DI News April 2021
‘Pools’ by Joanne Van Praag Winner of the Digital Imaging monthly competition for March
WELCOME Where does the time go? Our next online event takes place on 24 April, almost exactly a year from the date of our first one - ‘What to Photograph in the Lockdown’ with John Gravett. What a strange year it’s been. As we take stock and consider our future direction, one thing is clear: we need some more volunteers to keep the Digital Imaging wheels turning. Our Eastern Centre Organiser is stepping down and we urgently need someone to fill that role. There’s a good team in place, so it’s not a question of starting from scratch. We are also looking for an Online Event Programme Secretary, a DI Centres Liaison and a Social Media Manager. Please contact Lyn Phillips (digsecretary@btinternet.com) if you can help. In the meantime, our next online event will be ‘The Wonderful Things Printing Can Do for You and Your Images’ with John Paul Caponigro: register here: rps.org/digonline18. Deborah Loth DI News Editor dignews@rps.org
Open for entries: INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION 12 January until 27 April 2021 The RPS International Photography Exhibition is in its 163rd edition. Be part of it - it’s open to everyone at all levels and ages, working in any subject or genre. Entry is made online using our submission platform. After the closing date, 27 April 2021, the online selection is made and shortlisted entrants are invited to submit prints for the final stage of selection. Entrants remain anonymous throughout the online and print selection process. For everything you need to know, visit rps.org/opportunities/ipe-163/.
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MONTHLY ONLINE COMPETITION The winner of our March monthly online competition was ‘Pools’ by Joanne Van Praag, featured on the cover. (For more information about the friendly monthly competition, including how to enter, visit www.rps.org/DIGMonComp.) Joanne Van Praag I am very surprised that I won looking at the competition but absolutely thrilled and humbled. With regard to the image ‘Pools’, this was taken indoors in front of a bay window that had net curtains, which diffused the light wonderfully. It was not southfacing so the light was very soft and not bright sunlight. My two-year-old great niece was running around and I wanted to capture a natural portrait rather than a posed one. I sat on the floor with my back against the window so I was at her level and waited. She ran up to the window, stopped and turned and looked straight at the camera – one shot and she was off. I softened the image using noise control, removed a few bits of lunch from around her face and sharpened up the eyes. All post processing using Lightroom. This is not a very technical image, so nothing much to explain. It was great light, a beautiful subject and very little to do post processing.
To view the gallery and not the ads, click where it says ‘VIEW 31 IMAGES’ in the upper righthand corner of the first image. DI News April 2021
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Second place was ‘Rusting Folds’ by Val Walker ARPS.
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Third place was ‘Cloudburst’ by Lynda Golightly LRPS.
DIGITAL IMAGING DISTINCTIONS Congratulations to members who gained Distinctions so far this year. All will be invited by Holly to submit their work and story to Accolade. Lorna Brown Diana Chan
FRPS Visual Art FRPS Visual Art
Alison Buchanan ARPS Visual Art Joe Doyle ARPS Janet Boulter John Chatley Philip Earl Mark Gillett Lynda Golightly Adrian James John Murphy StephenRoberts Gordon Spruce 6
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A UK MEMBER David Eaves ARPS, now settled in Leamington, has travelled widely with his camera. David Eaves ARPS Although I had an interest in photography as a boy – joining the school photographic society – I did not become seriously involved until 1970 when my work as a research chemist took me to Japan for a year. It was there I bought my first ‘proper’ camera, an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, which I still have! On my return to UK I joined the Sutton Coldfield club where I learned the basics of B/W printing and was encouraged to enter competitions and exhibitions. I remember my first entry to the Midland Photo Exhibition (now MidPhot) which comprised two fairly ordinary B/W prints and a third which was a bit experimental. This was a print made from two negs sandwiched in the enlarger to give a semi-abstract image which I called ‘Radiation’. It was this one which got accepted and I am sure this influenced the way my photography developed indicating that the viewer’s interest is likely to be stimulated if the image is that little bit different. Hence, over the years, I have ‘had a go’ at:
‘Bubble Dancer’ by David Eaves ARPS – images of dancer added to Apophysis fractal. DI News April 2021
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• Solarized prints and slides. • The ‘Colorvir’ process. • Slides sandwiched with ‘lith’ negative copies • The ‘etch/bleach/dye’ process • Reflection prints • Gum prints and cyanotypes In 2005, on my 70th birthday, after going down the digital route of slide scanning, I bought a digital camera (the Nikon D70 – what else!) and discovered the joys and tribulations of Photoshop. Suddenly, quite apart from the seductive world of Photoshop filters, all those difficult things like tonal control, colour adjustment and montaging became so much easier. I have been fortunate enough to travel widely and many of my images have been taken abroad. Prints, sometimes shown as panels, are my preferred ‘end product’ though I also like producing and showing AVs and photo books. The images shown here illustrate my current interests which range from Nature and Landscape to Abstract.
