The RPS Journal July 2015

PHOTOSHOP WIZARDRY

DESIGN YOUR DREAMS

MEMBER LEIGH EROS ON CAPTIVATING CREATIONS

JULY 2015 / VOLUME 155 / NUMBER 7 / WWW.RPS.ORG

ICONS OF THE LENS

GREAT GRADUATES

BERT HARDY AND FIND OUT WHAT THE LEGACY OF MAKES THE NEXT PICTURE POST GENERATION TICK

© YERVANT

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OPENING SHOT

| JULY 2015 | 481

MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

C COMING UP

IN FUTURE ISSUES Get set for our landscape special, guest edited by Charlie Waite FRPS. Plus a first-hand account of an LRPS Advisory Day and how a Society bursary winner dealt with a media storm over her images

an you believe there are now more than 30,000 member images on the Society’s website? Granted, it’s not quite as many as the 60 million in the Getty Images library, for example, but certainly enough to create a body of work as varied as each and every Society member.

For this issue, we set the Society’s web guru Emily Mathisen the enviable task of selecting, oh, half a dozen of those images for us to use in the Journal. She’s done a great job – choosing photographs that demonstrate the breadth of interest and talent represented by the Society membership. Turn to page 532 to see them, and to find tips on how best to make use of the site.

We also looked beyond the Society in this issue to tap into a new stream of talent – that of the latest crop of graduates from universities and colleges around the country (see page 510).

This year, we’ve widened our outlook to include students doing work in commercial as well as the fine art and documentary fields; witness the stunning images of classic cars, for example, by graduate and Society member Darren Woolway ARPS – or the

polished fashion photography of 21-year-old Monika Bishwakarma.

It’s not all fast cars and beautiful women, however – I’ve had the rare pleasure of delving into the memories of Michael Hardy and Honorary Fellow John Chillingworth as I discussed the legacy of Picture Post great Bert Hardy HonFRPS with them. Wow. Just talking to John about the heyday of photojournalism made me long to turn back time, and sneak into a Fleet Street darkroom to see the giants at work. See if they spark any memories for you, on page 518.

Talking of time, my tenure as editor will be pausing as I head off on maternity leave this month. Andrew Cattanach, who many will know already as our deputy editor, is taking the hot seat and will be keen, as ever, to hear your views.

CLARE HARRIS Editor

MIKE WILKINSON

PATRON AND SPONSORS

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482 | JULY 2015

IN THIS ISSUE 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 Derek Birch ASIS HonFRPS Vice-President Walter Benzie ARPS Treasurer Geoff Blackwell ARPS Director-General Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS

510 One of University of Brighton graduate Lauren Maccabee's Forest/Parc series

Published on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society by Think Suite 2.3, Red Tree Business Suites, 33 Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow G40 4LA thinkpublishing.co.uk EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Editor Clare Harris rpsjournal@thinkpublishing.co.uk 0141 375 0504 Deputy editor Andrew Cattanach andrew@thinkpublishing.co.uk Contributing editors Gavin Stoker, Geoff Harris LRPS Design Matthew Ball, Alistair McGown, Katherine Pentney Sub-editor Sam Bartlett Advertising Sales Daniel Haynes daniel.haynes@thinkpublishing.co.uk 020 3771 7200

510 | NEXT GENERATION Bright young things who stand out from the latest round of graduates

Publisher John Innes john.innes@thinkpublishing.co.uk

518 | IN BLACK AND WHITE Picture Post's Bert Hardy HonFRPS

© 2015 The Royal Photographic Society.

All rights reserved.

524 | TRULY SCRUMPTIOUS A smorgasbord of ingredients from the world of food photography

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 policy of The RPS or those of the publishers. All material correct at time of going to press.

528 | TEEN DREAMS How Doug DuBois documented a group of youngsters in Ireland

ISSN: 1468-8670

Cover Spinning, © Leigh Bishop Eros/ Trevillion Images

532 | SITE FOR MORE EYES We focus on the Society's website

498 A wedding image from Maz Mashru's successful Fellowship panel

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538 | NOMADS UNDER THREAT Bharat Patel ARPS at Fenton House

MAZ MASHRU; LAUREN MACCABEE; GETTY IMAGES

FEATURES

518

Looking more closely at the legacy of Bert Hardy HonFRPS

BONFIRE, RUSSELL HEIGHTS, COBH, IRELAND, 2011 Š DOUG DUBOIS

THE CRAFT

EVERY MONTH

541 | MUST TRY + LATEST KIT The Fujifilm X-T10 is put through its paces, along with other goodies

484 | BIG PICTURE Sandstorm in the city as captured

by Rizalde Cayanan

544 | MASTERCLASS/IN DEPTH Essential Photoshop, plus Leigh Eros's multilayered approach

487 | IN FOCUS News from the Society and more

549 | MY FAVOURITE CAMERA David Kenward's travel companion

497 | BOOKS Picturing England by Mike Evans, Gary Winter and Anne Woodward 498 | DISTINCTIONS An in-depth look at the panels of the Society's four latest Fellows 551 | MEMBER GUIDE The where and when of what's on

528 A bonfire at Russell Heights, Ireland, by photographer Doug DuBois

560 | TIMES PAST Dr Richard Sadler meets Weegee VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 483

484 | BIG PICTURE |

484 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

Sandstorm in the city

By Rizalde Cayanan

THE SHOOT I was enjoying a family gathering in one of the villas in Mangaf, Kuwait, when we decided to go to the rooftop. A few minutes later the sky was full of yellow fog, then we saw this huge dust cloud coming over us. It was really scary but it didn’t stop me capturing the moment.

I happened to have my Canon 60D camera with me.

THE SUBJECT Spring sandstorms, the khamasin, are common in this part of the world, so much so that in Kuwait March and April are known as ‘sandstorm months’. This was said to be the biggest sandstorm Kuwait had experienced and it caused disruption all over the country.

THE APPROACH I did not plan this, as it happened suddenly.

It was my first experience of such a phenomenon. I was amazed and excited.

TIPS For a landscape photographer you need to be very patient and humble.

Love what you are doing, enjoy it and do not be afraid to try something new. You will meet other photographers along the way; learn from them. Never stop learning.

Sandstorm in the city was shortlisted for the 2015 Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year competition. See epoty.org VOL 155 /JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 485

487

LENSCULTURE EARTH AWARDS Society member among winners 488

ANALOGUE ACHIEVEMENT Winners of the latest 365 comp 491

SUMMER TREATS The photographic gems on display 492

INFOCUS NEWS, VIEWS, EXHIBITIONS AND MEMBER INSIGHT

A landscape shot of the brutalist/ modernist housing estate, Park Hill

PROJECT DOCUMENTS CHANGING ESTATE

STEWART WALL ARPS

Listed landmark’s quickfire capture by a dozen Society members AN innovative project documenting the Park Hill housing estate in Sheffield has been turned into a book by 12 Society members, who took all the photographs in a single day.

Streets in the Sky – A Dozen Perspectives quickly sold out its first print run and orders are being taken for the second, with copies requested from around the UK, as well as from America, Australia, Dubai, Finland and South Korea.

The dozen photographers – many of whom had not met one another before – came together to capture images of the grade II-listed modernist housing estate built in the 1950s.

A complex of 1,000 flats, it is currently being redeveloped after falling into disrepair in the 1980s and 1990s. !NEXT PAGE"

GET INVOLVED

Above: an image from Ralph Bennett ARPS. Far left: one of the few occasions the group members came together, and left, the resultant Park Hill book

ALL!NEW GROUPS

IF YOU’RE INTO LANDSCAPES OR COMPUTER%BASED IMAGING, TURN TO PAGE 490 TO FIND OUT ABOUT TWO PROPOSED SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 487

488 | IN FOCUS |

Inside the Park Hill photobook

STEWART WALL ARPS

More information can be found at futureheritage.org. uk/parkhill

MELBOURNE MEETING Society past president drops in on the Australian Chapter DURING a recent holiday down under, the Society’s former president Roy Robertson HonFRPS took time to visit the Australian Chapter in Melbourne.

Robertson discussed some of his activities and priorities as president, and advised several members on their Distinctions panels – with

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From left: Palli Gajree HonFRPS, Alan Elliott ARPS, Elaine Herbert ARPS, Roy Robertson HonFRPS, Jack Lanagan ARPS, Max Melvin ARPS, and Ann Lanagan

one communicating via a Skype link from Norway.

Alan Elliott ARPS also received the Fenton Medal from Robertson, while several committee members

were presented with certificates of appreciation.

The Australian Chapter invites all Society members who are visiting the country to get in touch.

MANDY BARKER ARPS; CHARLES WALE

!PREVIOUS PAGE" The event was organised by the East Midlands Region, after a discussion between Stewart Wall ARPS and David Shapiro LRPS, to see what a group of photographers from different backgrounds could create under tight deadlines.

The only direction given to photographers was that they had a day to shoot, before submitting 20 to 30 images a week later, plus a 300-word statement explaining their approach.

The photographers included retired academics, university tutors, MA graduates, hobbyists and professional photographers.

They are: Alfreda Reynolds, Bob Rhodes, Charles Naylor, Christine Carr, David Shapiro LRPS, Derek Trillo ARPS, Mo Greig ARPS, Nicky Callis ARPS, Peter Morley, Ralph Bennett ARPS, Robert Herringshaw LRPS and Stewart Wall ARPS. Those who have bought a copy of the book include Tom Bloxham MBE, chancellor of the University of Manchester and founder of the property company Urban Splash, which is redeveloping Park Hill.

| IN FOCUS | 489 FROM THE PRESIDENT

BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT Honour to represent Society at garden party

T Mandy Barker’s award-winning images from her Hong Kong Soup: 1826 series

BARKER MAKES HER MARK

BANK OF ENGLAND/JAMES OXLEY

Society member Mandy Barker ARPS was last month announced as one of the winners of the LensCulture Earth Awards 2015.

Barker, who was the recipient of the Society’s Environmental Bursary in 2012, was one of nine winners, and was recognised for her series Hong Kong Soup: 1826, which depicts

marine plastic debris collected from more than 30 beaches in Hong Kong since 2012.

Also among the winners and finalists were Silvana Andrade and Daniel Kariko, who have both taken part in Society exhibitions.

To see more of the winning images, visit lensculture.com

PHOTOGRAPHER OF NOTE The deadline to nominate a photographer to appear on the Bank of England’s £20 note is 19 July. Julia Margaret Cameron? Henry Fox Talbot? Cecil Beaton? Get your vote in!

For more information see rps.org/news

his year, the Society received two invitations to one of the Queen’s garden parties at Buckingham Palace. Around 8,000 guests attend each party, including representatives of a large number of charities, national organisations and the civil service; people who have contributed to the various organisations, as staff or volunteers, or provided service to the country.

It was with great pleasure that I was there to represent the Society, as President, along with Simon Bibb, the Society’s membership manager.

As you can see in the photographs below, I was accompanied by my elderly father, and Simon by his mother. Due to there being so many people in attendance, we got just a glimpse of the royal party, including the Society’s patron, Her Majesty the Queen, on the sunny day in May. Representatives of the Society also attended a reception to mark the reopening of the restored Regent Street Cinema at the University of Westminster. It was there that the Lumière brothers, in 1896, gave the first public showing of a moving image to British audiences. The venue is considered the birthplace of British cinema, and only a little before this the Society held a private screening at one of its meetings, and we look to continue to support the moving image. The premises were also the site of London’s first

photographic studio, which opened in March 1841. The university aims to use the cinema to bring together students, faculty and film professionals to share work in a state-of-the-art auditorium, and show films to the public. The Society is discussing ways of collaborating with the cinema’s director.

Finally, I am pleased to give thanks to the editor, staff and contributors of the Journal, named Best Membership Magazine at a recent awards ceremony

by MemCom. Clare Harris, who has edited the Journal for the past year, is going on maternity leave and deputy editor Andrew Cattanach will be taking on her role until she returns. We send Clare our best wishes.

DEREK BIRCH ASIS HonFRPS President of The Royal Photographic Society

Derek Birch, Simon Bibb and guests

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490 | IN FOCUS | 107 Workshop by John Law ARPS

NEWS IN BRIEF

MAJOR COMPETITIONS The 2016 Sony World Photography Awards are open for entries (see worldphoto.org), as is HIPA 2015/16 (see hipa.ae).

NEW SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS MOOTED SOCIETY members are proposing the establishment of two Special Interest Groups and are asking those keen on the idea to get in touch.

DYNAMIC DUO John Law ARPS and John Willetts ARPS have put forward a request to set up a Dynamic Image Group, aimed at photographers interested in developments available only in computerbased formats, such as video, interactive panoramas, websites and apps. In their proposal, Law and Willetts cite the popularity of mobile and smartphones for taking stills and video, as well as the success of action cams and drones in aerial photography.

To express interest in the Dynamic Image Group, email mail@john-law.net or john_willets@hotmail.com

Limestone quarry, near Buxton by Colin Shaw

LAND OF PLENTY Meanwhile, a Landscape Group is being put forward

by Colin Shaw, who plans for an approach covering a wide range of methodologies and ideas, with monthly meetings, location visits, and talks and workshops from leading photographers.

To express an interest, email landscapegroup@outlook.com by 15 August, indicating your location

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MORE ON THE HORIZON ...

The closing date for this year’s Landscape Photographer of the Year competition is 12 July, with a midnight deadline.

More information is available at take-a-view.co.uk Places are available on the Society’s workshop Different Landscapes in Monyash, Derbyshire on 18 July.

Go to bit.ly/rpsmonyash

INTRODUCTION TO DISTINCTIONS DAY A chance for members in Wales to view successful print portfolios from all levels and categories, and ask about the Distinctions process. The event takes place at the St Francis Millennium Hall, Barry, Glamorgan on 10 October.

See bit.ly/glamorganday and the Member Guide, starting on page 551.

LEGACY RECEIVED The Society has received a legacy of £10,000 from the estate of Miss SN Hill FRPS, who died on 21 December 2014. The legacy will be added to The Society’s Development Fund and used to support the purchase or fitting-out of new premises.

FREE MODEL,RELEASE FORM AVAILABLE Relating to issues of privacy, and the need for photographers to protect themselves and their subjects, the Society has produced a generic modelrelease form in conjunction with a top law firm, plus supporting notes, which you can download for free from rps.org/MRF

| IN FOCUS | 491 365 WINNERS MEMORIAE

By Paola Angelani ARPS This photo is part of the series titled Memoriae.

I developed this project last year, taking pictures in an old house, which had been unvisited and uninhabited for a long time, using 35mm and Hasselblad cameras.

In particular, I photographed some of the old objects lying around. I printed the photos in the darkroom using lith printing. A lith print is one which has been overexposed and developed in highly diluted lith film developer.

Development takes a long time.

ENTER NOW Submit photographs for the next competition at rps-365.org

ANALOGUE PHOTOGRAPHY

GREAT SAND DUNES

By Derek Baker ARPS This was taken in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, just after sunrise, and is actually

two overlaid prints. The underlying one is a platinum/palladium print, overlaid with a cyanotype from the same negative.

When dry I painted out

May’s online competition winners

(with a brush) some of the cyanotype, revealing the underlying platinum/ palladium image. I was looking for a blue sky and blue/black shadows.

TREES, DOG FALLS By Karen Thurman LRPS The image was taken in April last year at Dog Falls in Glen Affric, Scotland. It is part of a project my husband and I are doing called On Your Doorstep.

The aim is to get people to

engage with the natural beauty on their doorsteps – we don’t want people to think they need to hike 10 miles. I used a Linhof Master Technika 4x5 with a Schneider Kreuznach Componon 135mm f/5.6 lens.

