See the Landscape Group for more details

‘A lifetime of images’ by Richard Tucker ARPS Sunday 4 February, 10.30am-2pm, £8/£5 Society members

Richard Tucker takes us through his work covering nearly 60 years Wilmslow Guild Centre, Bourne Street, Wilmslow SK9 5HD Alan Angel FRPS, 0161 980 0106, aandjangel@btinternet.com

Advisory day Sunday 18 February, 10.30am, £20/£15/£10 spectators

GMP Social and Sports Centre, Mauldeth Road, Hough End, Chorlton, Manchester M21 7SX Brian Smethurst, as above

Natural history with David Tolliday, followed by AGM Sunday 11 March, 10.30am-3pm GMP Social and Sports Centre, Mauldeth Road, Hough End, Chorlton, Manchester M21 7SX Brian Smethurst, as above NORTHERN

NORTH WALES Martin Brown LRPS, 01691 773316 northwales@rps.org

North Wales Region AGM Sunday 28 January, 10-11am Craig-y-Don Community

The 12th-century stave church in Heddal

Carol Palmer ARPS carolmpalmer@btinternet.com

Northern Documentary Group meeting Thursday 18 January, 10.30am-4pm

POSTCARD FROM ...

Telemark

Visit a Norwegian gem, whatever the season REMEMBER THE 1965 FILM The Heroes of Telemark? Here in south-central Norway, near the little town of Rjukan, you can still see vestiges of the Vemork heavy-water plant put out of action by that band of six saboteurs in 1943 – ending the German drive to develop an atomic weapon and hastening the end of World War II. But there’s much more to see. One of the most picturesque parts of Norway, the province still has the feel of a past era. It was here that an enterprising farmer, Sondre Norheim, realised that the tiring business of trudging across snow on two planks could be turned into a nine-month-long winter sport. He lived not far from the 6,200ft Gaustatoppen mountain, snow-covered from

September to May and today a favourite area for skiers. Summer is equally rewarding. Explore the many rivers or the 65-mile Telemark Canal, built in the 19th century. Or search out some wooden stave churches, dating back to the 12th century. Norway’s major contribution to Europe’s architectural heritage, those in Telemark include the impressive and photogenic church at Heddal, pictured here. Consecrated in 1147, it is the largest of the 30 or so still standing. Come out to Telemark next summer and I’ll see you there. R KEITH EVANS FRPS The ex-chairman of the Archaeology and Heritage Group has a keen interest in Europe’s historic buildings

JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 69

THE GUIDE EVENTS

See the Documentary Group for more details

To inspire and explain the Fellowship standard for the RPS Friday 19 January, 7.30-10pm, £5 non-Society members

The Northern Region is hosting this event to view successful Fellowships portfolios from all categories Whickham Community Centre, Front Street, Whickham NE16 4JL Carol Palmer ARPS, northern@rps.org

Processing landscape images, with an optional photo walk Sunday 4 February, 10am-5pm

See the Landscape Group for more details

Documentary photography with Tom Stoddart HonFRPS and Tim Smith Sunday 25 February, 10.30am-4pm, £70/£60 group members

A unique opportunity in our region to see the work of two top photojournalists Newton Community Hall, Newton, Stocksfield NE43 7LU Carol Palmer ARPS, northern@rps.org NORTHERN IRELAND Richard Corbett, 07805 381429 richard@richardcorbettphotography.com

SCOTLAND James Frost FRPS, 01578 730466/07881 856294, james.frost11@btinternet.com

Scotland Region members’ print exhibition 2017/18 – Inverness Tuesday 9 January, 9am-5pm

A selection of regional members’ work in various venues around the country Eden Court Theatre, Bishops Road, Inverness IV3 5SA Mike Tibbs LRPS, miketibbs04@googlemail. com

Advisory day Saturday 13 January, 10.30am-4pm, £10 spectators

Licentiate and Associate Distinctions Bridge of Allan church hall, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW James Frost FRPS, as above

Scotland Region members’ print exhibition 2017/18 – Aberdeen Sun 4 – Sun 25 February, 10.30am-4pm A selection of regional members’ work Aberdeen Arts Centre, 33 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5AA James Frost FRPS, as above

See the Landscape Group for more details

Join in the selection of the Scotland members’ exhibition for 2018 Bridge of Allan church hall, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW James Frost FRPS, as above

OVERSEAS CHAPTERS AUSTRALIA

Elaine Herbert ARPS, eherbert@alphalink.com.au

BENELUX

Richard Sylvester LRPS, Benelux@rps.org Distinctions celebration weekend Sat 24 – Sun 25 Feb / 11am-4pm Sint-Katelijnestraat 26, Ghent, Belgium Janet Haines, Richard Sylvester, Benelux@rps.org