‘Bee Orchid’ by David Eaves ARPS – found locally, focus stacking used. 8
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‘The Birds’ by David Eaves ARPS – original image flipped to produce the reflection and birds added.
‘Evening on the Silk Road’ by David Eaves ARPS – a montage of camels added to dunes at Crescent Lake, China.
SUPPORT THE RPS WHILE SHOPPING ON AMAZON The RPS has registered with Amazon Smile. If you’re buying anything on Amazon, please do so through Amazon Smile and nominate the Royal Photographic Society - it will receive a donation of 0.5% of your net purchase price every time, and it won’t cost you anything! Details here. DI News April 2021
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PUBLICATIONS
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By the time you read this you should have received DIGIT 88. If you have something to contribute to DIGIT or to DI News then please do contact dignews@rps.org.
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AN OVERSEAS MEMBER Richard Tucker ARPS writes from Diesse, Switzerland to share the projects which now occupy him after a life in and out of photography. Richard Tucker ARPS I am retired. Pulled back into photography. Having started as a press photographer at 21, I spent 26 years in film, TV and AV for education. Even after a career switch to work with visually impaired people in Africa and Russia, photography was there to record and publicise. Now I live in a small Swiss village 850 meters up in the Jura mountains. No tourists, but full of people who do ordinary things that seem extraordinary to me. People, in their work environment or in the studio have become my photographic passion.
‘Baptism’ by Richard Tucker ARPS – from a series on a year in the life of the village Pastor. Two exhibitions held and book in production.
‘Lea’ by Richard Tucker ARPS – from a series of portraits of local people 12
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‘La Chase 1927’ by Richard Tucker ARPS – from Notre Plateau d’Antan, book and exhibition developed with the Pensioners of the Commune.
Occasionally there is some paid work but this unprepossessing village on a plateau provides work enough. Every day there are things to photograph. Every day one must learn to see what is there; and then learn how to shoot it.
‘Reed Cutting’ by Richard Tucker ARPS – from the project One Garden: One Year (in progress). DI News April 2021
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Sixty years on from thinking I knew how to take photographs, I experience the joy of having to think each shot through and sometimes getting it right. The pleasure comes from developing long term projects, which might mean following someone for many months or sequences across the seasons. Even restoration of old photographs has become an important element in preserving the memory of this farming community. The pandemic has put paid to much of my "people work" but the world is still there. The Camera Club cannot meet, the RPS Chapter works digitally at a distance, but the projects roll on and some will take years.... thankfully.
‘Washing the pig’ by Richard Tucker ARPS – from a project on a local craft butcher (book in preparation)
WIN A NIKON Z6
With support from Nikon, the RPS is running Exposure, a bi-monthly members photography competition. Be in with a chance of winning a fullframe, mirrorless Nikon Z6 and Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens and have your images published in the RPS Journal. All RPS members are eligible, but need to register and create a login for the Exposure Competition website. Your login details for rps.org will not work on the Competition website. 14
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ANOTHER UK MEMBER From her base in Exeter, Di Wilkins ARPS shares the fruits of her year of experimentation brought on by the pandemic. Di Wilkins ARPS I am a bit of a hermit photographer, shut away in my studio creating images of flowers and still life. So the Covid pandemic has not changed much in that respect, with the exception of not being able to visit gardens etc until June when the majority of spring flowers had long gone. I like to ‘have a go’ at different genres and have dipped my toe into Astro and Street Photography but with no degree of success I am afraid. Venturing out in the freezing cold and stumbling about in the pitch dark way into the night is not my idea of fun. I wish it were as some of my friends produce the most wonderful images. Landscapes come into their own when travelling, which I did a lot of before the pandemic, but with the curb on our movements this is on hold.
‘Verbena Grunge’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
‘Scabious Scoop’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
‘Tulip’ by Di Wilkins ARPS DI News April 2021
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However, the pandemic has forced me into a little experimentation, which I have enjoyed immensely. From trying to produce a perfect image of a cocktail glass with no shadows, processes such as weaving images, using clipping paths, and microscopy, all of which have been an education. It also got me into painting with pouring paints to create new texture backgrounds. I even made my own coronavirus which has appeared in a few images. It has also been an opportunity to slow down and practice with some lenses I have never totally got to grips with. In addition I have watched many presentations, sucking up knowledge like blotting paper.