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492 | IN FOCUS | WHAT NOT TO MISS A Shirley Baker image of Manchester, 1968

AUDREY HEPBURN: PORTRAITS OF AN ICON National Portrait Gallery, London 2 JULY" 18 OCTOBER

This celebration of Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) stretches from her early years as a chorus girl in the West End to her philanthropic work in later life.

More than 70 images by leading 20th-century photographers are on show, plus vintage magazine covers, film stills and archive material. npg.org.uk/whatson/hepburn

MASTERS OF VISION Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire 25 JULY"23 AUGUST

WOMEN AND CHILDREN; AND LOITERING MEN The Photographers’ Gallery, London 17 JULY"20 SEPTEMBER

The first London exhibition by pioneering British humanist documentary photographer Shirley Baker

(1932-2014). It focuses on Baker’s depictions of the urban clearance programmes of inner-city Manchester and Salford, which she saw as the needless destruction of working-class communities, and includes some previously unseen colour images. thephotographersgallery.org.uk

A celebration of British landscape photography, exhibited in one of the country’s finest churches, featuring Valda Bailey, David Baker, Pete Bridgwood, Julian Calverley, David Anthony Hall, Paul Kenny and Mark Littlejohn (overall winner, Landscape Photographer of the Year, 2014). mastersofvision.co.uk JULY ONWARDS

LIGHT AND LAND ON THE MALL Mall Galleries, London

PANDORA’S BOX Beyond the Image Photographers’ Gallery, Suffolk

EDGELANDS Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket

2"10 AUGUST

3 JULY" 27 SEPTEMBER

18 JULY"12 MARCH 2016

Launched by Charlie Waite FRPS, this exhibition consists of landscape photography taken by leading and amateur photographers from Britain. They have all studied under Waite and fellow tutors at the Light and Land workshop and training company, this year celebrating its silver jubilee. mallgalleries.org.uk

Eclectic images from eight noted photographers, four with Society Distinctions: John Thompson ARPS, Richard Lewis ARPS, Patrick Foster ARPS and Peter Ellis LRPS. Photographers involved in the gallery share the day-to-day running and show their work in quarterly themed exhibitions. beyondtheimage.co.uk

Tom Owens ARPS shares images that explore those buffer zones where the urban meets the countryside.

Owens worked outside the boundaries of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty to challenge the notion that parliament decides what is “beautiful”. tjowens.com

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Seeing Red Old Royal Naval College, London. Until 26 July Chichester Camera Club Summer Exhibition The Assembly Rooms, Chichester. From 15–22 August Riviera Style: Resort and Swimwear since 1900 Fashion and Textile Museum, London. Until 30 August New Work from Old Fellows Discovery Point Cafe Gallery, Dundee. Until 8 October Soldiers and Suffragettes: the photography of Christina Broom Museum of London Docklands.

Until 1 November

MANCHESTER, 1968, SHIRLEY BAKER; HULME, 1965, SHIRLEY BAKER; AUDREY HEPBURN, 1955 © NORMAN PARKINSON LTD; DAVID BAKER; ORFORD, TOM OWENS ARPS; JOHN THOMPSON ARPS; TREES OF LIGHT, LAKE DISTRICT, OCTOBER 2011 © DAVID NEVE

ALSO SHOWING

494 | IN FOCUS | An image by Colin Trow-Poole FRPS

GROUP FOCUS

CENTRAL REGION We speak to regional organiser Mike Sharples ARPS

In a nutshell The Central Region is situated in the heart of the country, with some 750 subscribing members, covering Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry, Dudley, Worcester, Hereford,

By Martin Addison ARPS

Walsall, Wolverhampton, Derby, Shrewsbury and much more.

Among our members we boast some of the best practitioners in British photographic circles, including Ray Spence FRPS, Anne Sutcliffe FRPS, Martin Addison ARPS and Colin Trow-Poole FRPS. Recent achievements A highlight was the PermaJet Day we held in October, where we were treated to a number of great lectures from speakers including Roger Hance FRPS, Bob Moore HonFRPS and Fiona Alison FRPS. We also organised a trip to the Black Country Living Museum, where 25 members and non-members photographed staff in period dress.

Coming up We have a Distinctions Advisory Day (Creative/Pictorial) lined up for 22 August. For more details turn to page 542 or email mikes.sharples@virgin.net

DISTINCTIONS SUCCESSES Well done to all the members on their recent achievements

LRPS 10/06/2015 Hilary Barton, Wiltshire Richard Coulstock Philip Harbord, Norfolk Keith Houghton, Surrey Caroline Keill, Devon Roger Nolan, Kent Tim Parish, Cambridgeshire Steven Pinniger, Cornwall Alvin Salmon, Cheshire Balwantrai Thanki, Surrey Nick Townley, Hampshire David Traish, Surrey Eamon Wall, Waterford Ruth Wiseman, Essex Anthony Wright, Kent LRPS 11/06/2015 Anne-Louise Allen, Devon Robert Allen, Devon Simon Bedwell, Surrey Trevor Craig Matthew Dagg, Somerset Robin Daly, Kent Bernice Deane, Gloucestershire

Niall Robert Ferguson, Surrey Richard Hainsworth, Flintshire Rupert Hitchcox, Greater London Mark Lanigan, Hampshire Anthony Rowe, Devon Mari Rhiannon Shaw, Wiltshire Andrew Smith, Kent Christopher Townsend Roger Williams, Cornwall

ARPS EXEMPTIONS 06/15 Frank Balaam, Lancashire Kimberley Powell, West Glamorgan LRPS EXEMPTION 06/15 Alex Barker, Lancashire John Burnikell, Tyne and Wear Ben Harrison, Lincolnshire Keith Jenkins, South Yorkshire Lucy Victoria Sharpe, Hampshire

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Niall Robert Ferguson LRPS

LRPS +RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY CATEGORY, 06/15 Roger Rosewell, Kent FRPS +RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY

CATEGORY, 06/15 Graeme Whitehall, Oxford

Sean Conboy, Lancashire

ACCREDITED SENIOR IMAGING SCIENTIST AND FELLOWSHIP +ASIS AND FRPS, 07/15 Paul McIntyre, Middlesex

ACCREDITED SENIOR IMAGING SCIENTIST AND FELLOWSHIP +ASIS AND FRPS , 04/15 Hoosain Mia Ebrahim, South Africa

DIRECT FELLOWSHIP 06/15

ASSOCIATE 04/15 David John Watson, Spain

| IN FOCUS | 495 DG’S DIARY

Offally interesting: food markets offer a wide range of subject matter

INVITATION TO CORNER THE MARKET PHOTOGRAPHERS born on or after 1 January 1989 are being invited to enter images of food markets into a competition organised by the Society’s Italian chapter

(CIRPS) and the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM). The organisers are looking for images that show facets of food markets from anywhere in the world, and judges include Simon Roberts HonFRPS, Italian Chapter president

xx xx xx

See bit.ly/marketprize

BIG NUMBER

IMAGES WITH A SENSE OF CONVICTION Winner of Andrei Stenin competition captures life behind bars

OLIVIO ARGENTI FRPS; ELENA ANOSOVA

Olivio Argenti FRPS and Journal editor Clare Harris.

The overall winner will receive 1,500 US dollars, plus a medal and book from the Society. The closing date is 14 February 2016.

Elena Anosova was announced as the winner of the Grand Prix in the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest last month.

Anosova won the award for her series

looking at the daily lives of female convicts.

The contest aims to support photographers aged 18 to 33, and was named after photojournalist

CANDID CAMERA The Society’s awards ceremony is one of its main events. The recipient of one key award will be in New York at that time, so I organised a filmed interview and presentation to be shown at September’s ceremony. The recipient was generous with his time and, for someone so widely known, genuinely pleased to be recognised. The name is embargoed until 16 September, when we will make the film available online. I also attended the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year awards, which recognises great photography around food and wine, where I met several members.

30,000

Food shots can win tasty prizes for young image takers

CAPITAL INVESTMENT At the end of May, Photo London took place. The range of exhibitions and speakers were wonderful, and there was too much photography to see in one day. The event will be back in 2016 and I hope that the Society will have a formal presence there.

CONTEMPORARY CREATIVITY The Contemporary Group weekend in Sheffield was packed with speakers from a range of backgrounds and approaches. Listening to how artists developed their careers and work was both inspiring and daunting. Paul Reas’ presentation stood out, but all were thought-provoking.

Andrei Stenin who died in southeastern Ukraine in August 2014.

The prizewinning entries can be viewed online at stenincontest.com

images uploaded on to the Society’s website since relaunching in 2014. See our selection on page 532

DR MICHAEL PRITCHARD FRPS Director-General of The Royal Photographic Society VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 495

BOOK REVIEWS

36 HOURS WORLD New York Times, Various Taschen (£63) This is a beautifully produced compilation of the popular and well-regarded 36 Hours travel column from the New York Times. As the name suggests, 36 Hours World is a list of essential destinations and distractions when you have only got 36 hours to explore a city, which also makes it ideal for travel photographers keen to get the most from a place in limited time. It is not specifically written with the photographer in mind, but there are lots of well-researched ideas and itineraries covering every corner of the globe.

Henry Taunt and companion on his houseboat, pictured in Oxford in 1895

GEOFF HARRIS LRPS

GREAT, BY GEORGE

A digest of some eight million images makes for a rewarding read PICTURING ENGLAND Mike Evans, Gary Winter, Anne Woodward Historic England (£45) From the 1850s to the present day, photographers both amateur and professional have turned their cameras on England’s buildings, crafts and landscapes. Their surviving pictures create an invaluable record of the changing face of the natural and the built environment, and of many ways of life.

More than eight million of these historical images are held in the archives of Historic England, the body (formerly part of English Heritage) that is now responsible for the promoting of its man-made and natural heritage.

The handsomely produced Picturing England features a representative selection of those eight million images.

More than 200 photographs are published in the book, ranging from the “pictorial” interpretations taken by amateur photographers in the 1850s and 60s, to the professional architectural pictures of the 150 years that followed, and in turn to today’s aerial LIDAR images (which record, in colour, ground features invisible to the eye).

The sources of the Historic England archive include not

| IN FOCUS | 497

only the millions of photographs taken

by English Heritage staff, but the equally valuable libraries of Aerofilms, the National Buildings Record and the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments.

The vast majority of the pictures chosen for inclusion in Picturing England are of buildings, social activities and documentation of local crafts. Only a dozen or so depict industrial heritage, which is a curious omission given the vital importance of Victorian and 20th-century engineering, transport and manufacturing. The authors have placed their selection of pictures, both chronologically and in subject matter, in the context of the technical evolution of photography. Some particularly well-researched chapters include the work of the mid-Victorian pioneers, the “amateur view” from the 1860s to 1939 and, bringing us up to date, the important role of aerial photography.

Despite the relative lack of industrial images, it presents a valuable record of the country’s changing face throughout the lifetime of photography; this book is a recommended read for Society members or anyone else interested in historical photographs.

R. KEITH EVANS FRPS, CHAIRMAN OF THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND HERITAGE GROUP

LIVES OF THE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHERS Juliet Hacking Thames and Hudson (£28) Photographic historian Juliet Hacking tells the stories of well-known characters from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Diane Arbus and Robert Mapplethorpe, while giving insights into lower-key, but still highly influential, personalities. By sharing the lives of these photographic greats the author is telling the story of photography itself.

JOHN FLEMING ARPS

HARRY GRUYAERT Foreword by François Hébel Thames and Hudson (£40) Born in Antwerp in 1941, Harry Gruyaert was one of the first European photographers to explore the creative possibilities of colour photography in the 1970s and 80s. This lavishly produced book is the first retrospective of his work, and reveals the influence of American peers such as Stephen Shore and Joel Meyerowitz, while also documenting Gruyaert’s idiosyncratic approach and vision.

DARRAGH MASON FIELD

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 497

FELLOWSHIP SPECIAL WHAT ARE DISTINCTIONS?

Distinctions are standards of achievement recognised throughout the world

LRPS Applicants need to show good photographic competence in five key areas

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

FRPS Our highest Distinction is given for excellence and a distinguished ability in photography

Individual expressions of quality

The Society’s latest Fellows tell David Clark about their journey to achieving an FRPS

T

his spring, the Society’s Fellowship Board was pleased to recommend four applicants for our highest Distinction – two in the Applied category, and two in Visual Art carried over from the category’s previous iteration – and I congratulate each of them on producing such excellent submissions.

In Applied, Andre du Plessis’ panel on ‘the challenging conditions many souls in South Africa live in’ shows understanding, commitment and photographic quality. The technical aspects, with strong contrasts in monochrome, suited the subject and statement, making a very consistent portfolio.

A very different submission from Maz Mashru illustrated understanding of the subject in a similar way, but focused on Indian bridal portraiture and the culture which the images reflect. As noted in 498 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

‘THE SELECTION PANEL MUST BE RESPONSIVE TO A WIDE RANGE OF SUBJECTS’

his statement of intent, the submission should be judged with an understanding of ‘the context and culture’ – reflecting that the Applied Panel receives a wide variety of submissions, both geographically and culturally, to which it must be responsive.

In Visual Art, David F Cooke’s post-production techniques produced ‘images with an artistic flair, rather than being records of existence’, based on informal photographs of everyday activities.

Richard Tickner also captured the everyday – people in the promenade shelters in Hastings – in an intriguing set of images. Viewed up close, the marks and graffiti on the windows can be seen; from a distance the people – abstracted by the windows – predominate. Tickner’s submission cleverly draws in the viewer to explore the images.

ROY ROBERTSON HonFRPS

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Clockwise, from facing page: Buhle, Mr Trouble; Christine Jantjies

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APPLIED

Andre du Plessis

‘I am inevitably photographing people who have a hard life’ Andre du Plessis has lived in England for 16 years but finds most of his photographic inspiration in the people of his South African homeland. They were the subject of his Associate panel in 2014 and now, his Fellowship. Almost all of the 20 Fellowship images were taken between 2009 and 2015 in the communities of the Tsitsikamma, the “Garden Route”, on South Africa’s south-eastern coast.

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approach. ‘I have to get those inside to trust me within a minute or two. The challenge is to overcome that anxiety and start the enjoyable process of engaging them with images.

Then, all of a sudden, they come on board and it becomes a collaboration. It’s fascinating.’

The portraits are always done on the understanding that Du Plessis will give his sitters prints in return. ‘I am inevitably photographing people who have a hard life and I try to meet them on that level,’ he explains. ‘I just have a camera and a tripod, no reflectors, no flash. I always look for cloudy days and soft light.’

He adds: ‘I’m looking to create an emotional response.’

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Clockwise, from left: Feelings; Eva and the Child; Broken; William and Nellie III; Sonja and Nellie; A Good Season

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‘I have to get those people behind the doors I knock on to trust me within a minute or two’

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VISUAL ART

David F Cooke

‘The in-camera image is almost the working drawing or sketch’ David F Cooke’s passion is photographing people going about their everyday activities.

‘It’s “street photography” in the sense that I go out with a camera and take candid photographs of people doing what they do,’ he says. ‘However, I didn’t want simply to present a lot of “normal activities” – I wanted to make the images artistic.’

His images were gradually assembled between March 2009 and April 2014. The main challenge in presenting them as a Fellowship panel, he says, was to make it cohesive; the people in the pictures were different, the situations unrelated.

One of the ways he achieved the necessary consistency was in his processing and presentation.