CANADA

webadmin@rps.org

southeast@rps.org

Horsham Museum exhibition: RPS Documentary Photographer of the Year 2017 Until Friday 26 January, 10am-5pm

DIG South East Centre: ‘Mostly landscapes’ and ‘Flower portraits and still life’ Sunday 14 January, 10am-3.30pm

Biannual regional members’ exhibition Until Wednesday 31 January, £5

Shilly Chalet, The Towans, Hayle TR27 5AF Graham Hodgson, graham. hodgson@artslive.org

South East Region Advisory Day – LRPS only Saturday 3 March, 10am-4.30pm, £20/£15/£10 spectators

SW Visual Art Group members’ day Saturday 13 January, 10.30am-4pm

GO TO

rps.org/events for the latest event updates

See the Visual Art Group for more details

Regional members’ portfolio showing Sunday 28 January, 10.30am-4pm,

GERMANY

cirps@olivioargenti.it

sandvengroup.com

HONG KONG

Yoshio Miyake, yoshio-raps@nifty.com

Romesh de Silva, romesh@access.lk

INDIA

Michael Chong ARPS, michaelcsc1985 @gmail.com

Richard Tucker ARPS, tucker42@bluewin.ch

Yan Li, yanli88@yahoo.com

Chris Renk, germany@rps.org

Wei Han (Richard), oolongcha@hotmail.com

Shan Sang Wan FRPS, shansangwan@yahoo. com.hk

CHINA CHONGQING CHINA WESTERN

CHINA SHANGTUF

Guo Jing, shangtuf@yahoo.com.cn

CHINA QUANZHOU Xiaoling Wang, hgudsh@163.com

Mohammed Arfan Asif ARPS, dubai@rps.org

/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158

073808, rpsswregion@gmail.com

ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY MEMBERS AROUND THE WORLD

CHINA BEIJING

DUBAI

SOUTH WEST Mick Medley, 01626 824865/07980

Blow away the cobwebs Tuesday 2 January, 10.30am-4pm

See the DI Group for more details

The Kings Centre, 27 Edison Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6PT Paul Connor LRPS, 07803 795634, rpssussexarearep@gmail. com

SOUTH WALES southwales@rps.org

The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Barrack Road, Exeter EX2 5DW John Widdows, 01752 781555, johnwiddows@btinternet.com

See the Documentary Group for more details

Landscape Group holiday to Lewis and Harris Thursday 22 – Thursday 29 March, 2.30pm-noon

Scotland members’ exhibition print selection and region AGM Saturday 31 March, 10.30am-4pm, £10 Society members

Polina Plotnikova ARPS will share her personal approach to flower portraits with the DIG Southern Group Image by Polina Plotnikova ARPS

SOUTH EAST Regional committee

Rajen Nandwana, rajennandwana@gmail. com

INDONESIA

Agatha Bunanta ARPS, agathabunanta @gmail.com

ITALY

Olivio Argenti FRPS,

JAPAN TOKYO MALAYSIA

MALTA

Ruben Buhagiar, info@rubenbuhagiar.com

NEW ZEALAND

Mark Berger, rps@moothall.co.nz

SINGAPORE

Steven Yee Pui Chung FRPS, peacock@

SRI LANKA

SWISS CHAPTER TAIWAN

Joanie Fan Hui Ling ARPS, djpassionfoto @gmail.com

USA ATLANTIC CHAPTER USA PACIFIC CHAPTER Jeff Barton rps@vadis.net

EVENTS THE GUIDE

£5 non-members

A day viewing members’ porfolios The Dolphin Hotel, Station Road, Bovey Tracey TQ13 9AL Mick Medley, 01626 824865, rpsswregion@gmail.com

Regional AGM and lecture Sunday 25 February, 10.30am-4pm

Living Rainforest photowalk Saturday 3 March, 10.30am-2pm

The Living Rainforest, Hampstead Norreys, Thatcham RG18 0TN Bhupinder Ghatahora, ghatahora@hotmail.com

The Dolphin Hotel, Station Road, Bovey Tracey TQ13 9AL Mick Medley, 01626 824865, rpsswregion@gmail.com

Special access to Stonehenge, dawn shoot – fully booked Sunday 25 March, 6-7.30am

RPS South West Group Cornwall exhibition Saturday 17 March – Monday 7 May

Mark Buckley-Sharp ARPS, 020 8907

A selection of prints from members of the group Chi an Bobel Conference Centre, Heartlands, Robinson’s Shaft, Dundance Lane, Pool, Redruth TR15 3QY Vivien Howse, 07884 168446, vivien.k.howse@gmail.com