‘Waiting to be photographed’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
‘Bubbles Jigsaw’ by Di Wilkins ARPS 16
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‘Collage Tulip Time’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
‘Simplicity’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
‘Veggie Still Life’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
‘Twirls and Clipping Paths’ by Di Wilkins ARPS
When the first lockdown was forced on us in March 2020 I endeavoured to produce an image a day, which was fun. Over the course of the year I have produced a new presentation, which I have already shown to various camera clubs, along with accompanying book entitled ‘My Coronavirus Incarceration Gallery’, which serves as a permanent reminder of this strange time. However, like most people, I now want to get back out there, especially before the spring flowers disappear. DI News April 2021
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WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS Ruth Adams Emmajane Avery Colin Bean Michal Birnbach Edward Campbell Stephen John Carroll ARPS Keith Collins Owen Cooper Brenda Dean LRPS Clive Dunkey Philip Earl LRPS Paul Eastaugh Heather Field Michael Flook LRPS Steven Gale David Gold Paul Gray Susan Jackson Sean Kitson LRPS Graeme Knibbs Pat Langford Swee Sing Vincent Lim Mark Linley Valerie Mather ARPS Max Melvin ARPS Peter Orton Cathy Pooley Diana Porter Caroline Preece LRPS Margret Preece ARPS Brian Priestley Stephen Purdy Julia Robertson Rafferty LRPS Peter Rees FRPS Gordon Rhind Esther Serrano Debra Swales Alison Trimbee LRPS Simon Webster Barrie Williams 18
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Sutherland Teddington Warwick Poland Colchester Sittingbourne Portugal West Wickham Chorley Rugeley Haverhill Norwich Tavistock Mansfield Warwick Portlethen Louth Ware Ireland Tadworth Worthing Singapore Worcester Wetherby Australia Harlow Canterbury Bath Arundel Arundel York Wimborne Hunstanton Shrewsbury Peterhead London Haywards Heath Rickmansworth Lowestoft Edinburgh
RPS DISTINCTIONS The new season of Distinctions assessments has now commenced, with an opportunity to book a place as an observer. The new year has ushered in exciting changes to the RPS Distinctions programme, including advice on Statements of Intent, a new Portraiture genre and observer places at Fellowship Assessments. There will be new 1:1 statement of intent review sessions. Bookings for 1:1 portfolio reviews are now open again. These are all covered on the Distinctions Update page of the RPS website. If you missed any of the excellent Distinctions Live talks, you can catch up HERE. The RPS Distinctions department has set up a schedule of new assessment dates up through June 2021. To see the most up-to-date information on availability on Distinction Assessment Days please choose from the following links: • Licentiate (LRPS) • Associate (ARPS) • Fellowship (FRPS) For Digital Imaging members, issue 8 of Accolade, which delves into members’ Distinctions successes, is now available. See the email message which announced this newsletter for a members-only link to it. The RPS has a FAQ page where you can find out more about the status of the assessment programme HERE. In addition, a number of Chapters and Regions have begun to offer online Distinctions Study Groups. You can find these by searching the RPS website HERE. And don’t forget the closed Facebook Group: RPS Distinctions **Official Group**.
RPS DISTINCTION OR PAGB AWARD? The RPS and PAGB are jointly running a very special event to look at both awards. This event will help you to decide by looking at the criteria, the application process and successful submissions at all levels to show the standard required for each award.
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DIGITAL IMAGING EVENTS & LISTINGS With restrictions on meeting venues still affecting all manner of gatherings, it is not hard to see why Digital Imaging Centres are having trouble resuming their previous style and frequency of programming. Many have taken their events online, and some are looking ahead to face-to-face meetings again. So keep an eye on the events page. And if you’d like to lend a hand, several centres need volunteers to help with Zoom events, so contact Lyn Phillips (digsecretary@btinternet.com) to get involved. The Digital Imaging online event programme we’ve been running since last April will continue indefinitely. Click on any of these ads to visit the event page:
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SIG & REGION LINK Clicking on any of these ads will take you to its RPS Events page where you can find more information:
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DIGITAL IMAGING DISCUSSION GROUP If you’re feeling a bit isolated and would like to hang out and chat about photography, please drop by Digital Imaging on Facebook where you can also ask – and answer - questions. You’ll need to join it before you can participate, but the advantage is that it’s a closed group open only to Digital Imaging members. It’s especially useful if you are experiencing FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out - as a number of useful things often show up there first.
THE RPS WEBSITE For guidance from the RPS on its website basics, visit https://rps.org/newwebsite. For detailed information on setting up your profile and how to set up a gallery, visit https://rps.org/media/i3aaf51z/myrps-editing.pdf. The RPS maintains a page with updates to COVID-19 issues here: https://rps.org/ covid-19. For everyone’s convenience, we include this list of shortcuts to the main Digital Imaging pages at the end of each newsletter. Digital Imaging website shortcuts: Digital Imaging Home page www.rps.org/DIG Membership www.rps.org/DIMembership Committee www.rps.org/DIGCommittee News www.rps.org/DIGNews Monthly Competition www.rps.org/DIGMonComp Print Circle www.rps.org/DIGCircle AGM www.rps.org/DIGAGM Print Exhibition www.rps.org/DIGExhibition Projected Image Competition www.rps.org/DIGPDI Tutorials www.rps.org/DIGTutorials Publications www.rps.org/digpubs There are links to all the Centres from the Digital Imaging Home Page. The three members-only links (DIGIT Archive, Accolade and Welcome Page) are to be found in the email message announcing this newsletter. The RPS Digital Imaging constitution can be downloaded HERE.
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