‘The image I get in the camera is almost the working drawing or sketch, which needs to be developed into the final work,’ he says. ‘As I worked on these images my style was developing and there’s a common theme in the filters I ended up using. One I used a lot is Nik Glamour Glow, often used in advertising to make people look dreamy and pretty. I used it to give a slightly ethereal feel to a lot of the images.’

There was also uniformity in presentation: colours are muted, there are often textures applied and all are square in format.

Cooke feels that there was a big change in his work between submitting his ARPS and FRPS panels. He says: ‘They’ve got more complex in terms of what’s going on in the image. I didn’t always sit down and say “this is what I need to do” … more often than not the images developed as I went along. There’s been a leap in seeing and presenting the photography, and in the evolution of my style.’ davidfcookephotography.co.uk 502 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

Clockwise, from above: The Baker; Keeping in Touch; The Man in the Passageway; The Couple

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‘As I worked on these my style was developing, and there’s a common theme in the filters I ended up using’

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‘Every bride wants to look radiant and beautiful,’ says Maz Mashru. ‘My job is to record them the way they had dreamt they would look on their wedding day.’

APPLIED

Maz Mashru

‘At every wedding I’d try to create a high-quality panel image’ Professional photographer Maz Mashru, originally from Uganda, has shot a wide range of subjects in his career and chose a mixture of English and Indian weddings and portraiture for his Associate

panel. But for his Fellowship, Mashru specialised entirely in the glamorous but demanding subject of Indian weddings.

‘The images in the panel are from weddings I’ve photographed over a two-year period,’ he says.

‘Every time I shot a wedding I would try to create a high-quality image I could use for my panel. I had about 70 or 80 and shortlisted 30. Eventually I got them down to the magic number of 20.’

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All the images were taken on the subject’s wedding day; glamorously attired and meticulously made up.

However, as the bride and groom are inevitably focused on celebrating with their family, he might have as little as five minutes to shoot portraits of them. To produce highly polished results in this pressurised situation, Mashru has to prepare thoroughly and,

when doing the shoot, watch out for the all-important details.

‘I keep my lighting arrangements very simple and very quick to set up,’ he says. ‘I have to work really fast, but at the same time need to have an eye for sometimes small things, for example the position of earrings.’

Post-production techniques are used to refine the images, including removing any blemishes on the skin and

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‘I keep my lighting arrangements very simple and very quick to set up’

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making it smoother. ‘Every bride, whatever the nationality, wants to look radiant and beautiful,’ Mashru adds. ‘In the case of Indian weddings, it’s popular to invest a lot of money in buying jewellery, going to India to buy designer outfits and so on. My job is to record them the way they had dreamt they would look on their wedding day.’ imagesbymaz.com

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To enhance the disparity between the shelter windows and the person behind, Tickner used fast prime lenses and a very shallow depth of field

VISUAL ART

Richard Tickner

‘It’s often more interesting if you can’t see the detail’ Shooting through glass, using the reflections and distortions it creates, is a recurring theme in Richard Tickner’s images. The work submitted for his Fellowship

panel focuses on the windows of the promenade shelters in his home of Hastings, East Sussex.

These photographs have two “layers”: the textures, scratches, graffiti, burn marks and reflections in the material’s surface; and the indistinct forms of people seen through it. To enhance this disparity, Tickner used fast prime lenses and a very shallow depth of field.

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‘My general view on pictures of people is that it’s often much more interesting if you can’t see the detail,’ he says. ‘It leaves the viewer to use their imagination.’

One aspect of these images is that they change according to the viewing distance. Seen up close, the marks become dominant, but from a distance the people seem more prominent. He describes the photographs as ‘experiments

in light and how cameras work’.

He says he didn’t intentionally set out to produce a Fellowship panel. ‘I set out to take pictures and just took lots of them, then realised maybe I had something.

I got hooked on the project itself and just kept refining it.

‘It’s quite difficult to take surreptitious pictures of people when you have to work with one narrow plane of focus and you’re

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‘I had one or two narrow scrapes, especially when I was spending hours around public shelters over an 18-month period,’ says the photographer of capturing his images HANGING PLAN

quite close to them.’ Inevitably, he was occasionally challenged about what he was doing.

‘I had one or two narrow scrapes, especially when I was spending hours around public shelters over an 18-month period,’ he adds. ‘Luckily, the police didn’t bother me. I think one of my achievements with the project is not getting locked up or punched in the face.’

‘I got hooked on the project itself and just kept refining it’

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Assessment Days

It’s all in the preparation, as the old saying goes

‘Train’ to print!

A weekend of photographic learning The PermaJet Print Academy is teaming up with TimeLine Events to offer a unique weekend of photography & learning focused around a key site of English Heritage.

Saturday 31st Oct - Sunday 1st Nov 2015!

• Hosted at Didcot Railway Centre - Oxfordshire.

• The spiritual home of the Great Western Railway.

• Enjoy dinner, an overnight stay & breakfast.

• Print to perfection after Sunday’s print workshop.

Exclusive for RPS Journal Readers!

FREE BOX of our award winning Oyster!

If you book onto the course quoting “RPS Journal” you will receive a FREE A3 25 sheet box of the classic Oyster 271gsm paper.

To claim, contact the Print Academy Head: Louise Hill, louiseh@permajet.com

An Entire weekend for just £295!

That includes your stay, dinner, print workshop, expert guidance, all locations, props and actors!

Eyes forward: booking for Distinctions Assessment Days in 2016 opens on 31 August

TIME to get out your diary – here are the dates confirmed so far for Distinctions Assessment Days in 2016.

They will open for booking from 31 August, so if you want your work to be assessed next year, please go online to secure your place early.

Spectators are permitted at

LRPS and ARPS Assessment Days. If you’d like to attend as a spectator, please email lrps@rps.org or arps@rps.org with your request.

To book go online to: rps.org/distinctions/events Read guidelines on how to apply at: rps.org/distinctions/downloads

WWW.PERMAJET.COM/ACADEMY Places are limited and provided on a first come first served basis.

FEBRUARY LRPS Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25

Thursday 14 ARPS/FRPS Contemporary and Conceptual Wednesday 20

MARCH ARPS/FRPS Travel Monday 7 ARPS Pictorial Wednesday 16 FRPS Pictorial Thursday 17 LRPS Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 (at The Photography Show in Birmingham) ARPS Creative Wednesday 23 FRPS Creative Thursday 24 ARPS Natural History Tuesday 29 FRPS Natural History Wednesday 30

MAY ARPS Applied Wednesday 11 FRPS Applied Thursday 12 LRPS Sunday 22 (in Barry, South Wales) FRPS Fellowship Board Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26

APRIL LRPS Wednesday 13 and

JUNE LRPS Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 ARPS Pictorial Wednesday 15 FRPS Pictorial Thursday 16 ARPS Creative Wednesday 22 FRPS Creative Thursday 23

ANDY MOORE LRPS

ASSESSMENT DAYS 2016

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Hopes and dreams

It’s July, the degree shows are done, and photography students across the country are packing up their portfolios and preparing for life beyond the classroom.

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ALESSANDRA EGIDI AND ALBERTO ALICATA

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by Jack Greenwood, left, and Monika Bishwakarma Right: from Tomáš Havelka’s series on the Prague police department and, far right, from his project on ice hockey

Jack Greenwood Age 21 Graduating from Leeds College of Art (BA) For a while I was making these interesting, formalistic pictures and I thought I needed to have a concept to put with them. But then I realised the concept can be about the process of making the picture. I’m in a collective called Roundtable. All our work is around sculptural, process-based photography and we’re into making zines and books. We’ve just got a commission to document the regeneration of Victoria Gate shopping centre in Leeds. I’d like to continue with my fine-art photography and I’d like to teach or lecture too.

The pinnacle would be to have an exhibition with Foam and get a book published by MACK or even Steidl. But really what I’m planning to do is just explore, ask myself questions about photography.

Like, what does it mean to make a monochromatic image with a digital camera because digital can only record in colour? How do you make a picture look three-dimensional? My best work usually comes when I don’t know what I’m doing.

It sits on the edge of failure. jack-greenwood.com

Monika Bishwakarma Age 21 Graduating from Ravensbourne (BA) I’m still finding my style. I love playing around with lighting and mood. On every shoot I try something new as there’s still so much to learn.

My favourite thing about shooting fashion is creating the concepts and making them come to life. There are so many approaches you can take – from the location, how the set looks, to the clothing, make-up and hair. All these elements are crucial. Straight after graduating I’d like to get into assisting fashion photographers. I love Boe Marion and Tim Ashton, so working with them would be a dream. I’m also going to be freelancing and I have to be realistic about money so I’m currently searching for a studio job as well. Longer term, my ideal career is to be a successful freelance fashion photographer with a client list of high-fashion brands such as Dior, Burberry and Gucci. I’d love to be a regular content creator for i-D magazine and I’ve always wanted to shoot a cover for Vogue. monikabk.com

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Tomáš Havelka Age: 35 Graduating from Nottingham Trent (MA) My commercial work is closely linked to my documentary work. I’ve just finished a two-year documentary project on the Prague police and last year did a calendar for HC Sparta Prague, a Czech ice hockey team. My pictures, mainly shot off the pitch, didn’t present players traditionally as sportsmen and heroes. I looked for the hockey spirit in small, special moments outside the game. After

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graduating, I hope to develop my documentary work – it would be great to join an agency like VII and get a book published by a company like Phaidon. I’d love to continue my police project in a major North American city and do a project about a National Hockey League team in the USA. Also, I’m interested in what it’s like to be a navy sailor – maybe as the Czech Republic is landlocked.

I’m driven by a boy’s curiosity. I want to know what it’s like to be a Sparta player or a policeman.

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Darren Woolway ARPS Age 30 Graduating from Ravensbourne (BA) Lift up the bonnet of a car and I’ve got no idea what’s going on but I’ve always been into design. I did graphic design and web design at school and studied a degree in garden design before moving into automotive 514 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

photography. What interests me is the body structure of cars and how that creates contrast in light. Chiselled designs like the Ferrari F12 lend themselves well to photography. For just over a year I’ve been shooting editorial for Classic Ford, American Car and Custom Car magazines but I’d like to get into advertising. You tend to be shooting newer cars, with bigger budgets, which lets you be more creative.

You can mix stuff with CGI

[computer-generated imaging], you can get a car built upside down on a track or shoot in the desert if you like. It’s important to have a specialism because it helps you market yourself. I know it’s tough to earn enough money just by shooting cars, so the plan is to sell still-life stock photography too, through stock agencies like Alamy and Getty, and maybe continue doing some teaching. darrenwoolway.co.uk

| GRADUATES | 515 Charlotte Eliza King’s finals project explores the idea of food waste (below)

Charlotte Eliza King Age 22 Graduating from University of Brighton (BA)

Above and top left: motoring images by Darren Woolway ARPS

Science is a big influence on my work. I made my finals project, A State of Matter, using flatbed scanners so it’s a form of cameraless photography. The working process is more interesting to me than the end result.

I was exploring the idea of food waste: how we throw away things past their bestbefore dates, how much packaging we use and how detrimental plastic is to the environment. I collected stuff – our bathroom was full of mouldy food. Then I layered acetate, plastic and old food on the scanner. I’m interested

in how disgusting things can also be beautiful. People sometimes think there’s a separation between art and the rest of the world but I work part-time for a bodyimage charity in London.

In the future I want to carry on bringing art into the community, through creative activism. I’d love to set up an art therapy centre, with studio spaces where we’d run workshops with kids. charlotte-eliza-king.com

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516 | GRADUATES | Jon Meade

Age: 44 Graduating from University of Westminster (MA) I’m trained in architecture, and have always loved

looking at detail and geometry, which led me to shooting professionally for clients – that and the economic downturn of 2008.

Design work dried up. I began as a film stills photographer then got into book publishing,

where I was commissioned to shoot around London, in particular its parks and the Thames. The work that’s come out of my MA has focused more on concepts of space and how we interact with our environment. After

graduating, I’m relocating to Vancouver, Canada, with my young family, and aim to continue developing my commercial practice globally.

I’m hoping to establish a good network across North America and seek representation, and to work towards solo and group exhibitions with some colleagues on the MA. The dream would be a job as in-house photographer for Peter Zumthor or Herzog & de Meuron. I enjoy Zaha Hadid’s fluidity of design, and the sculptural aspect of architecture – but then again I’m drawn to industrial landscapes. The power and immensity of these spaces are exceptional. jonmeadephotography.com

Lauren Maccabee Age 22 Graduating from University of Brighton (BA) Photography can be solitary so collaboration is really important. Towards the end of my second year I set up a collective, Roots, with a group from my course.

Working together helped us challenge ourselves and elevate our practice. We’ve already exhibited together at part of the collective hub at Vantage Point at the Brighton Photo Fringe.

We all use film and have similar ideas about where we want to go next. I’d love for us to set up a platform or magazine so we can bring artists together and show their work. I’m inspired by fine art photographers such as

Noémie Goudal and Robert Voit, who explore the border between nature and culture.

The idea of reappropriating something natural into a man-made context is something I draw on in my own practice. laurenmaccabee.com

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Top: architecture with a difference by Jon Meade; above: one of Lauren Maccabee’s ethereal portraits

SEE MORE rps.org/rps-journals

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BERT HARDY AND PICTURE

POST

TWENTY YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH BERT HARDY REMAINS SYNONYMOUS WITH 518 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

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THE RISE AND FALL OF PICTURE POST The great organ of photojournalism had a relatively short but groundbreaking life; founded in 1938 by German pioneer Stefan Lorant, its editorship passed to the inspirational Tom Hopkinson from 1940 to 1950.

After Hopkinson’s tenure, circulation – it was once read by close to half the UK population – gradually fell, and the publication closed in 1957.

Those who’d formed careers at

Picture Post were numerous, but are more recognisable by their images than their names.

They include early German staffers Kurt Hutton and Felix Mann, British names Haywood Magee and Leonard McCombe, through to Carl Sutton and John Chillingworth HonFRPS, who now writes about photography.

Read more at www. johnchillingworth. co.uk

Do you have memories of Picture Post? Let us know! Contact rpsjournal@thinkpublishing.co.uk

PREVIOUS PAGES: IMAGE FROM GETTY IMAGES THESE PAGES CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: GETTY IMAGES X 2; DAVID MARCOU/ NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY; GETTY IMAGES X 2; STEPHANIE MACKRILL

first got to know the work of Bert Hardy HonFRPS as a journalism student in Cardiff. We were visiting Butetown, or Tiger Bay as it was once known – the docklands area that was home to cultures from all corners of the world. At the time, an exhibition of Hardy’s work was on show, with striking images of the people who’d lived there in the postwar years.

Only afterwards did I realise Hardy’s iconic photographs had been part of my upbringing too – thanks to a wellthumbed compendium of Picture Post images on the bottom shelf of the family bookcase. I imagine my encounters with Hardy’s work are similar to many; even if you don’t know his name, his images – from the ladies on the pier at Blackpool, to the crouched, cowed Korean prisoners of war – are part of our visual lexicon.

This month marks 20 years since the death of the renowned photographer, and we’ve taken this chance to look afresh at his approach, as well as at the group of photographers of which he was a part. From Michael Hardy, Bert’s son, a successful photographer in his own right, we get a picture of a man who was as wedded to his work as he was to his family. ‘We went a long time without seeing him,’ says Michael, from his home in the Isle of Wight. ‘Was his job his second love, or was it his family? I was never really sure.’

Growing up in the shadow of a great camera-wielder was the only life Michael and his brother Terry – also a photographer – knew. Born in 1937, Michael became involved in the photographic world early on, posing for many of Hardy’s set-up shots. One saw father and three-year-old son working together on a series of images with a panda from London Zoo, with the results, titled Peter and the Panda, published in the Daily Sketch.