Ben Cherry talks Sunday 25 March, 10.30am-4pm, £20/£10 Society members

A day of lectures and techniques with Ben Cherry The Dolphin Hotel, Station Road, Bovey Tracey TQ13 9AL Mick Medley, 01626 824865, rwsswregion@gmail.com SOUTHERN Paul Cox ARPS, 07748 115057 southern@rps.org

DIG Southern lecture: ‘In studio – flower portraits and still life by Polina Plotnikova ARPS’ Saturday 6 January, 2-4pm See the DI Group for more details

DIG Southern practical workshop: creative flower photography with Polina Plotnikova ARPS Sunday 7 January, 10am-4pm See the DI Group for more details

Workshop on documentary essays Saturday 13 January, 10.15am-5pm

See the Documentary Group for more details

Advisory day – LRPS and ARPS Sunday 25 February, 10am-4pm, £20/£15/£10 spectators

The Hamworthy Club, Magna Road, Canford Magna, Bournemouth, Dorset BH21 3AP Dave Peckham, 07486 498707, davepeckham@mac.com

See the Landscape Group for more details THAMES VALLEY 5874, mark.buckley-sharp@tiscali.co.uk

DIG Thames Valley: Tony Worobiec FRPS – ‘Landscape whatever the weather’ plus night and low-light photography Sunday 21 January, 10am-3.30pm See the DI Group for more details

DIG Thames Valley: Vanda Ralevska – ‘The experience of creating images’ and ‘Time to stand and stare’ Sun 18 February 2018, 10am-3.30pm See the DI Group for more details

‘Have I got nudes for you’ and ‘Journey to my Fellowship’ Sunday 25 March, 10am-3.30pm See the DI Group for more details WESTERN David Norfolk ARPS, 07771 515273 western@rps.org

Advisory day – LRPS and ARPS (all five categories) Sunday 7 January, 10am-4.30pm, see website for costs

Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH Michelle Whitmore, michelle@michellewhitmore. co.uk

Provisional meetings 14 January: AGM, election of

officers; show and tell 18 February: Technical session 18 March: Show and tell 8 April: Richard Olpin At RPS HQ unless otherwise stated

Social Wednesday 31 January, 6.30-11pm

An informal social for Western Region members and photographic friends at

the Za Za Bazaar world buffet Za Za Bazaar, Canons Wharf, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5UH Richard Olpin, 07973 368304, rps@ richardolpinphotography. co.uk

DI Group Western: Martin Addison FRPS – ‘Looking outside the frame’ Sunday 25 February, 10.30am-4pm

Don’t miss the Creative Group’s exhibition, on display at Fenton House until 18 January Image: DIY Disaster by Gillian Beckett ARPS

photobox50@gmail.com Facebook: bit.ly/RPSYorkshire

Contemporary Group North East Saturday 17 March, 1.30-5pm

Distinctions advisory day Saturday 31 March, 10.30am-4.30pm, £15/£20/£10 spectators only, finger buffet food by prior booking £6

Central Buildings, 13 Bull Ring, Third Floor, Suite 4, Wakefield, WF1 1HB Patricia A Ruddle, 07572 124290, patriciaruddle@btinternet. com

New Brookhouse Club, 221 Barnsley Road, Sandal, Wakefield WF1 5NU Robert Helliwell ARPS, 01904 50023, bobhelliwell@clara.co.uk

analogue@rps.org

CONTEMPORARY Peter Ellis LRPS, 07770 837977

Contemporary Group North East January meeting Saturday 20 January, 1.30-5pm

See the Contemporary Group for more details

ANALOGUE

howard.bagshaw@ntlworld.com

Samlesbury War Memorial Hall, Cuerdale Lane, Samlesbury, Preston PR5 0UY Alan Cameron, 07825 271344, alan.cameron@me.com

YORKSHIRE

David Healey ARPS, 07968 746211

AUDIO VISUAL Howard Bagshaw ARPS, 01889 881503

Contemporary North West weekend meeting – new venue Saturday 13 January, 1-4pm

Mary Crowther ARPS, 07921 237962

Explore more aspects of photography and digital imaging

mike.sasse@btinternet.com

wordsnpicsltd@gmail.com

See the DI Group for more details

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HERITAGE Mike Sasse, 01892 531179

February meeting of the South West Contemporary Group Sunday 11 February, 10.30am-16:30

Carol and Graham’s House, Dartington TQ9 6XX Rod Fry, 01803 844721, rod@rodfry.eclipse.co.uk

Contemporary Group North East Saturday 17 March, 1.30-5pm

GO TO

rps.org/events for the latest event updates

Regular meeting of the group’s members Central Buildings, 13 Bull Ring, Third Floor, Suite 4, Wakefield WF1 1HB Patricia A Ruddle, 07572 124290, patriciaruddle@ btinternet.com

JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 73

THE GUIDE EVENTS

THE CREATIVE EYE GROUP

DOCUMENTARY

Barry Freeman ARPS

Mo Connelly LRPS, 01590 641849

creativechair@rps.org

dvj@rps.org

Fenton House exhibition Until Thursday 18 January

Documentary Group South East: Horsham Museum exhibition – RPS Documentary Photographer of the Year 2017 Until Friday 26 January, 10am-5pm

A showcase of The Creative Eye Group members’ work, selected from the 2017 print exhibition. The whole exhibition will be viewable on the monitor in the reception area Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH Moira Ellice ARPS, Moira.ellice2011@ btinternet.com

The winners of the Documentary Photographer of the Year 2017 on show Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, 9 Causeway, Horsham RH12 1HE Mo Connelly, as above

AGM and print and projected image selection Sunday 25 February, 9.45am-4pm, see website for costs

Whittlesford Memorial Hall, Mill Lane, Whittlesford, Cambridge CB22 4NE Moira Ellice ARPS, 01473 720928, Moira.ellice2011@ btinternet.com

Members’ print and projected image 2018 exhibition Saturday 24 March – Monday 2 April, Wed-Sun and Easter Monday, 11am-4pm, free

Wingfield Barns, Church Road, Wingfield, Suffolk IP21 5RA Moira Ellice ARPS, 01473 720928, Moira.ellice2011@ btinternet.com DIGITAL IMAGING Janet Haines digchair@rps.org

DIG Southern lecture: ‘In studio – flower portraits and still life by Polina Plotnikova ARPS’ Saturday 6 January, 2-4pm, £10/£7 group members

Plotnikova will be discussing her personal approach to flower portraits Greyfriars Community Centre, 44 Christchurch Road, Ringwood BH24 1DW Barry Senior HonFRPS, 01425 471489, digsouthern@rps.org

DIG Southern practical workshop: creative flower photgraphy with Polina Plotnikova ARPS Sunday 7 January, 10am-4pm, £40/£30 group members

A course for those who love fine-art photography and are fascinated by the beauty of flowers 74

Greyfriars Community Centre, 44 Christchurch Road, Ringwood BH24 1DW Barry Senior HonFRPS, 01425 471489, digsouthern@rps.org

DIG South East Centre: ‘Mostly landscapes’ and ‘Flower portraits and still life’ Sunday 14 January, 10am-3.30pm, £12/£9/£6 group members A two-part presentation Crockstead Farm Hotel, Eastbourne Road, Halland BN8 6PT Bruce Broughton, digse@rps.org

DIG Thames Valley: Tony Worobiec FRPS – ‘Landscape whatever the weather’ plus night and low-light photography Sunday 21 January, 10am-3.30pm, £15/£12/£8 group members An open event organised by the Digital Imaging Group Thames Valley Centre Woosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close, Woosehill, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 3DA Alan Bousfield ARPS, digthamesvalley@rps.org

DIG Thames Valley: Vanda Ralevska – ‘The experience of creating images’ and ‘Time to stand and stare’ Sunday 18 February, 10am-3.30pm, £15/£12/ £8 group members

Woosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close, Woosehill, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 3DA Alan Bousfield ARPS, digthamesvalley@rps.org

/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158

DI Group Western: Martin Addison FRPS – ‘Looking outside the frame’ Sunday 25 February, 10.30am-4pm, £10/£8/ £6 group members

How not to take competition winners but to explore different ways of seeing photographs Merryfield Village Hall, Copse Lane, Ilton, near Taunton TA19 9HG Dennis Knowles, 01884 254775, dennisknowles123@ btinternet.com

The Travel Group’s tour of northern India will include a trip along the Ganges to witness the Ganga Aarti ceremony

Digital Imaging Group annual general meeting and print exhibition selection Sunday 4 March, 10am-4pm, see website for costs

The Salisbury Museum, The King’s House, 65 The Close, Salisbury SP12EN

Alison Baskerville workshop Saturday 17 February, 10.15am-5pm

Join documentary photographer Alison Baskerville for a workshop exploring how to produce well thought-out photographic essays Anteros Foundation, 11-15 Fry Bridge Street, Norwich NR3 1LJ Mo Connelly, as above

Northern Documentary Group meeting Thursday 18 January, 10.30am-4pm

Kibblesworth Village Millennium Centre, Grange Terrace, Kibblesworth, Gateshead NE11 0XN Gordon Bates, docnorthern@rps.org

The AGM of DIG, together with the selection of prints for the exhibition, followed by an informative talk Smethwick Photographic Society, Old School House, Churchbridge, Oldbury B69 2AS Janet Davies, digsecretary@rps.org