‘He would think up the idea and make the props,’ says Michael, ‘and my mother would help too.’

That famous image of carefree young ladies perched atop a seafront railing in Blackpool was also a result of Hardy’s inventiveness, coming about as part of a publicity drive for a nationwide photography competition. Picture Post, for which Hardy had worked since 1941, sent him to the town with a Kodak Box Brownie. On 22 June 1951, Hardy paced the pier for three hours looking for a sight that would encapsulate summer on the seafront. In the end, says Michael, he nipped into the Tower Pavilion and asked some of its

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Clockwise, from left: an image by Picture Post photographer John Chillingworth; Peter and the Panda (featuring Michael Hardy); Bert Hardy at his home; prisoners in Korea

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showgirls to join him outside.

A fortuitous gust of wind – and the image was in the bag.

John Chillingworth HonFRPS joined the Picture Post team in 1949, and remembers Hardy’s drive to get the best shot, and the most seamless prints. One memory finds Chillingworth, then a junior, accosted by Hardy in the magazine darkroom.

‘Everyone else was out at lunch,’ he recalls. ‘In came Bert. He had a negative in his hand and he said: “John, can you print this in two halves?”. I said: “Why do you want to do that?”. It turns out he wanted to show the editor that he could do “join-up shots”; that’s what we called images that were stitched together when your lens wasn’t wide enough to capture the full scene.’

Chillingworth duly made the prints – the older photographer’s aim being to show editor Tom Hopkinson his

‘DAD WAS AWAY A LOT. I DIDN’T KNOW ANY DIFFERENT. BUT HE ALWAYS BROUGHT GIFTS’ technical skill. For Chillingworth, who admired Hardy’s work as much as that of the other Picture Post pioneers – Kurt Hutton, Felix Mann, Charles ‘Slim’ Hewitt and G Thurston Hopkins among them – it was a telling insight. ‘Bert was an outstanding photographer,’ he says.

‘But he was surprisingly insecure. He always felt he had to prove something.

Some of the other guys at Picture Post were quieter types, who got on with their work and did what came. But Bert made sure he got there first.’

Hardy’s childhood, as one of seven children growing up in South London’s cramped conditions, was tough. It

allows some of his most iconic images to ring true – his own all-time favourite, the two young boys playing in the Gorbals streets, echoing the scenes he knew from boyhood. But this open, democratic style united all of the team at Picture Post. It was a place that during its bestselling years had an incredible turnover of talent; photographers joined, then were packed off to fight in World War Two. In their places, young, hungry photographers came on board, producing reel upon reel of the best photojournalism you’re still likely to see. Michael remembers the fascination of the place. ‘Dad used to take us to the office to meet the writers,’ he says. Later, Hardy arranged for Michael to become a ‘boy’ at the magazine: ‘I ran all the errands, carried the photographers’ bags,’ he remembers. ‘Later, they used four pages of my photos … I was overjoyed.’

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One of Hardy’s best-known images was taken in Blackpool and features Tiller Girls Wendy Clarke and Pat Wilson

I first met Bert Hardy in November 1981, two years after I’d taken up photography. That meeting was so influential to my future work that I didn’t just write one story but returned to him time and again. Eventually, my portrait of Hardy and his dogs Lizzie and Kim was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.

Writer David Marcou (pictured below) tells how meeting Bert Hardy sparked a fascination with Picture Post and all who worked for it

I’d been studying in London, and our tutor worked for the Sunday Times; our office was on the top floor of theirs on

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Gray’s Inn Road. Writing and photographing stories for my assignments, I met a neighbourhood printer, Prem Olsen, who suggested I contact a photojournalist who had good tales to tell. That was Bert Hardy, who I met at his farm in Surrey. The first interview was intriguing, with mentions of many famous people Bert had

photographed, but also discussion of places and people, including the street urchins of Glasgow, and World War Two. Before I left, I was told I must also interview a mystery man of sorts, Hardy’s Korean War writing partner, James Cameron. Their piece on Inchon (the turning point for the South Korean/UN side in that conflict) was

the only significant word-photo coverage of the first day’s attack.

I remember a photo of a gathering of Royal Photographic Society members with the Honorary Fellow Hardy seated in the centre. At his knee, listening for any words of wisdom, was Don McCullin, now an Honorary Fellow himself.

STEVE KIEDROWSKI; GETTY IMAGES

AN ENDURING LEGACY

technology on Fleet Street) felt the tang of the darkroom in his blood.

Photographers such as Bert Hardy were examples of the adventure, the glamour and the fulfillment a career as a photographer could bring.

No wonder these are still called the golden days of photojournalism.

‘I remember Dad being away a lot,’ adds Michael. ‘I didn’t know any different. But he always brought home presents.’ Some of Hardy’s most harrowing work involved places hit by war; at Belsen, he was one of several Army Film and Photographic Unit photographers (including fellow Post staffers Slim Hewitt and Carl Hutton) to witness the camp on its liberation, and later he was in Korea as UN forces fought northern troops at Inchon. ‘He didn’t speak about it much but I knew these things had an effect on him,’ says Michael. It was the latter picture story, taken in Korea but vetoed by Picture Post’s owner Edward Hulton as being too critical of the UN, that precipitated the end of what many call the golden era of the magazine. Hulton refused to print the images, and Tom Hopkinson was sacked. Hardy stayed on until 1957.

John Chillingworth’s career as a staffer on Picture Post was only just beginning when Hopkinson left; he went on to create seven years’ worth of unforgettable images. But the influence of those early days remained. ‘When Hardy published his book, My Life, he gave me a signed copy,’ Chillingworth adds. ‘I was one of the few he’d have given it, not sold it, to,’ he laughs. ‘He remains one of the great photographers.’

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| FOOD | 525 Jeff Vickers MBE FRPS has spent decades shooting mouthwatering dishes around the globe. He tells us how he got the taste for culinary photography

A feast for the eyes

ALESSANDRA EGIDI AND ALBERTO ALICATA

Jeff Vickers MBE FRPS with his camera at the ready, above, and a bouillabaisse he captured for Cas Gasi hotel, Ibiza, left

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n 1973 I first visited Provence, where I discovered the joy of French food, and where my love of taking pictures of food began.

I returned a year later to make a culinary pilgrimage, with my camera, from the oyster beds of Brittany to the herb-scented hills of the south – it was truly an unforgettable experience and gave me inspiration for the work I’ve done ever since.

The French have been blessed with such a wonderful climate and regional “terroirs”. There, I discovered bistros, cafés, Michelin starred-restaurants, and both nouvelle and grande cuisines.

I started my food photography in the markets – heading to Aix-en-Provence and Sisteron, and then through tasting dishes such as coq au vin, colourful ratatouille and bouillabaisse.

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526 | FOOD | Caption from previous page

Part of the fascination was discovering how the local people were growing their own food, and how they prepared it to such a high standard so that an ordinary domestic dish would satisfy the taste buds of any food connoisseur.

Inspired by these early trips I started reading books about how the famous artists had gone to Provence in the summer to paint the scenery and food in the region’s unique light. Renoir’s painting The Luncheon of the Boating Party was a great inspiration, as were the fruit and flowers of Cezanne, and the work of Van Gogh – particularly from the book Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers.

Since that time, I only work by natural daylight between 11am and 3pm, when 526 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

the sun is more or less overhead, using a white umbrella over the shooting area and a Kood five-in-one 80cm folding reflector pack, which helps to soften and balance the light. This set-up creates a very lovely soft area of shadow on the table where I set up the plates and dishes, straight from the oven.

Most of my work is done in the late spring and summer, through to early autumn – periods which give me the right light and, of course, when there is an abundance of fresh, seasonal and very colourful food.

For me, the “sweet spot” on my lens is around f/8. To get the best quality out of my lenses I check depth of field and try to hit f/8. I believe it makes such a

difference to the quality and sharpness of my work. For the most part, I use lenses between 35mm and 80mm. I set my ISO around 250 to get a higher shutter speed of about a 150th, and use Raw files as it’s much better for post-production. Then, I’ll check the white balance. I know when I’m getting it right when people say to me ‘I could eat it right now!’.

All the photography is planned to the smallest detail; we make sure that we have all the props we need in advance and I work very closely with the chef – literally hands-on – when we’re setting up a shot. I have found that the chefs like working with me in this way, and they’ve told me it helps them become more culinarily creative too, as they can see

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MARKET IN BURMA; TAKEN FOR COLUMBIA HOTELS * RESORTS X 2

Markets in east Asia can provide a range of exotic sights, top, while the cuisine of Cyprus offers opportunities to craft some mouthwatering shots, above left and right

| FOOD | 527

Almonds, above; a daisy arrangement in patisserie, right ABOUT THE AUTHOR JEFF VICKERS MBE FRPS

Fenton medallist Jeff Vickers MBE FRPS formed his photographic career in the world of theatre, fashion and advertising. He founded leading imaging firms Chromacopy and Genix Imaging and now produces food photography for restaurants and hotels around the world.

TOP TIPS

An Ibizan artisan producer makes great subject matter

Jeff Vickers' advice on how to capture summer on a plate

1

Shoot between the hours of 11am and 3pm for the best quality of light

2

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ALMONDS, TAKEN FOR CAS GASI, IBIZA; DAISY ARRANGEMENT FOR COLUMBIA HOTELS * RESORTS; TAKEN FOR CALA BASSA BEACH CLUB; TAKEN FOR COLUMBIA HOTELS * RESORTS; TAKEN FOR CALA BASSA BEACH CLUB

Use shading and reflectors to soften the shadows

3 A shot back-lit with Mediterranean light

what kind of arrangements make for great pictures.

There’s always a lot to think about. If we’re using strawberries, for example, I’d go through around 50 of them to find the ripest and most richly coloured to shoot. I look out for colourful ingredients, such as peppers, and I’ll use a mist of water or olive oil to keep the plate looking fresh throughout the shoot. I’ll add detail, too, with herbs and garnishes.

Shooting a typical dish will take a maximum of 25 minutes, to keep things looking fresh, and I’d do five or six plates in a day. It’s hot at the time of day I like to shoot – so if we’re working with icecream, for example, we need to be quick.

These days, I’m not often in Provence.

Use the ‘sweet spot’ of f/8 on your lens for sharp, engaging food images

4

Just as a cook would, prepare all your props and ingredients in advance

5

Try spraying a light water mist (for items such as sushi) or an olive oil mist to keep dishes looking fresh

'I work very closely with the chef – literally hands-on'

Long-distance travel is more accessible and I’ve been around the globe to capture the different exotic and colourful foods on offer. Food photography is everywhere – from supermarket publications to big TV chefs – but it’s something anyone can try. I’d advise starting with home cooking and, when people are on holiday, to head straight to the markets and photograph all the wonderful displays of vegetables, fruits, fish and cheeses – or find a lovely basket and put an array of fruit in it, just like the old masters used to do.

I’ve worked with some amazing chefs, and I’ve learned a lot about cooking too.

But for me the best reward is hearing from the chefs when they see the results.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR JEFF VICKERS MBE FRPS

An award-winning photographer who started out in theatrical photography before moving into the advertising world, Vickers received the Society's Fenton Medal in 2009, and was made an MBE in 2011 for services to the creative industries. He is known as one of the 'founding fathers' of the digital scene, thanks to his work at Chromacopy and Genix Imaging. He sponsored the 150th Royal Photographic Society International Print Exhibition and with Genix sponsored a Society Bursary Award for under-23s

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DUBOIS 528 | INTERVIEW | DOUG

528 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

DOUG DUBOIS

| INTERVIEW | 529

Jordan up the Pole, 2010, left, and above, Dean Shows his Tat, 2009

TEENAGE TRUTHS

MAIN IMAGE AND ABOVE: RUSSELL HEIGHTS, COBH, IRELAND © DOUG DUBOIS

Doug DuBois went to Ireland for a few weeks, and ended up returning for years to photograph young people on a housing estate. He tells Lucy Davies why OVERLOOKING the cove for which the pretty seaside town of Cobh is named, the Russell Heights housing estate has a reputation for being among the toughest in County Cork.

Its 70-odd homes – terraced boxes painted in beige, terracotta, orange and cream – lodge a close-knit community mostly descended from families who moved in when it was built in the 1980s. To get there, you need to climb a few hundred metres uphill from the town’s quaint Victorian front, so it’s not a place you might stumble across.

However for American photographer Doug DuBois, that’s almost what happened. In 2009 he was invited to spend a few weeks as a resident at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh. ‘I almost didn’t go,’ he says. ‘I had no connection to Ireland, and I was involved in some work I was making at home, but something persuaded me to take a chance.’

Arriving in the throes of Ireland’s economic downturn, he trained his camera on empty

construction sites, but was dissatisfied with the results. ‘It felt obvious and superficial,’ he explains, ‘so I asked Sirius to set me up with a local group.

I thought we could try making cheap online photobooks.’

The group they introduced to him was one of “at risk” youth. ‘They’d dropped out of school and we began meeting every week. We tried the photobooks but it wasn’t working for me and so, desperate, I asked them to take me to their neighbourhoods. That’s how I found Russell Heights. Almost immediately I was asking the Sirius Centre if there was a way I could come back.’

Over five years, between teaching at Syracuse University in New York state, DuBois returned each summer. ‘I wasn’t taking pictures every day, but made sure I brought a camera so that it was always understood that was why I was there. Plenty of times we would just be up there, hanging out.’

Initially DuBois wanted the project to be about VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 529

THE POLICE WOULD TURN UP, ROLL THEIR EYES AND SAY ‘OH, IT’S YOU AGAIN’ PHOTOGRAPHER DOUG DUBOIS

Eirn on the Eve of her 18th Birthday, 2009

the neighbourhood, but by the second summer he realised the stronger subject was the experience of the teenagers living there. ‘I took out any photos that had adults in them in a prominent way, and immediately the story became the child’s world,’ he says.

He was interested in what it means to be at that threshold, ‘that burgeoning realisation that this time of your life is over. I happened to be photographing a girl called Eirn [pronounced Erin] in her back garden in a dress her parents had bought her for her 18th birthday the next day. She just blurted out “this is my last day at 17’’, and I knew right then that that would be the title of my book.’

Did photographing adolescents raise suspicion? ‘Oh god,’ he says, ‘I had the police called on me all the time. Almost all the way into the fifth year, the police would turn up and just roll their eyes – “Oh, it’s you again”. To be honest, it gave me good bragging rights among the kids. They’d say “why’d the Garda stop you Doug?” and I’d be like, “they wanted to know what you were doing, but I wouldn’t tell them, you’re safe”.’

His affection for his subjects is obvious, and clearly the relationship wasn’t one-sided. DuBois was invited to photograph them in their first communion dresses, lighting bonfires for the summer solstice, in their kitchens and bedrooms, and even at their secret drinking spots.

‘Teenage drinking is a norm, but I wanted to find a more indirect way of telling that part of their life. There’s this thing of drinking outdoors – it’s almost a tradition – and they all go to the same places. Generally, the landscapes in the book are drinking spots. Most of the portraits are taken when they were fairly well inebriated, but you never see them drinking. It’s interesting – it gave them a certain look, a certain borrowed bravado and openness.’

He is keen to emphasise that the work is not social documentary: ‘I’m not part of that reform tradition and if people see that in my pictures, that’s a reflection on them,’ he says. ‘Russell Heights might be considered one of the tougher estates in the area, but by world standards – certainly by American standards – it seems safe.

People are happy there; a kid only has to fall over in the street for three parents to run out of their houses, and not necessarily the kid’s mother.’

His pictures are often collaborative, rather than straight observation. ‘Most of them weren’t taken in the moment,’

530 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

says DuBois. ‘I watch a lot, and if I see something happening I will say, “I saw you all playing this game the other day, I’d really like to photograph that”. Or they’d say: “We were at swimming [sic], you should come out and have us jumping off the railway bridge”.’

Did that change things? ‘It’s that eternal question; that eternally boring question. Your presence always changes things. I’m a middle-aged American. I’ll never be part of that community; I’ll always be an outsider. I miss things, I don’t understand things. That’s why I made these photographs. It was fun.

And I would argue it’s truthful – I can get at an image that resonates by constructing it rather than chasing it.’

About four years in, when he came to thinking about the book, he began feeling uncomfortable about how much a copy might cost. ‘I was sitting in a meeting, thinking no-one in the pictures can afford £20-£40 for a book, so we decided to make a community edition alongside.’

Publishers Aperture were delighted with the idea and set about funding the edition on Kickstarter. It surpassed its target long ago so, this autumn, DuBois will be able to take copies of the book to Russell Heights. Most of the kids are now in their twenties, and each will receive a copy with their photograph on the cover – it has been designed with a plastic slipcase in which an individual print can be inserted. ‘I just know I’m going to forget someone!’ says DuBois.

Both editions have a comic attached in the middle. Created by Irish illustrator Patrick Lynch, it tells the story of a local suicide. ‘During the time I was making the work, three kids killed themselves,’ says DuBois. ‘It’s a very difficult story, and I wanted it to be understood.’

He ran it by the mother of one of the young people who took their lives – a lot of its dialogue was from conversations Lynch and DuBois had with her. ‘It was her narrative and I wanted to make sure she was OK with it, the same way I have shown every one of the people in the book their picture. It’s their story. I’m still nervous about how it’s going to be received. The mother, she Skyped me and said she had cried all the way through, but with a smile on her face. Then she said, “I like the comic best, why are there so many photographs?”’

My Last Day at Seventeen will be published in September by Aperture.

See aperture.org and dougdubois.com

RUSSELL HEIGHTS, COBH, IRELAND © DOUG DUBOIS

DUBOIS 530 | INTERVIEW | DOUG

DOUG DUBOIS

| INTERVIEW | 531

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532 | GRADUATE WORK |

THE MORE WE SHARE

As the Society’s website marks 30,000 images uploaded, 532 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

SOCIETY WEBSITE

| ONLINE | 533

John Wood

Towan Promenade ‘The images in this gallery are shortly to have their 25th anniversary, and to mark this I intend to turn them into a photobook. They were taken in and around Newquay during the summer season, and I used the online gallery to show a small selection of my favourites.’

THE MORE WE HAVE

Full gallery: rps.org/wood

it’s a good time to look at the benefits logging on can bring VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 533

WEBSITE 534 | ONLINE | SOCIETY

W

HEN we’ve taken a picture we’re proud of, most of us like to share it. The Society’s website offers the perfect place to do that – and last month, the total number of images uploaded by members hit a whopping 30,000.

In this feature, we asked the Society’s

web content manager Emily Mathisen to select just a few of the thousands of images from members of all levels.

We also asked the members who took them why they chose to display their photography online. Inspired?

Then why not try it yourself.

Find these images in the galleries at rps.org

Diana Wilkins LRPS

Fruit ‘This was taken on my dining room table using only natural light. The items are set up against black velvet, a process which takes far longer than actually capturing the image.

I have developed a passion for still life, especially that of the Dutch masters, and have been endeavouring to create a project with my versions. I have also produced images after Juan Sánchez Cotán. I’ve have not seen images quite like this by other members and thought it would be nice to share them.’

Full gallery: rps.org/wilkins

534 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

Guillaume Briquet

Kurdish soldier ‘This photo is of a Kurdish soldier on the front line, and was taken near Kirkuk in Iraq as part of a report on ISIS. I put it on the website as a self-portrait and a current picture, as it is indeed the work of a photographer in a conflict zone – I’m reflected in the soldier’s visor.

I am a freelance photographer and often work in areas of conflict and disaster.’

Full gallery: rps.org/briquet

SOCIETY WEBSITE

| ONLINE | 535

Gianni Forte ARPS

Little Luca has left the building ‘This image is part of the series called Fatherhood, which explores some relevant issues on the narrative of domestic life and intimacy, expressing the feeling of a gradual loss, spiritual transformation and final regaining. The children’s toys are the symbol of recalling memories of these beautiful and yet uneasy moments, that are still shaping the relationship within us and the surrounding world. I used the website to display this project with the aim of showing it to a broader audience, as a way to share my point of view – and to reach fellow photography lovers.’

Full gallery: rps.org/forte

xx xx xx

When we’ve taken a picture we’re proud of, most of us like to share it. The Society’s website offers the perfect place to do that – and last mon th, the number of images uploaded by Society members to the site hit a whopping 30,000.

In this feature, we asked the Society’s web content manager Emily Mathisen to select just a few of the thousands of images from members of all levels. All of these images, and the albums they came from, can be found at rps.org. We asked the members who took them why they chose to display their

photography online.

Inspired? Try it yourself. When you upload an image to the Society website, you can instantly share it via Facebook or Twitter to reach yet more people – and you can receive comments on it from friends and peers.

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 535

WEBSITE 536 | ONLINE | SOCIETY

Susan Leonard LRPS

Looking In ‘On a trip to Iceland, one outing was to an ice cave, but wasn’t to a glacier – which is what I wanted to see.

It wasn’t until we’d bounced our way to the location in an off-road vehicle that we realised it was an ice cave underneath the Breiŏamerkur glacier. It was awe-inspiring.

Vast, glass-like, turquoise walls. I was inside and under a glacier – heaven.’

Full gallery: rps.org/leonard 536 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

SOCIETY WEBSITE

| ONLINE | 537

Shen Xiaoming

From the series I Live Here before urbanisation ‘This photo was came along. It is taken in 2010, in part of my ongoing Shaanxi province in series I Live Here, northern China, where I document where many people people in their who lived there homes across China dwelled in caves

as the country moves towards urbanisation. This elderly woman is called Ye and she had been dismissed from a large

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

government-run factory in which she had worked for many years.’

Full gallery: rps. org/xiaoming

What you can enjoy if you create your own account on The Royal Photographic Society website

1

Have your own page on the site, which includes thumbnail links to your albums. Use it to promote yourself and your work

2

Renew your membership quickly and easily online

3

Find out about and join Special Interest Groups, so you can get involved in the area of photography that means the most to you

4

Get up-to-the-minute information on Society activities, including free advice on Distinctions at rps.org/advice

5

Find forum discussions that are tailored to you at rps.org/rps-forum

6

Get exclusive access to The RPS Journal to download for your computer or tablet in PDF format, as well as back issues of the publication

7

Download the Society’s crest, so you can add it to your personal photography website at rps.org/crest

8

Book for Society events, many of which offer member discounts. Once booked your events will appear every time you log in at rps.org/events

Joel Warburton

Japanese macaque near Nagano chasing one another ‘This picture was for the prize of a taken in Jigokudani small piece of green Park, Japan, and shows a wild juvenile fern. This one picked up a piece that had Japanese macaque. fallen and decided to This guy was the sit it out from the smallest of a rowdy sidelines. I love the bunch of young picture because it macaques that were

9

reminds me of a great trip. I upload my pictures to the Society members’ gallery so friends and family can see my efforts all in one place, and while they are there they can

browse some exceptionally high-quality images from members all over the world.’

Full gallery: rps.org/ warburton

Download the Society’s model-release form for use in your professional practice at rps.org/mrf If you have any questions on making the most of the website, get in touch at webadmin@rps.org

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 537

HQ EXHIBITION 538 | SHOWCASE | SOCIETY

Retired snake charmer, above, and living by the salt pans, right

ANCIENT WAYS AT A VANISHING POINT Bharat Patel ARPS shows captivating images of Indian nomads at Fenton House this month SINCE 2011, Bharat Patel ARPS has been photographing nomadic communities in India. These groups were once an integral part of Indian society, providing services, entertainment and seasonal labour, but have since been pushed to the margins in an evermodernising world.

Born in India to Indian parents, Patel has lived abroad for most of his life, including in Uganda, England and Brazil. As a photographer he is keen to not only document his former home but to capture these itinerant communities. While working alongside charities that help these groups, Patel also captures their vanishing way of life. This month, he shows a selection of his images at the Society’s HQ in Bath.

Can you tell us about the project?

It is ongoing, now in its fourth year, but I intend to continue to document the lives of these nomadic communities for years to come. There is still a lot to learn and record about the lives of these communities as they struggle to embrace the modern world, which requires proof of address, birth certificates and education – items which are almost nonexistent among these tribes.

Did you get to know the people in the photographs?

I work with local charities that try to help these communities, mainly by providing basic education to their children. It is through these charities that I get in touch with the nomads. This

538 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

helps break down barriers that would otherwise prevent one from photographing them on such a personal level. On rare occasions I follow groups of men as they perform folklore and entertain villagers. This is now a very rare activity and I intend to capture as much of it as possible before it vanishes completely.

How much time did you spend with them?

I tend to spend long periods with each community.

Sometimes I spend a night or two near their encampments, joining them for meals so that I can get to see as much of their activity as possible. Also, it allows me to get to know them so that they are more open to my photography.

What is your approach to taking these images?

Once they know I will be photographing them, and have accepted me, I tend to mingle, listen to their stories and hear about the difficulties they face. I get to know the main individuals in the community and how to interact with them. But after that I tend not to ask for permission as that would spoil the moment or mean missing the shot. I try to be as discreet as possible. These are often shy individuals who wonder why I want to photograph them, so it’s a delicate situation that needs to be treated with the utmost respect. The fact that I speak Gujarati and Hindi helps break down barriers and makes people feel more comfortable with me.

JOANIE FAN HUI LING FRPS

| SHOWCASE | 539

Traditional Mir woman, left, and Dafar woman with child, above

VISIT!

THE SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS

BHARAT PATEL ARPS’S EXHIBITION WILL RUN DURING JULY AT THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, FENTON HOUSE, 122 WELLS ROAD, BATH BA2 3AH VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 539

THE MUST TRY

CRAFT JULY 2015 THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY, TECHNIQUES AND SKILLS

Fujifilm X-T10

This model suggests itself as a competent entry point to Fuji’s burgeoning X series, says Gavin Stoker

R

etro-styled, premium-feel compact system cameras are driving sales now so it’s no surprise to see another one. The 16.3-effectivemegapixel X-T10 from Fuji arrives on the back of its acclaimed higher end X-T1, with the newer camera boasting a 2.36 million-dot resolution electronic real-time viewfinder complete with comfortable eye cup and a “proper” APS-C-sized X-Trans CMOS sensor to boot.

It’s built to last too, featuring diecast magnesium top and base plates complete with three

aluminium top-plate dials for rangefinder-style handling.

There’s a 49-point AF mode for high-speed response and precision focusing, as well as new “zone” and “wide/tracking” modes that track subject movement across a larger 77-point area, the benefit seen when capturing moving subjects.

Handy for the same reason is an 8 frames per second continuous shooting speed, while the back panel features a three-inch, 920k dot-resolution tilting monitor to afford a wider range of framing options. A pop-up

PRICE: £499 for body only, or up to £799 for 18-55mm lens kit SENSOR: 16.7 megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS II LENS: Any from Fuji’s XF series SCREEN: Three-inch, 3:2 aspect ratio, 920k dot resolution WEIGHT: 381g including battery and card MORE: fujifilm.eu IN BRIEF: Good-looking, solid-feeling compact system camera comes at an affordable price with an impressive feature set

flash is neatly hidden in the top plate, otherwise it’s up to an effective ISO51,200 for naturallight images. While there are plenty of manual controls, you can point and shoot with a flick of the auto mode switch lever.

The X-T10 comes as body only for £499 SRP in black or silver, with an XC 16-50mm lens for £599, or with an XF 18-55mm for £799. All kit lenses are black – and there are currently 18 Fujinon X-mount lenses directly compatible with the X-T10, with a weather-resistant 90mm slated for release this month.

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 541

542 | THE CRAFT |

2

LATEST KIT

1

3

Olympus Stylus 1s £400

Previously Japan-only model finally given an outing in Europe olympus.co.uk

1 This premium bridge

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens £129.99

Fast/bright aperture for low-light shots and attractive background defocus canon.co.uk

2 A prime lens, aimed at

compact was a winner of a Red Dot design award in its original ‘1’ guise; the latest iteration with ‘s’ suffix featuring tweaks that include a Firmware upgrade and a relatively powerful focal range stretching from 22.4mm to 510mm.

Said lens is compatible with Olympus’s WCON-08X wideangle converter lens, while the 1s boasts a slim, all-metal casing with a textured surface making it easier to hold, an elegant blue lens ring familiar from the brand’s Zuiko Digital lens family, and an eye-level electronic viewfinder with sensor for those wanting a compact that handles similarly to a DSLR.

Canon-owning portrait photographers looking for that attractive bokeh effect, which won’t break the bank when paired with one of its EOS APS-C sensor-incorporating digital SLRs. Key reasons to purchase include the fast/bright aperture and ability to achieve an attractively shallow depth of field to blur backgrounds while keeping subjects pin sharp.

Eminently suited to head and shoulder compositions, this succeeds the EF 50mm f/1.8 II, and suggests itself as a second lens for someone with only a standard 18-55mm zoom, or as a useful everyday “standard” lens for full-frame DSLRs.

IN BRIEF A good all-in-one travel camera option for Society members who don’t always want to be swapping lenses

IN BRIEF Portrait lens for APS-C sensor Canon DSLRs (or EOS M3) suggests itself as an additional, general-use optic

542 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

GEAR SPY

The Takeway Clampod T1 £59.94

Intriguing Taiwanese support system for stabilising smartphones to DSLRs takeway.tw High-street chemist Boots is said to be ramping up its stock of film – in particular, Ilford-branded types – to meet a reported demand for the analogue format. Details are still sketchy about the previously announced full-frame Pentax DSLR, including an actual model name, with the camera said to feature an electronic compass and GPS but, unsurprisingly, no body-integral flash. Also on the way is a series of Toshiba-branded pro-level SD memory cards capable of handling 4K video, with a number of new models, particularly from Panasonic and Sony, shooting in the high-resolution format.

3 The Takeway Clampod

weighs just 200g including ballhead and is a small but strong support that can hold any device weighing under 3kg, including camcorder, DSLR, smartphone or tablet. A ballhead with a quick-release plate allows for quick mounting; the ballhead itself rotates 360 degrees.

A soft plastic handle and precise screw are the means via which the clamp can be fixed.

The maximum load capacity of the clamp, constructed from aerospace-grade aluminium alloy, is 40kg (maximum weight if ballhead is attached, however, is 3kg). Alternative ballheads can be installed for a higher load capacity to increase versatility.

IN BRIEF If you thought monopods and tripods were the only stabilisation options, the Takeway Clampod will give pause for thought

MEMBER TEST

4

Volkers’ kit (attached to the saddle for easy access)

Olympus OM-D MkII

5

Nissin Di700A flash & Adobe Photoshop Commander Air 1 £239.94 Lightroom CC From £8.57 Portable electronic flash plus controller option from third-party Japanese firm nissindigital.com

4 In Canon, Nikon and Sony

Creative Cloud addition to the software suite available for a monthly fee adobe.com/uk

5 The idea is the provision of a

fits – and ‘best portable flash’ at the technical press’s 2015 TIPA Awards – the Di700A flash and Commander Air 1 boast 2.4GHz radio transmission up to 30m uninterrupted by angle of view or obstacles that would usually plague optical wireless transmitters. Different channels and radio IDs can be set, ensuring no misfires due to other units in use in the vicinity.