Northern Documentary Group: Documentary photography with Tom Stoddart HonFRPS and Tim Smith Sunday 25 February, 10.30am-4pm

DIG Thames Valley: ‘Have I got nudes for you‘ and ‘Journey to my Fellowship’ Sunday 25 March, 10am-3.30pm, £15/£12/ £8 group members An open event organised by the Digital Imaging Group Thames Valley Centre Woosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close, Woosehill, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 3DA Alan Bousfield ARPS, digthamesvalley@rps.org

Documentary Group South: workshop on documentary essays Saturday 13 January, 10.15am-5pm, £65/£55/£50 group members

An opportunity to see the work of two top photojournalists Newton Community Hall, Newton, Stocksfield NE43 7LU Carol Palmer, northern@rps.org

GO TO

rps.org/events for the latest event updates

HISTORICAL Monica Thorp monicathorp@thorpmilngavie.plus.com

London Documentary Group: Colin Ford

lecture series: ‘Andre Kertész – the real biography?’ Tuesday 23 January, 6-10pm, £5/free to group members

First in a new series of lectures celebrating the work of significant historians, photographers or collections The Royal Philatelic Society, 41 Devonshire Place, London W1G 6JY Janine Freeston, janinefreeston@aol.com IMAGING SCIENCE Gary Evans gary@garysevans.com

LANDSCAPE Mark Reeves LRPS, 07968 616551 rps.landscape.events@gmail.com

North West Group: Andy Astbury – landscapes Sunday 14 January, 10.30am-3.30pm, £15/£10 Society members

GMP Social and Sports Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Hough End, Chorlton, Manchester M21 7SX Alan Angel FRPS, 0161 980 0106, aandjangel@btinternet. com

Northern Group: processing landscape images, with an optional photo walk Sunday 4 February, 10am-5pm, £70/£60 group members

Adobe-certified professional Carmen Norman will lead this workshop on processing landscape images using Lightroom and Photoshop Rakefoot Studio, North Row, Bassenthwaite, Cumbria CA12 4RJ Mark Reeves, as above

Landscape Group Scotland: holiday to Lewis and Harris Thu 22 – Thu 29 March, 2.30pm-noon, see website for costs

A chance to photograph on Lewis and Harris with the benefit of a local guide Lewis and Harris, Cabarfeidh Hotel, Stornoway HS1 2EU Tim Parish, TBC, timp.parish@gmail.com

Landscape Group Southern: special access to Stonehenge, dawn shoot – fully booked

WORKSHOPS Hear from the experts and hone your skills Introduction to Lightroom Sat 20 Jan, 10am-4.30pm £95/Society members £71 Chester

Printing with Lightroom Sun 21 Jan, 10am-4pm £95/Society members £71 Bath

Street photography – Spitalfields Market Sat 27 Jan, 10am-4.30pm £115/Society members £86 London

Introduction to your digital camera Sat 27 Jan, 10am-5pm

£85/Society members £63 Bath HQ

Studio portraiture Sat 27 – Sun 28 Jan, 10am-5pm

£170/Society members £127 Lacock

Introduction to Photoshop Sun 28 Jan, 10am-5pm

Camera phone Sat 4 Feb, 10am-4.30pm £55/Society members £41 Bath HQ

Portraiture photography and getting the most from your subject Fri 9 Feb, 9.30am-5pm

rps.org/ workshops for the latest updates

Basic studio lighting Sat 24 Feb, 10am-5pm

Two-day wedding workshop Sat 10 – Sun 11 Feb, 10am-5pm

£125/Society members £93 Surrey

Movement photography Sat 3 Mar, 10am-4.30pm

£170/Society members £127 Lacock

£95/Society members £71 Bath HQ

Two-day Photoshop workshop Sat 10 – Sun 11 Feb, 10am-5pm

Developing personal projects and storytelling with Ben Cherry Thu 8 Mar, 10am-5pm

£165/Society members £123 Bath HQ

£120/Society members £90 Amersham

Still life/product photography Thu 15 Feb, 10am-4.30pm

Creative techniques in Photoshop Fri 9 Mar, 10am-4.30pm

£155/Society members £116 Amersham

Introduction to the creative eye Sat 3 Feb, 10am-4.30pm

Night shoot Sat 17 Feb, 6-10pm

£35/Society members £27 Bath HQ

Paint with light Friday 23 Feb, 10am-4pm

£125/Society members £93 Lacock

£125/Society members £93 Surrey

£125/Society members £93

£55/Society members £41 Amersham

Art-nude photography Sat 24 Feb, 10am-5pm

Cinematic Hollywood lighting Sat 10 Feb, 10am-5pm

Cosplay lighting Sat 17 Feb, 10am-5pm

Macro and art photography Thu 22 Feb, 10am-4.30pm

£95/Society members £71 Amersham

£115/Society members £86 Amersham

£95/Society members £71 Bath HQ

GO TO

Discover the secrets of capturing outstanding pictures with a smartphone on Saturday 4 February