Flashgun and Commander can be bought separately as well as in a £239.94 bundle. The Nissin Commander Air 1 can control up to three groups of Di700A units, and combinations can be mixed for use as wireless TTL or manual flash.

‘round trip’ editing workflow, from Lightroom to Photoshop CC. With a response said to be up to 10 times quicker for certain features, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC is also being pitched as an ‘all new’ package, providing further tools to edit, enhance, organise and showcase photos. These include HDR merge – combining several shots taken at different exposures – plus panorama merge, and a facial-recognition feature. As well as automatically syncing photos with Lightroom CC on the desktop, on mobile devices it allows the access and editing of photo collections on the go, via Android and iOS systems.

IN BRIEF Want compact, portable artificial lighting? Go cable-free with this acclaimed radio-transmission wireless-flash system

IN BRIEF If you don’t mind paying a monthly fee for your software, Adobe’s subscription arguably provides the best in the business

‘It got a few dents along the way but it worked very well’ being bashed around on the I’ve just returned from an epic adventure, crossing the horse as it galloped.

With very little time while Namib Desert in Namibia on moving on the horse to horse for 10 days, via a change settings, I found route not attempted since that the usability was very 1921. I was lucky enough to intuitive. I was able to be asked to come on board change the aperture and to take photographs. speed with one hand while I took the new Olympus holding on to the reins.

OM-D MkII and a limited In future I would definitely amount of kit, so relied on take the OM-D on a trip like the camera’s two main lenses – the new 12-40mm this, as it’s so light and easy to use. Other cameras now and the 40mm-150mm. I seem too bulky. Olympus also took 15 spare batteries. has also really thought I had the camera mounted about the lenses; the on the saddle with a clip to 12-40mm is super fast and get to it quickly as we were lightweight, despite its galloping across the desert. metal construction. It got a I found the camera perfect few dents along the way but for the job as the new body it worked very well. is super light and robust, The image quality made from a metal alloy, appears to be great. I have which was perfect because just processed my files, and I knocked it around a lot. the colour and depth are The fact that it has very few fantastic. I look forward to moving parts also helped seeing the results in print. when it was constantly

Resting the horses after a long day REVIEW BY PHILIP VOLKERS ARPS

Since receiving the inaugural Society/Jeff Vickers MBE bursary for aspiring young talent in 2009, Volkers has produced striking reportage, fashion and other images. See philipvolkers.com

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 543

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TECHNIQUE MASTERCLASS

Essential Photoshop

ABOUT THE AUTHOR DAMIEN DEMOLDER A photographer and journalist, Demolder is the former editor of Amateur Photographer

Damien Demolder gives his tips for correcting contrast, noise and colour LOWER CONTRAST, INCREASE CLARITY 1 It’s tempting to use high contrast to increase the impact of a picture, but usually this comes at the cost of highlight and shadow details. As with pro images in glossy magazines, it is often more effective to process with lower contrast to retain those areas, and increase clarity, or mid-tone contrast, using a tweak right in the middle of a curve. This lifts an image and adds punch, without blowing highlights, and maintains a realistic atmosphere.

BEFORE

AFTER

| THE CRAFT | 545

BEFORE

High-contrast settings can burn out highlights and block shadows

This image needs to be colour corrected – but why?

The man’s grey hoodie is actually red, blue and magenta …

Increase clarity for RAW files or add mid-tone contrast for JPEGs

BEFORE

AFTER

INCREASE SATURATION TO SEE A COLOUR CAST 3 Do you ever sit looking at a picture for ages, knowing the colour isn’t right but not being able to work out what exactly is wrong with it? Yes, I thought so – it is a common enough

experience. I’ve found that by turning up the colour saturation (control U) of the image the “wrong” colour becomes exaggerated and more obvious – and thus easier to identify.

We can then put the saturation back to normal and fix the offending hue.

AFTER

Noise reduction can lead to lost detail; adding grain puts back in sharp texture to fool the eye

GRAIN HIDES NOISE 2 A touch of subject movement can take the edge off detail in your picture, as can dramatic image noise – or noise-reduction processes in-camera.

WORKSHOP

Slightly blurred digital pictures can look OK; often they just don’t.

A solution can be to conceal the blur with a layer of fine grain. Try the grain filter in Photoshop or the grain effect in

ONE AND TWO!DAY PHOTOSHOP

Camera Raw. Keep the grain fine, monochromatic and don’t be afraid to add quite a lot. The layer of grain gives the eye something to grasp on to and adds the appearance of sharpness and detail.

This is the colour-corrected image, after toning down magenta

THERE ARE TWO PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOPS COMING UP AT SOCIETY HQ IN BATH, ON 20 SEPTEMBER AND 3,4 OCTOBER. FOR MORE VISIT RPS.ORG/LEARNING VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 545

IN DEPTH 546 | THE CRAFT | TECHNIQUE

Layer player

SINGLE SOURCES ’Select the required areas from your donor images, then paste them on top of the base image one at a time’

Leigh Eros reveals how she created her otherworldly image Trust

F

or years I’ve been an amateur photographer, documenting my life and the world around me.

Last year that all changed and I delved into the world of fine art and conceptual imagery. Now I approach photography in a very different way – it is just one of the tools used to express my imagination. It is half of the equation, with postprocessing and manipulation in Photoshop being the equally important other half.

This image was born of a desire to challenge myself to learn new techniques and create something I hadn’t before. I planned for it to be a woman floating downwards in an underwater scene, and knew the shape I wanted to see in the woman’s body.

This wasn’t something I could achieve without using compositing techniques in Photoshop, so I had to take all the images needed for piecing together the figure’s shape. I used a black backdrop during the shoot, and to make separating me (the model) from the background as easy as possible I needed contrast, so chose a pale dress and a wig to cover my dark hair.

In the image, the light would be coming from above; I had to position myself so the light coming in through my window was hitting the side that I planned to turn and face up towards.

I also needed to maintain a consistent relationship between my body and the

I DON’T CREATE IMAGES TO MAKE A VIEWER FEEL A SPECIFIC WAY BUT TO LOOK INTO MYSELF

camera, otherwise the angle and perspectives wouldn’t match when compositing the body parts, rendering the image unbelievable.

There are many ways to composite body parts, but this method works for me.

I started by opening my base

546 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

image, in which I liked the head and arm placements most, then opened up images from which to take other parts, selected those areas, then pasted them on top of my base image one at a time – using layer masks to obscure the unwanted parts.

I slowly built up the shape and flow of limbs, hair and fabric then, once the figure was complete, filled the background with pure black.

After creating the figure as first envisioned, I changed

my plans and ditched the underwater idea, using some images taken in the woods last autumn as the background. I placed my figure into the image using blending modes to remove the black background, and created a shadow below it.

Then came my favourite part of editing any image – colour and lighting adjustments. I don’t usually plan colour toning in advance, but just go with what feels right at the time.

COMPOSITE IMAGE ’If I feel a calmness, rather than an immediate urge to fix this or that, I know the image has reached a balance where I am able to let it go into the world’

composit eimage Clockwise, from above: Portraits of a polecat, a turkey and a goat saad’alda’sdla’;dla’dla’dla’dla’dla’dla’dlasd’asdasdfsfsfsfssfsfsfl

To alter the colour of selected areas, as well as global adjustment to the whole image, required selective colour, hue/ saturation and gradient map adjustment layers. I also used the Alien Skin Exposure program, modifying the light by selecting various areas and using curve adjustment layers, and the lighting effects filter in Photoshop.

Creating this image took around six hours, which is fairly average for me,

although some take significantly longer. I don’t like to rush and will keep working on an image until it feels complete. Deciding when an image is done is more a feeling than anything else. If I feel a calmness in me, rather than an immediate urge to fix this or that, I know it has reached a balance where I am able to let it go into the world. I don’t create images to make a viewer feel a specific way but to look into myself, and hope they

speak to others, even if they elicit a different response in each person.

It is titled Trust because, although it wasn’t what I set out to create, I trusted it would become something beautiful even when I had no idea what it might end up being. To realise I had developed that trust in myself as an artist was a revelation. I see a figure falling, surrendering to the knowledge that there is nothing left she can control,

aside from her own perception of those final moments of weightlessness, finding what beauty she can.

What do you see?

For more of Leigh Eros’s work, visit leighbishopphotography.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR LEIGH EROS

Eros worked as a vet for many years before finding her passion in fine art and conceptual photography.

Based in Edinburgh, she is available for portrait and commercial commissions

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 547

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| THE CRAFT | 549 MY FAVOURITE CAMERA

Canon PowerShot SX40 HS

David Kenward, winner of the My Perspective prize, on how his bridge camera takes him everywhere

Photography makes me happy.

It gives me a chance to show people how I see the world.

The best time for me to take photos is when I am out walking, which I do at least once a week. If I’m on holiday, I take my camera out with me every day.

It’s been everywhere, from Tanzania to the Norfolk Broads. I’ll take anything that catches my eye – and I love to find quirky views, such as unexpected reflections in water.

My favourite camera is the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS bridge camera. I know it very well now, after being given it three years ago by my family. They knew I enjoyed photography, and wanted to help me do more. It’s got good, easy-to-use functions – the best, for me, being the 35x zoom, which helps with taking wildlife shots. I have taken lots of photographs of birds in the wild. With the powerful zoom, I can take pictures without them knowing I’m there.

When I got the camera, my Dad helped me work through the settings and functions. We learned together, and

practised until I was confident to use it on my own. I mainly keep it on auto and programme, as some of the other settings confuse me.

I have had photographs in several exhibitions, including Heart and Sold, a collective set up to show artworks by people with Down’s syndrome, in London, Manchester and Keswick, and four of my photographs have been selected as part of their next exhibition in London and New York – so my photographs will be in a gallery on Fifth Avenue.

I have had my own exhibitions too; I had a solo exhibition in York and I have my photos in a shop there, called Blueberry at Silver Street, which showcases goods from Yorkshire by people who have disabilities.

My dream trip would be to go to the Arctic to photograph the landscape and the wildlife. I don’t think I’ll ever stop exploring the world through my camera. In fact, I would like to take photographs forever.

MISTY MINSTER David Kenward says of his award-winning image, ‘it is a mysterious, moody picture’

AUTHOR PROFILE DAVID KENWARD In June, the York-based photographer won the sixth My Perspective prize, awarded to photographers with Down’s syndrome, organised by the Down’s Syndrome Association (and supported by GlaxoSmithKline).

See more of Kenward’s work at facebook.com/ davidkenwardphotography VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 549

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MEMBER Feast for the senses

The biennial National Audio Visual Championships gear up

I

n September the 2015 National Audio Visual Championships will take place at Staffordshire University.

Since it began in 1980 the event has grown to become the most important in the UK audio visual (AV) calendar and attracts talented practitioners from all over the country.

Entrants will be displaying what 2013 Gold Medal-winner Malcolm Imhoff FRPS describes as ‘excellence in photography, skill in the use of sound, and energy and flair in production’.

Imhoff, who won top prize with his work Soul Music, says AV as a genre has the power to ‘touch people’s lives’.

GUIDE

551

YOUR RPS EVENTS ! COURSES PROGRAMME

JUL!AUG!SEP

GO TO RPS.ORG/EVENTS FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

Above and below: stills from Soul Music, the 2013 Gold Medal-winning audio visual by Malcolm Imhoff FRPS

‘I believe the best AVs are the ones where excellence in photography, skill in the use of sound, and energy, and flair in the production all come together to create a presentation which is greater than the sum of its parts.

‘It is an incredibly powerful art form and I put that down to the fact that it is very concentrated.’

AV fans at the championships this year will see the return of “The Wild Card”, with the audience having the chance to view all the works that have not been pre-selected, and to vote for their favourites.

The National Audio Visual Championships take place from 4–6 September. See page 554 for details VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 551

552 | GUIDE | `` The Idea Store, 21 Whitechapel Road, E1 1BU

`` Del Barrett ARPS, as above London Naturally talk THURSDAY 16 JULY/ 19.00-21.00

`` See website for costs `` Photographing my local patch by Robert Camley

`` Camley Street Natural Park, 12 Camley Street, N1C 4PW

`` Del Barrett ARPS, as above Street workshop SATURDAY 18 JULY / 9:45-14:00

`` Bustle about Bermondsey `` This workshop will venture from Tower Bridge to Maltby Street Market

`` Tower Gateway DLR Station, Minories, EC3N 1JL

`` Del Barrett ARPS, as above Urban Feedback SATURDAY 25 JULY / 10:30-16:30

`` As preparation for the London Urban

REGIONS

Meet photographers and view work in your area

Don’t miss the Bleeding London exhibition, on display during July and August Image: SE19 Courtney Close

by Britta Giersche

EIRE MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN FRPS, 00353 861 739 875 info@mosullivan.com LONDON DEL BARRETT ARPS

CENTRAL

londonevents@rps.org

photography books, we have arranged a number of portfolio feedback sessions `` Nikon Centre of Excellence, 63-64 Margaret Street, W1W 8SW `` Del Barrett ARPS, as above

Towards your ARPS in Natural History SATURDAY 25 JULY - SUNDAY 26 JULY / 10:00-17:00

MIKE SHARPLES ARPS, 07884 657535 mikes.sharples@virgin.net

The Bookworm Club (4)

Distinctions Advisory Day (Creative/Pictorial) LRPS or ARPS

`` Free but numbers are restricted due to

WEDNESDAY 1 JULY / 18:30-21:00

venue size `` The Crusting Pipe, 27 The Market Building, Covent Garden, WC2E 8RD `` Del Barrett ARPS, as above

SATURDAY 22 AUGUST / 10:00-16:00

`` £20/£15/£5 spectators `` Colin Harrison FRPS and Clive Haynes FRPS advise

First Tuesday meeting

`` Smethwick Photographic Society, Churchbridge, West Midlands B69 2AS `` Mike Sharples ARPS, as above

TUESDAY 7 JULY / 19:00-21:00

`` The Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, SE10 8RS

`` Del Barrett ARPS, as above

EAST ANGLIA IAN WILSON ARPS, 07767 473594

Bleeding London exhibition

ian@greenmen.org.uk

WED 8 JULY - FRI 14 AUGUST / 18:30-18:00

LRPS Assessment Day

`` Culmination of the photography project `` City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, SE1 2AA `` Del Barrett ARPS, as above

SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER / 10.30-17.30

`` Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, CB22 6XR

`` See website for costs `` Talks and workshops including an ARPS advisory session with Natural History panel assessors David Osborn FRPS and Clive Rathband FRPS `` Premier Inn London Heathrow Airport, 15 Bath Road, Hounslow, Middlesex TW6 2AB `` Del Barrett ARPS, as above

ARPS Advisory Day Travel, Conceptual and Contemporary WEDNESDAY 29 JULY / 10:30-16:00

`` See website for costs `` Nikon Centre of Excellence, 63-64 Margaret Street, W1W 8SW

`` Del Barrett ARPS, as above NORTH WALES DON LANGFORD LRPS, 01758 713572 donchrislangford@btinternet.com

RPS London and Nikon School workshop series: the art of image composition

DR AFZAL ANSARY ASIS FRPS, 07970 403672

THURSDAY 9 JULY / 10:30 -16:30

afzalansary@aol.com

ralph.emrps@gmail.com

`` £75 `` Increase your understanding and

Distinctions Advisory Day

Distinctions Advisory Day LRPS, ARPS in VA both sections, and Nature

confidence when composing images `` Nikon Centre of Excellence, 63-64 Margaret Street, W1W 8SW `` Del Barrett ARPS, as above