£115/Society members £86 Amersham

Exhibition-quality digital printing Sat 10 Mar, 10am-4.30pm

£115/Society members £86 Chester

Duo Dance: classic and contemporary lighting Sat 10 Mar, 10am-5pm

£150/Society members £112 Surrey

Shooting for stock Mon 12 Mar, 10.30am-4.30pm

£65/Society members £48 Bath HQ

Introduction to mindfulness, meditation and how this links to photography Thu 15 Mar, 10am-4.30pm £105/Society members £78 Amersham

Lighting for composites Fri 16 Mar, 10am-5pm

£125/Society members £93 Surrey

Photographing landscape, whatever the weather, with Tony Worobiec FRPS Sun 18 Mar, 10.30am-4pm £55/£41 Society members Northumberland

JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 75

EVENTS THE GUIDE

11th Wageningen Image Contest (HIIC) Closing date: 7 January

Sunday 25 March, 6-7.30am

Jim Souper, 07922 169843, landscapenews@rps.org

hollandcircuit.nl RPS 2018/02

MEDICAL

2nd EPic Photo Salon (HIIC) Closing date: 7 January

Dr Afzal Ansary ASIS FRPS, 07970 403672, afzalansary@aol.com

London Medical Group AGM and ‘Much larger than life’ with Spike Walker ASIS FRPS Thursday 18 January, 6.30-9pm

hollandcircuit.nl RPS 2018/03

11th Image Salon Delft (HIIC) Closing date: 7 January hollandcircuit.nl RPS 2018/04

The Gordon Museum of Pathology, Hodgkin Building, Guy’s Campus, King’s College London, London SE1 1UL Afzal Ansary FRPS. as above

9th Rainbow Challenge Rijen (HIIC) Closing date: 7 January hollandcircuit.nl RPS 2018/04

NATURE Kevin Elsby FRPS

Love for Art International Digital Salon 2018 Closing date: 8 January

wildlife@greenbee.net

Nature Group members’ 2017 exhibition in Edinburgh Wednesday 7 February, 7-10pm

loveforart.in RPS 2018/13

Maitland International Salon of Photography Closing date: 15 January

Edinburgh Photographic Society, 68 Great King Street, Edinburgh EH3 6QU Sandy Cleland FRPS, 01968 676271 TRAVEL Keith Pointon LRPS, 01588 640592 bagpoint@aol.com

Grand tour of northern India Thursday 12 – Thursday 26 April, £2,465

Among the highlights are an evening trip along the Ganges, to witness the Ganga Aarti ceremony in Varanasi; a visit to Bishnoi tribal villages and a wildlife park at Rathambore Northern India, starting in New Delhi travel@rps.org VISUAL ART Viveca Koh FRPS, 07956 517524 viveca.koh@gmail.com

SW Visual Art Group members’ day Saturday 13 January, 10.30am-4pm

The Dolphin Hotel, Station Road, Bovey Tracey TQ13 9NG Linda Wevill FRPS, linda. wevill@btinternet.com

Central Visual Art Group: winter meeting members’ day Saturday 3 March, 10am-4pm, £8/£5 ploughman’s lunch

Village Hall, High Street, Long Compton, Shipston-onStour CV36 5JS Andreas Klattt, 01608 684848, rpsva@klatt.co.uk

maitlandsalon.org RPS 2018/08

EXHIBITIONS

Sally Smart ARPS, exhibitions assistant 01225 325724, sally@rps.org

RPS International Photography Exhibition 160 – Aberystwyth Saturday 27 January – Saturday 10 March

Exhibition showcasing a diverse range of images selected from a worldwide open call Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth University, Penglais Campus, Brick Lane, Aberystwyth SY23 3DE

RPS International Images for Science exhibition This touring exhibition features stunning images with a scientific story to tell

Worcester: Wed 31 Jan – Thu 22 Mar, 8.30am-10pm

The Hive, Sawmill Walk, The Butts, Worcester WR1 3PD

Derry: Sat 10 Feb – Fri 9 Mar

Millennium Forum, Newmarket Street, Derry/ Londonderry BT48 6EB

The Big Bang Fair: Wed 14 – Sat 17 March

The National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Halls, Marston Green, Birmingham

B40 1NT info@thebigbangfair.co.uk

The Photography Show: Sat 17 – Tue 20 March, 10am-5pm

The National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Halls, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT thephotographyshow@ futurenet.com

Catch the RPS International Photography Exhibition 160 in Aberystwyth until 10 March Image: Lunatic Lowrider’s Cadillac by Harvey Owen. See page 15