`` Reception, 01225 325733, lrps@rps.org EAST MIDLANDS RALPH BENNETT ARPS, 01636 651277

SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER / 10:30- 16:00

`` See website for costs `` The panel advisors are: LRPS Peter Yeo; ARPS Visual Pictorial and Creative Andy Wilson; ARPS Nature TBA `` Park Inn by Radisson Nottingham, Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG5 2BT `` Ralph Bennett ARPS, as above 552 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

GO TO

Lightroom Develop workshop

RPS.ORG/EVENTS FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

`` £55 (£45 members) `` This workshop, led by Julian Rouse, is

SATURDAY 11 JULY/ 10.00-16.15

aimed at beginners or existing users who feel they are not best utilising the develop part of the workflow solution

NORTH WEST

SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER / 10.30-16.30

`` £20/£15/£10 spectator `` For LRPS and ARPS in Applied, Conceptual and Contemporary, Creative, Pictorial and Travel `` Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Manchester M21 7SX `` Afzal Ansary FRPS, as above

Autumnal photography field meeting SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER / 10:00-16:00

| GUIDE | 553 LRPS Advisory Day in Surrey

`` At its most photogenic in autumn, the Langdale Valley has stunning views `` Nina Agnew, 07811 403125, ninaagnew@yahoo.co.uk

SUNDAY 5 JULY / 10:30-16:30

`` £20/£15/£10 spectators `` Fully booked for participants `` Cobham Village Hall, Lushington Drive, Cobham, Surrey KT11 2LU

NORTHERN

Architectural and Travel photography in and around Exeter SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER / 12:00-19:00

`` Shoot old and modern buildings and street scenes around the city centre

`` Terry McGhie ARPS, as above

`` Exeter Cathedral, Exeter,

Photography in Durham

ARPS Advisory Day: Pictorial, Natural History and Travel

`` Reception, 01225 325733,

THURSDAY 6 AUGUST - FRIDAY 7 AUGUST

SUNDAY 2 AUGUST / 10:30-16:30

`` Durham DH1 3EH `` Aline Hopkins,

`` £20/£15/£10 spectators `` Canterbury Christ Church University,

alinehopkins@btinternet.com

Old Sessions House, North Holmes Road, Canterbury CT1 1QU `` Terry McGhie ARPS, as above

JANE BLACK ARPS, 0191 252 2870 j.black70@btinternet.com

`` See Travel group for details Society Lecture: Sandy Cleland FRPS

SOUTH WALES

THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER / 19:00-21:30

MIKE LEWIS, 07855 309667, 01446 710770

`` Durham Photographic Society,

mikeglewis101@btinternet.com

St Oswald’s Church Institute, Church Street, Durham DH1 3DQ `` Alan Sharp, 0191 384 1539

MARTIN HOWSE ARPS, 01326 221939

SOUTH WEST mghvkh@btinternet.com

Society Lecture: An Intermit Moment – Laura Pannack

SW Visual Art Group Members’ Day

THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER / 19:00-21:30

`` Durham Photographic Society, St

SATURDAY 18 JULY / 10:30-16:00

`` £8/£5/£3 group members `` The Dolphin, Station Road, Bovey

Oswald’s Church Institute, Church Street, Durham DH1 3DQ `` Alan Sharp, 0191 384 1539

Tracey TQ13 9AL

NORTHERN IRELAND

SCOTLAND

SATURDAY 12 SEPTEMBER / 12:00-17:00

`` Explore the largest collection of grade 1 listed buildings in Europe

`` Royal William Bakehouse, 3 Bakehouse, Royal William Yard, Plymouth PL1 3RP `` Mick Medley, 01626 824865, michael.medley@btinternet.com

West Cornwall Group meeting TUESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER / 19:30-21:30

`` Bi-monthly Group meeting `` Chacewater Village Hall, Church Hill, Chacewater, Truro TR4 8PZ

`` Vivien Howse ARPS, 01326 221939 , vivien939@btinternet.com SOUTHERN VACANT

linda.wevill@btinternet.com

Contact Society HQ, reception@rps.org

West Cornwall Group meeting

MARK BUCKLEY-SHARP ARPS, 020 8907 5874

TUESDAY 21 JULY / 19:30-21:30

mark.buckley-sharp@tiscali.co.uk

`` Chacewater Village Hall, Church Hill,

JAMES FROST FRPS, 01578 730466, 07881 856294

Chacewater, Truro TR4 8PZ

james.frost11@btinternet.com

`` Vivien Howse ARPS, 01326 221939,

Photo forum – North East

vivien939@btinternet.com

SUNDAY 9 AUGUST / 11:00-16:00

Distinctions Advisory Day

Field trip to Royal William Yard, Plymouth

`` Linda Wevill FRPS,

damianmcdonald@outlook.com

Aberdeen AB24 5AA `` James Frost FRPS, as above

reception@rps.org

`` For details see Visual Art Group

DAMIAN MCDONALD ARPS, 07902 481691

`` £10/£8 RPS members `` A chance for constructive feedback `` Aberdeen Arts Centre, 33 King Street,

Devon EX1 1MS

THAMES VALLEY

DIG Thames Valley: forgotten heritage photography with Matthew Emmett SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-15:30

South West Region exhibition Matthew Emmett will be speaking to the DIG Thames Valley group on 13 September Image: Subterranean Reservoir

by Matthew Emmett

SATURDAY 1 AUGUST - SATURDAY 31 OCTOBER

`` The Region’s biannual exhibition `` R D & E Hospital, Barrack Road, Exeter EX2 5DW

`` Martin Howse ARPS, as above

`` £12/£8 group members `` Woosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 3DA `` Laurie Pate, digthamesvalley@rps.org `` For details see DI Group

SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER / 11:00-16:00

`` £20/£15/£10 spectator `` Bridge of Allan Parish Church, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW

`` James Frost FRPS, as above DI Group Scotland: September meeting SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER / 13:30-16:30

`` £8/£7 group member `` Bridge of Allan Parish Church, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW

Fellowship Advisory Day SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER / 11:00-16:00

`` £25 `` Edinburgh Photographic Society, 68 Gt King Street, Edinburgh EH3 6QU

`` James Frost FRPS, as above SOUTH EAST TERRY MCGHIE ARPS, 01323 492584 southeast@rps.org

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 553

INTEREST GROUPS 554 | GUIDE | SPECIAL `` Bob Train, 01452 521424,

WESTERN TONY COOPER ARPS, 01225 421097 tony@photoscoop.co.uk

Members’ meeting in Bath with presentation by Laura Pannack SUNDAY 12 JULY / 10:00-13:00

`` £7 `` Laura Pannack is a London-based

GO TO RPS.ORG/EVENTS FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

bobtrain@tiscali.co.uk

DI Group Western: Blurb book using Lightroom – Debbie Jones SUNDAY 6 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:00

`` A Blurb book makes a lovely coffee

photographer recently awarded the Society’s Vic Odden award for photographic achievement `` RPS HQ, Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH `` Tony Cooper ARPS, as above

table book or gift for friends and family.

The afternoon session will be our usual show and tell with prints or digital images from attendees `` Merryfield Village Hall, Ilton, Nr Taunton TA19 9HG `` Dennis Knowles, dennisknowles123@btinternet.com

Barrington Court field trip

Members’ meeting, Bath

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS Explore more about aspects of photography and imaging 3D IMAGING AND HOLOGRAPHY PETER FREEMAN LRPS, 01462 893633 3D@rps.org

SUNDAY 19 JULY / 10:00-13:00

SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-13:00

`` £9/free to National Trust members `` National Trust property of Barrington

`` Prints for discussion `` RPS HQ, Fenton House, 122 Wells

analogue@rps.org

Court near Ilminster, Somerset TA19 ONQ `` Mick Humphries LRPS, 01823 443955, mick@somersite.co.uk

Road, Bath BA2 3AH `` Tony Cooper ARPS, 07785 251208, tony@photoscoop.co.uk

RODNEY BERNARD THRING LRPS, 01276 20725

ANALOGUE DAVID HEALEY ARPS, 07968 746 211

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HERITAGE rodney.thring@ntlworld.com

LRPS and ARPS Advisory Day

YORKSHIRE

SUNDAY 26 JULY / 10:00-16:30

MARY CROWTHER ARPS, 07921 237962

`` £20/£15/£10 spectators `` A chance for members and non-

photobox50@gmail.com

Photography with the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade

members to present their prospective panels for consideration and advice by Distinction panel members `` RPS HQ, Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH `` Gordon James FRPS, 07890 016956, gjphotomail@gmail.com

THURSDAY 16 JULY / 10:00-15:00

`` £7 `` We have been granted places to be on site with the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade during one of their training days in Halifax `` Meet at the Viaduct Cafe in Dean Clough Mills for coffee and registration `` Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 5AX `` Mary Crowther ARPS, as above

Western Region members’ summer outing SUNDAY 9 AUGUST / 10:00-17:00

`` £15 `` Summer outing to be confirmed `` Tony Cooper ARPS, as above

Café session

Stewkley and Wing churches THURSDAY 23 JULY / 10.30

`` Photograph in Stewkley church, then after lunch visit nearby Wing church (Saxon and later, with fine tombs and roof) `` Mike Sasse, 01892 531179, mike.sasse@btinternet.com

Canons Ashby House THURSDAY 20 AUGUST / 10:00-16:00

`` £12 `` Photograph inside this Tudor house `` Near Daventry, Northamptonshire NN11 3SD

`` Keith Evans FRPS, 01732 743943, richard.evans943@btinternet.com

SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-12:30

Members’ meeting, Highnam

`` A great way of meeting like-minded

SUNDAY 23 AUGUST / 10:00-13:00

`` £5 `` A chance for members around Gloucester to show and discuss their work

`` Parish Rooms, Highnam Community

Centre, Newent Road, Highnam GL2 8DG

Head to Barrington Court with the Western Group this month Image: The Strode House, © National Trust Images/ Mark Bolton

photographers. Join your regional organiser for a tea/coffee and chat with old and new friends `` White Cloth Gallery, 24 Aire Street, Leeds LS1 4HT `` Mary Crowther ARPS, as above

AUDIO VISUAL HOWARD FISHER LRPS, 0115 9372898 handjaf@virginmedia.com

2015 National Audio Visual Championship FRIDAY 4 - SUNDAY 6 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:00

`` See website for costs `` Alongside entries from audio visual authors, film and video authors will be invited to enter for the first time `` Ruxton Lecture Theatre, Ruxton Technology Centre, Beaconside Campus, Staffordshire University, Stafford ST18 0AD `` Edgar Gibbs FRPS, edgar.gibbs@ntlworld.com CONTEMPORARY PETER ELLIS LRPS, 07770 837977 wordsnpicsltd@gmail.com CREATIVE BARRY COLLIN LRPS creativechair@rps.org DIGITAL IMAGING DENNIS KNOWLES dennisknowles123@btinternet.com

554 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

| GUIDE | 555 DIG Western: Blurb book using Lightroom – Debbie Jones SUNDAY 6 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:00

`` Jones is going to show how to make a Blurb photobook using Lightroom

`` Merryfield Village Hall, Ilton, Nr Taunton TA199HG

`` Dennis Knowles,

dennisknowles123@btinternet.com

DIG Thames Valley: forgotten heritage photography with Matthew Emmett SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-15:30

`` £12/£8 group member `` Demonstration of the planning, capture and processing of two (or more) images

`` Woosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close, Wokingham RG41 3DA

`` Laurie Pate, digthamesvalley@rps.org DIG Scotland: September meeting SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER / 13:30-16:30

`` £8/£7 group member `` Details to follow `` Bridge of Allan Parish Church, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW

Enjoy the stunning Cornish coastline at Falmouth with the Travel group this October Image: Wheal Coates by Margaret Hocking

Road, London EC1V 2PD

`` Go to rms.org.uk/MMRD-2015 or contact Dr Afzal Ansary FRPS, as above

Falmouth TR11 4NZ

NATURE RICHARD REVELS FRPS, 01767 313065

Digital Imaging Expo 2015 SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER / 8:30-18:00

Nature Group field meeting to Risley Moss

Steve Caplin and Eddie Ephraums on a range of topics `` University of Warwick, Chemistry Building, Science Department, Library Road, Coventry CV47AL `` Rex Waygood, 01425 673216, digexpo@rps.org

TUESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER / 11:00

`` Photograph birds and insects `` Risley Moss Nature Reserve, Birchwood, Warrington WA3 6QS `` Nina Agnew, 07811 403125, ninaagnew@yahoo.co.uk TRAVEL

DOCUMENTARY MO CONNELLY LRPS, 01590 641849

A day around London FRIDAY 24 JULY / 11:30-18:30

IMAGING SCIENCE tonykaye@hotmail.co.uk MEDICAL DR AFZAL ANSARY ASIS FRPS, 07970 403672 afzalansary@aol.com

A one-day symposium SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER / 10:00-16:00

`` Microscopy in medical research and diagnosis `` Moorfields Eye Hospital, 162 City

Your events

To ensure inclusion of your events in The RPS Journal please post them on the RPS website six weeks prior to publication. For a list of deadlines, cancellations or lastminute amendments please contact Emma Wilson on 0141 375 0504 or email emma.wilson@ thinkpublishing.co.uk These listings are correct at time of going to print

and single supplement

`` Includes ancient and modern Japan, national parks, and riding the ‘Bullet Train’

`` Aline Hopkins,

alinehopkins@btinternet.com

Cambodia overland photo tour – May 2016 SATURDAY 21 MAY - THURSDAY 2 JUNE 2016

`` £3,479 `` A chance to experience life in rural

JENNIFER FORD ARPS, 01234 881459

WEDNESDAY 23 MARCH - THURSDAY 7 APRIL 2016

`` £3,020 per person excluding flights

`` £950 group member `` Highlights include Phnom Penh, the

FRIDAY 3 JULY - SUNDAY 19 JULY

jennyford2000@yahoo.co.uk

Japan – cherry blossom tour

KEITH POINTON LRPS, 01588 640592

Trip to Zambia and Malawi HISTORICAL

DR TONY KAYE ASIS FRPS, 020 8420 6557

bosrowynek@btinternet.com

bagpoint@aol.com

dvj@rps.org

series of visits to photography exhibitions in London, including two curator-led tours `` Meet at Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG `` Janine Freeston, janinefreeston@aol.com

`` Margaret Hocking, 01872 561219,

richard.revels@talktalk.net

`` See website for costs `` Hear from Joe Cornish HonFRPS,

`` The Historical Group has arranged a

dinner only

`` Guided visits to places of interest `` The Falmouth Hotel, Castle Beach,

Africa by spending a week with the Book Bus Project in South Luangwa, Zambia, followed by a few days exploring the community or taking a safari. `` Liz Rhodes, lizrh@tiscali.co.uk

Photography in Durham THURSDAY 6 AUGUST - FRIDAY 7 AUGUST

`` A photographic tour of the city `` Durham DH1 3EH `` Aline Hopkins,

temples of Angkor and Tonle Sap lake

`` Phnom Penh, Cambodia `` Keith Pointon, 01588 640592, bagpoint@aol.com

Cambodia overland photo tour – November 2016 SATURDAY 12 - THURSDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2016

`` £950 group member `` Phnom Penh, Cambodia `` Keith Pointon, 01588 640592, bagpoint@aol.com VISUAL ART VIVECA KOH FRPS, 07956 517524

alinehopkins@btinternet.com

Viveca.koh@gmail.com

Western Canada

SW Visual Art Group members’ day

SATURDAY 29 AUGUST - SATURDAY 12 SEPTEMBER

`` £2,169 (one place remaining) `` From Calgary to Vancouver, through some of the west’s remarkable scenery

`` Aline Hopkins,

alinehopkins@btinternet.com

Weekend in Falmouth FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER - SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER

`` £140 members/£36 meeting and

SATURDAY 18 JULY / 10:30-16:00

`` £8/£5/£3 group member `` Bring 10 prints for discussion. If you do not want to show work we would still like to see you `` The Dolphin, Bovey Tracey, Station Road, TQ13 9AL `` Linda Wevill, linda.wevill@btinternet.com VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 555

556 | GUIDE |

PATRONAGE Society patronage has been granted to the following exhibitions and salons

2nd Creative International Digital Salon 2015 CLOSING DATE: 2 JULY

`` bplclub.in `` Ref: 2015/40 F2 / 4° Salon Internacional de Fotografia CLOSING DATE: 9 JULY

`` f2sociedadfotografica.com `` Ref: 2015/45 Photo Creators CLOSING DATE: 15 JULY

`` photo-creators.com `` Ref: 2015/41 The South Devon Salon of International Photography CLOSING DATE: 19 JULY

`` newtonabbotphotoclub.org.uk `` Ref: 2015/28

Sydney International Exhibition of Photography 50th CLOSING DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER

PSA China International Exhibition of Photography CLOSING DATE: 28 JULY

`` salon.psachina.org `` Ref: 2015/43

`` siep.org.au `` Ref: 2015/12

CLOSING DATE: 30 JULY

`` 2015cidpae.lsphoto.org/en `` Ref: 2015/04 36th Northern Counties International Salon 2015

SATURDAY 4 JULY - SUNDAY 5 JULY

Members’ Biennial Print exhibition

CLOSING DATE: 17 SEPTEMBER

UNTIL SATURDAY 8 AUGUST / 12:00-17:00

`` A showcase of the diversity and

Adriatic 2015 `` pca-exhibition.com/adriatic `` Ref: 2015/44

OVERSEAS CHAPTERS

Royal Photographic Society members around the world

CHONGQING `` CHINA, WESTERN Wei Han (Richard), oolongcha@ hotmail.com `` CHINA SHANGTUF Guo Jing, shangtuf@ yahoo.com.cn `` CHINA QUANZHOU

556 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

1b Dormer Place, Leamington Spa CV32 5AE

`` tppc-hk.org `` Ref: 2015/46

`` northerncountiessalon.org.uk `` Ref: 2015/33

`` CHINA

portraits of artists

`` Aspect Consultant, Empire House,

Tai Po Photography Club International Salon 2015

CLOSING DATE: 21 SEPTEMBER

Xiaoling Wang, hgudsh@163.com `` GERMANY Chris Renk, info@chrisrenk.de `` HONG KONG Shan Sang Wan FRPS, shansangwan@ yahoo.com.hk `` INDIA Rajen Nandwana, rajennandwana@ gmail.com `` INDONESIA Agatha Bunanta ARPS, agathabunanta@ gmail.com `` ITALY Olivio Argenti FRPS,

LESLEY GOODE, EXHIBITIONS MANAGER 01225 325720, lesley@rps.org

`` An exhibition of wet-plate collodion

`` srbijafoto.rs `` Ref: 2015/47

CLOSING DATE: 23 AUGUST

EXHIBITIONS ‘Through the Glass Darkly’ by Ray Spence FRPS

2nd International Salon Shadow 2015 CLOSING DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER

2015 The 5th China International Digital Photography Art Exhibition

`` AUSTRALIA Elaine Herbert ARPS, eherbert@ alphalink.com.au `` BENELUX Stephen Johns, Steve_johns@me.com `` CANADA John Bradford, jb.rps@cogeco.ca `` CHINA BEIJING Yan Li, yanli88@yahoo.com

View the members’ biennial print exhibition in Tyne and Wear until 9 August Image: Josef K, Under Spotlight by Lawrence Cheung

creativity that exists within the Society

`` Arts Centre Washington,

Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Tyne and Wear NE38 8AB

info@rps-italy.org CONCEIVING A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION SAT 4 - SUN 5 JULY

`` Weekend workshop with Chapter organiser Olivio Argenti FRPS and Emmanuelle Hascoet, director of exhibitions, Magnum Paris. `` Tevere Art Gallery, Via di Santa Passera, 25, Rome `` JAPAN TOKYO Yoshio Miyake, yoshio-raps@ nifty.com `` MALAYSIA

Nick Ng, nickng6208@ gmail.com `` MALTA Ruben Buhagiar, info@rubenbuhagiar. com `` NEW ZEALAND Mark Berger rps@moothall.co.nz `` SINGAPORE Steven Yee Pui Chung FRPS, peacock@ sandvengroup.com `` SOUTHERN SPAIN Mike Naylor, mike@mikenaylor.es `` SRI LANKA

Romesh de Silva, romesh@access.lk `` SWISS CHAPTER Richard Tucker ARPS, tucker42@bluewin.ch `` TAIWAN Joanie Fan Hui Ling ARPS, djpassionfoto@ gmail.com `` USA ATLANTIC CHAPTER Carl Lindgren, lindgren.carl@ gmail.com `` USA PACIFIC CHAPTER Jeff Barton, rps@vadis.net

| GUIDE | 557

WORKSHOPS

Hear from the experts and hone your skills

Shutter to print colourmanagement training WEDNESDAY 1 JULY / 10:00-15:00

`` £45/£33 members `` Get accurate colour results with digital photography every time

Macro and art photography THURSDAY 2 JULY / 10:00-16:30

`` £35/£26 members `` Learn how to produce high-quality macro and close-up images

`` The Open University, Milton Keynes

Introduction to the creative eye SATURDAY 4 JULY / 10:00-16:30

`` £95/£71 members `` Spot photographic potential Wildlife photography

Better digital printing SAT 5 - SUN 6 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:30

`` £175/£150 members `` This course will enable you to get the best images possible from your printer

Learn the basics of Photoshop with this introductory workshop, Sunday 20 September Image: Shutterstock

SUNDAY 5 JULY / 10:00-16:30

`` £45/£33 members One-day introduction to your digital SLR SATURDAY 11 JULY / 10:00-17:00

`` £63 members Different landscapes – Monyash SATURDAY 18 JULY / 9:00-18:00

`` £130/£105 members `` Discover inspiration in the heart of the Peak District

`` Monyash Methodist Church Hall, Bakewell, Peak District

Studio portraiture SAT 25 JULY - SUN 26 JULY / 10:00-16:30

`` £160/£135 members `` Take great images in a studio environment

Developing compositional and critiquing skills SATURDAY 12 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:30

`` Led by Tony Worobiec `` £45/£33 members

approaches that enable you to apply your creative vision to photographs. Starting with the essential Photoshop tools, Humphrey demonstrates how they can be used, often in combination, to produce ‘photographic art’ `` Walton Hall, Milton Keynes

Art nude photography SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:30

Shooting for stock

`` £115/£90 members `` Learn about lighting a nude and

MONDAY 14 SEPTEMBER / 10:30-16:30

`` £65/£48 members `` Get the most from your images

producing high-quality photographs.

The lighting techniques are suitable for pregnancy and maternity photography `` Lacock, Wiltshire

with the potential to license and sell them through image libraries and other stock suppliers

Creative techniques in Photoshop THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-16:30

`` £95/£71 members `` John Humphrey shows a range of

Work with a professional ballerina during a creative dance lighting workshop, on 26 September Image: Shutterstock

One-day introduction to your digital SLR SATURDAY 19 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-17:00

`` £85/£63 members `` Get more creative with your camera and understand its buttons and menu functions

`` Lacock, Wiltshire

Introduction to Photoshop

Wedding photography business development

`` £95/£71 members

SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-17:00

SAT 22 AUGUST - SUN 23 AUGUST / 10:00-16:30

`` £160/£135 members `` This workshop offers practical experience shooting a bride and groom in a beautiful location, as well as professional business advice `` Lacock, Wiltshire

Wedding photography techniques WEDNESDAY 2 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-17:00

`` £135/£110 members `` A workshop for experienced wedding pros and beginners

`` Thrumpton, Nottingham

The goal of this workshop is to teach you how to use the tools, concepts and workflows needed to succeed and develop good practice

Creative dance lighting photography SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER / 10:00-17:00

`` £115/£90 members `` In this creative dance lighting workshop you will learn how to create multi-image and strobe effects and will have the opportunity to work alongside a top model and professional ballet dancer `` Square 1 Studio, Leigh, Surrey

VOL 155 / JULY 2015 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 557

REPORT !

AGM NEWS 558 | GUIDE | COUNCIL

JOURNAL COUNCIL REPORT ! APRIL 2015 In a change to previous practice the Society’s departmental managers had provided written reports of day-to-day matters in advance of the meeting, allowing Council to give greater consideration to more strategic issues.

SOCIETY FINANCE

`` Geoff Blackwell reported that the Society had a strong cash position and a further instalment of a legacy had been received. This had been set aside in the development fund and would be put on to short-term investment. The 2014 audit had been completed. `` The change of investment advisors had gone ahead and the investment committee would be meeting with Brewin Dolphin on 11 May. SOCIETY PREMISES

`` Geoff Blackwell reported that there might be possible premises in Bath. The Director-General would be arranging a meeting with the Council to gauge its intentions.

MEMBERSHIP `` Membership stood at 11,337.

Council thanked the Membership Department for its work at the Photography Show. Simon Bibb agreed to prepare lapsed and new member survey data for the next Council meeting. `` Vanessa Slawson reported that a review of Society recruitment and retention processes would be a useful exercise. Geoff Blackwell said that a marketing review would need to be held over until the 2016 budget. A brief would be prepared. `` The Regional Organisers’ day would take place in Birmingham on 18 July with all ROs or their substitute required to attend.

The day would be used as an

opportunity to firm up minimum standards for the regions and potential programme ideas.

GROUPS/REGIONS/OVERSEAS CHAPTERS `` A request had been received from the AV Group asking the Council to allow festival organisers to enter the competition provided they had no close relationship with the selection jury. After discussion Council supported the request. `` Peter Hartland had stepped down as Southern Region RO and Vanessa Slawson offered to send a letter to the region seeking nominations for a replacement.

She had visited the North Wales Region and taken part in a successful Advisory Day and Introduction to Distinctions. `` Richard Tucker had notified that he would present a paper on overseas members at the next Council meeting.

AWARDS Robert Albright noted the potential absence of a number of award winners from this year’s ceremony.

Jo Macdonald said that substitutes would be sought who could collect awards and, where possible, the main recipients would be filmed for the evening.

STAFF AND MANAGEMENT MATTERS `` A report from Michael Pritchard, Director-General, had been circulated. He asked that Council approve a change of job title for Ben Fox to Senior Distinctions Assistant reflecting his increased responsibilities. This was unanimously agreed by the Council.

DISTINCTIONS

`` Council approved nominations for the imaging science qualification,

Licentiate, Imaging Science and ASIS FRPS. Andy Moore announced that the online advice and guidance had been soft launched and seven applications had already gone through the processes. Panel members with the right skills had been selected to support the initiative. The panel chair would be given a copy of the advice when an application was assessed.

He was asked to demonstrate the online advice and guidance at the next meeting.

EXHIBITIONS

`` Gary Evans detailed the Light Works tour schedule, which included a showing outside the Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff.

EDUCATION, WORKSHOPS AND TRADE SHOWS `` David Cooke provided an update on the Open University course. The press release had been prepared and would be sent to Regional Organisers, as well as the wider photography press. There would be an article in the May Journal. The first course presentation would start on 6 June. `` Walter Benzie noted that attendances at the Society workshops had returned to their previous high levels following the dip in 2014.

WEBSITE

webmasters could be given an induction into the website.

She said that she had already done this with a number of individuals and would arrange more as required.

ADVISORY BOARD, COUNCIL AND GOVERNANCE `` Robert Albright had noted that there could be a discrepancy in By-Law 13.5 concerning the election of those co-opted on to Council. After discussion, Council agreed that a review of the by-laws and rules and election process should be addressed by the next Council in time for recommendations to be considered at the 2016 AGM. `` Derek Birch asked that any responses to the first draft of the annual report for 2014 which had been circulated be sent to him by the end of May. Volunteer hours for some groups and regions had been estimated.

EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS

`` Robert Albright had attended the PAGB executive meeting and reported that Roy Thomas had been elected as president and Gordon Jenkins as vice-president.

Council appreciated that Roy Thomas would continue attending the Advisory Board.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

`` Emily Mathisen reported that the

`` The Director-General reported

online advice and guidance had been launched. The online bursaries application process had also started and the first applications were coming through the website.

She reported that her issue list was significantly smaller and her focus in the short term would now be on content. No new development work was scheduled. `` Derek Birch asked whether

that Professor Mark Richardson had been appointed by publisher Maney as the new editor of the Imaging Science Journal. A press release would be issued by Maney in conjunction with the Society.

Derek Birch welcomed the appointment and noted that Professor Richardson would be attending the next Science Committee meeting.

NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN

Registered Charity no. 1107831 Notice is hereby given that the annual general meeting of the Society will be held at Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH on Saturday 26 September 2015 at 10.15am. The business of the meeting will be: `` To receive the minutes of the 2014 annual general meeting as previously circulated

`` To approve the trustees’ report

and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014 as previously circulated `` To authorise the Council of The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain to appoint and to agree a fee for the Society auditors in 2015 `` To receive the results of the Society elections for the period 2015-2017.

By order of the trustees.

558 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

Dr Michael Pritchard Director-General The registered office of the Society is Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH. Note: The minutes of the 2014 annual general meeting, together with the trustees’ report and accounts will be available as a download from the Society website

on or after 27 July 2015. Any member wishing to obtain a hard copy of the above documents should contact: Dr Michael Pritchard Director-General The Royal Photographic Society, Fenton House, 122 Wells Road, Bath BA2 3AH. Tel: 01225 325730 (direct line) Email: director@rps.org

When worlds collide

Weegee the Famous, Coventry, 1963 by Dr Richard Sadler HonFRPS

S

panning the Atlantic and a sea of cultural difference, two men met in 1963.

Dr Richard Sadler HonFRPS (b. 1927) relates how this iconic image – Weegee the Famous, Coventry, 1963 – was made: ‘Weegee was sent to Coventry; I was already

there.’ Sadler was given the job of Weegee’s minder when Owen Owen hired the American photographer to promote Russian cameras in its colossal department store.

One of the UK’s leading portraitists, Sadler trained as a photographer in the textile and aircraft industries in Coventry, eventually owning

560 / THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2015 / VOL 155

his own commercial studio.

Later, he became involved in education, finally becoming senior lecturer at what is now the University of Derby.

Weegee is the pseudonym of Arthur Fellig (1899-1968), a press photographer born in what is now Ukraine, renowned for his dark and gritty images of New York in

Weegee, captured in Coventry at a promotional event for the department store firm Owen Owen

the 1930s and 40s. Sadler’s image is about photographic vision, capturing Weegee’s gaze, as he focuses his camera on us, the viewer.

Moreover, it is the homage paid by one photographer to another, and the product of two disparate photographers who became friends.

PATRICIA RUDDLE ARPS

RICHARD SADLER HonFRPS/ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY/NATIONAL MEDIA MUSEUM

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