Edinburgh: Sat 31 March – Sun 15 April City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh EH1 1DE 0131 529 3993, customer. care@edinburgh.gov.uk

50th Howrah Colour Salon 2018 Closing date: 22 January sophowrah.net RPS 2018/09

Southampton International Exhibition 2018 Closing date: 4 February

Salon Photo de Riedisheim Closing date: 11 February spr-photo.fr RPS 2018/11

Salons/exhibitions with RPS-approved patronage

2017 Huangbai Mountain International Photography Exhibition Closing date: 24 February

11th NBPC Salon of Photography 2018 Closing date: 1 January

huangbaishan.com RPS 2018/06

nbpcraiganj.org RPS 2018/10

22 Gran Tour delle Colline, Trofeo Colline del Chianti Closing date: 5 March 2018

IUP 5th Anniversary Celebration Photo Circuits Closing date: 5 January en.iupne.com/ RPS 2018/20-22

hollandcircuit.nl RPS 2018/01

aimphotosalon.in RPS 2018/12

southamptoninternational exhibition.co.uk RPS 2018/07

PATRONAGE

17th Tribute to Colour (Holland International Image Circuit – HIIC) Closing date: 7 January

1st Pune International Digital Photography 2018 Closing date: 17 January

www.grantourdellecolline.it RPS 2018/23-26

GO TO

rps.org/events for the latest event updates

German International DVF-Photocup 2018 Salon Niedersachsen Closing date: 18 March germanphotocup.de RPS 2018/16

JANUARY 2018 / VOL 158 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 77

THE GUIDE EVENTS

COUNCIL REPORT – SATURDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2017

Minutes of council

The minutes of the 25 July meeting were approved.

Matters arising

At the suggestion of Barry Hoffman, Nicola Young and the chief executive had held a constructive meeting with a former colleague who provided an insight into how another organisation had developed its relationship with volunteers.

New council 2017-2019

Robert Albright, the new president, outlined his objectives for his presidency. These included: 1. Broadening the membership base and Society’s income. He strongly believed developing the Society’s marketing would be critical in supporting its development. 2. Ensuring the new representatives committee was empowered to set its own agenda and able to give advice to council, although he acknowledged it was the committee’s responsibility to ensure that it fulfilled its remit. 3. The new building was a priority and would support the Society’s development. 4. A scholarly publication as a counterpart of The RPS Journal. He felt that there was a need to address the learned side of the Society through a publication. 5. There was no history of the Society and this might be looked at in the second year of his presidency. 6. The Society needed to be more welcoming and convey that it was outward-looking and supportive. There was a discussion around these objectives. The staff would be essential in delivering the Society’s strategy and objectives.

Trustees’ roles and responsibilities

Robert Albright would prepare the monthly Journal report for the October and November issues and the Journal column would rotate among the other trustees. Del Barrett would take trustee responsibility for the Society’s strategy. She would meet the staff and update the current strategy. Robert Albright would attend the next PAGB meeting in October on behalf of the Society. Alan Hodgson would attend future meetings. 78

Co-options and committees

The committees needed to be approved and terms of references updated. Vanessa Slawson agreed to review their terms of reference. Council would consider future co-options or making use of advisors. Thought needed to be given to how they were used. Council needed to look at its own skill set and undertake a skills audit. There was a role for ambassadors and suggestions should be brought to the next council. Committee chairs were approved: science – Mark Richardson; education – tbc; Distinctions – Ray Spence; awards – Cheryl Newman; finance – Derek Trendell; investment – Derek Trendell. A revised organisational chart would be prepared and uploaded to the website.

Meeting dates

The September 2018 council meeting would take place on 28 September, the day before the AGM. Nicola Young was asked to send a link to the anti-clash calendar. Staff were asked to populate the calendar with HQ events. Del Barrett would allocate trustees to regions for purpose of visiting them.

Trustee training

Nicola Young proposed a number of options. Del Barrett reiterated the need for trustees to have proper training and to understand the difference between the charity and membership sides of the Society.

Finance

A case was presented to maintain the current subscription rates for 2018. The trustees noted that a 1 per cent subscription rise represented around £10,00015,000 in income and that the Society’s costs would continue to rise in 2018. A comment was made that the Society was often seen as expensive and consideration should be given to holding the existing rate and develop member benefits to improve value for money. Robert Albright stated that the Society needed to develop other income streams, including legacies, and to grow membership through marketing initiatives. It was agreed to support the proposal to hold 2017

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subscription rates for 2018. The renewal notice would highlight this and the benefits that members receive. The representative committee would be asked to give consideration to reducing the Society’s dependency on membership income. The treasurer observed that, as regards expenditure, it was important that it was directed in line only to achieve the objects of the Society as set out in the royal charter. It was apparent that council members felt that the move to the new building provided an opportunity to enhance and improve achieving the Society’s objectives, and that this would require some investment. He said provided council was convinced expenditure was wise and prudent, and in the Society’s longterm interest, it would be acceptable to incur deficits in the short term which would reduce reserves. He said that council must keep this under review but the Society had a very strong financial position and reserves. It was agreed to model the Journal cost and membership, and use the forthcoming member survey to look at the Journal and a membership based on receiving only an electronic version of the Journal.

GO TO

rps.org/events for the latest event updates

The trustees reviewed the provisional plans. A series of changes were proposed, particularly regarding the introduction of an auditorium which would be fed back to Interaction and the revised plans circulated. Names for the building were discussed.

Website

The phase-two development proposal from Felinesoft was approved. Based on the expected cost the development phase would likely be put to tender in 2018.

Strategy 2017–2022

The operational objectives needed defining, including the measurement of them against a benchmark.

Any other business

The giving of awards for past presidents was discussed.

Rules/by-laws

Website

It was noted that the London Region was doing more on its Facebook page than on the Society website. Social media should always link back to the website and all events must be listed on the website

Awards

Alan Hodgson noted that festivals such as Dark Skies offered a fertile area for the Society.

The new building

Robert Albright noted the appointment of Caroline Hook, currently working for Visit Bath, who would start in November. She would take marketing forward. It was suggested that the Society investigate focusing advertising on non-photography areas such as the National Trust or Ramblers association.

A number of points were raised from recent monthly staff reports.

Education

The new film category would be launched in spring 2018.

Marketing

Staff reports

Del Barrett asked that the awards be put on the agenda for the November meeting. Vanessa Slawson asked that a mailing be done to non-members using the website, encouraging them to join the Society. She also offered to support any external recruitment events.

Distinctions

‘The new president outlined his objectives, including broadening the member base and income’

The increased threshold from 20 to 200 members to call an EGM which has been approved at the AGM was discussed. It was noted that there was no mechanism to amend an AGM resolution. Consideration was given to whether Society support could be given to secure the 200 names via the Journal. The election management procedure document would be revised once an electronic voting contractor had been agreed.

IPE161 selectors

Thought was required to ensure a balance of selectors’ interests and experience.

International Images for Science sponsorship

Alan Hodgson would liaise with Gary Evans regarding a possible sponsor.

THE COLLECTION

Portrait of Olga Caracciolo

Susanna Brown, curator of photographs at the V&A, tells of an entrée into high society

ENIGMATIC, stylish and well connected, the Paris-born photographer Baron Adolph de Meyer and Italian noblewoman Olga Caracciolo married in 1899 and lived, until 1913, in fashionable Cadogan Gardens, London. Their home welcomed many bohemian guests and they socialised with everyone from stage stars to royalty – Caracciolo was rumoured to be the daughter of King Edward VII. Tall, with stunning red hair, she modelled for artists including Sargent, Sickert and Whistler. Not content with the life of a society beauty, she was also a writer and an amateur fencing champion, competing in tournaments around the world. Baron de Meyer joined The Royal Photographic Society in 1893, and the Linked Ring five years later. More than 20 of his photographs were published in Honorary Fellow Alfred Stieglitz’s quarterly

‘Tall, with stunning red hair, she modelled for leading artists’ Portrait of Olga Caracciolo, circa 1900, by Baron Adolph de Meyer

IN THIS YEAR

Kodak

1 introduces

its first Brownie, an inexpensive and simple-to-use point-and-shoot box camera. L Frank

2 Baum’s

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is published

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The RPS Collection is at The V&A Museum, London

in Chicago and promptly sells out. Paris plays

3 host to

the 1900 summer Olympics, the only Olympiad in which croquet was part of the official programme.

The first

4 Zeppelin

flight takes place over Lake

Constance, at the northern foot of the Alps in Germany.

ABOVE

Camera Work, and they range from contemplative still lifes to soft-focus portraits and pictures from Versailles, Tangier and China. Today, he is best remembered for his work for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. He became Vogue’s first official photographer in 1913, producing romantic studies of models lounging in elegant interiors, wearing designs by couturiers such as Poiret, Patou and Chanel. This undated brown-toned platinum print pre-dates his work for fashion magazines, and appears to depict Caracciolo in a flowing skirt, velvet and fur, accessorised with an extravagant black hat. The narrow cropping of the paper and the vertical planes of black and white emphasise her long, slender form, while the lighting accentuates her elegant neck and high cheekbones. The photograph was presented to The Royal Photographic Society by Frederick H Evans HonFRPS in 1924. It is available for researchers to view on request in the V&A prints and drawings study room.