DI News December 2020
‘Rickety Fence’ by Dave Agnelli ARPS Winner of the Digital Imaging monthly competition for November
WELCOME Greetings and salutations! Although some RPS activity is winding down in the approach to the holiday season, there’s still a lot going strong. There’s a governance review in progress and a new weekly competition, a Sunday Photo Challenge, called #RPSTogether. As you can see from the ads at the end of this newsletter, there are many events scheduled. The next Digital Imaging online event will be a talk by the wonderful landscape photographer Paul Gallagher on 19 December. Not long thereafter, you’ll receive the latest DIGIT magazine and the PI Competition Catalogue, with Accolade 8 to follow in January. And an AGM to look forward to in February. Make a contribution No, this is not a seasonal appeal to your pocketbook. We’d like you to share your experience creating images in the DIGIT magazine ‘Challenge’ feature where DI members describe how they created a particular image. The finished picture is accompanied by the source image(s) and a description of how the author got to the completed work, with the step-by-step images showing the progressive build-up to the finished picture. It’s usually a question of about 500 words and 46 images. Contact Ian Thompson (irt@cygnetlodge.co.uk) if you’re able to make a contribution. Show us how brilliant you are! Lend a hand Many thanks to the new volunteers who have stepped forward after last month’s call for help: Jean Robson, Paul Evans and Robin Claydon. We still need folk who could help Centre Organisers run Zoom events. It’s not difficult, and we can provide any training you might need. In addition, we are still looking for: • • • •
Catalogue Editor Print Exhibition Organiser Online Event Programme Secretary DI Centres Liaison
Please contact Lyn Phillips (digsecretary@btinternet.com) if you can help. Have a wonderful holiday season Though the pandemic has wreaked havoc on everyone’s lives this year, I hope you are able to enjoy what’s left of it if not with your extended universe of friends and family, at least with your nearest and dearest. Stay safe! Deborah Loth DI News Editor dignews@rps.org 2 DI News December 2020
MONTHLY ONLINE COMPETITION The winner of our November monthly online competition was ‘Rickety Fence’ by Dave Agnelli ARPS, featured on the cover. He learned of his success in our competition in the same week that he was awarded his ARPS. (For more information about the friendly monthly competition, visit www.rps.org/ DIGMonComp.) Dave Agnelli ARPS AFIAP Occasionally, I like to try something more ‘creative’ and am always on the lookout for suitable subjects and material for this category which often does not always work out in the way I imagined but I find it a compelling exercise. Sometimes they do work and I am pleased that this image did well against the excellent images in this month’s competition. In June this year, my wife and I visited Cromer in Norfolk for a day trip (COVID having been relaxed somewhat!). Our arrival was met by a thick blanket of fog rolling in off the North Sea. Undaunted, I walked off along the clifftop with camera and tripod hoping to find a suitable subject which might be enhanced with a moody atmosphere. I soon came across an ineffectual wooden fence which was formerly acting as protective barrier near the edge of the cliff. A new boundary had been set up a few yards inland from it as the cliff is being slowly eroded. Fog was shrouding the headland in the background. On its own, the image would have been lacking in interest somewhat. The final image is a composite of three layers, the clifftop, fence, mist and headland, the wild flowers a second layer and the woman with child a third layer. The first layer is the clifftop and fence; the second is a selection of wild flowers taken in a field not far from where I was staying and the third layer is a cut-out of a woman and child I spotted on a beach in Thailand! Several edits later in Photoshop ACC, I was pleased with the result. My kit is a Sony a6300 with 3.5-6.3 / 18-200 Steady Shot Zoom lens and Gitzo Tripod. 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 December 2020
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Joint second place was ‘The Ambush’ by Kenneth Ness ARPS.
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Joint second place was also ‘A Wisp in the Wind’ by Linda Gates LRPS.
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WELCOME to our new members... Paul Atkinson Kenneth Bladen Yvonne Bright Michael Bright Simon Caplan LRPS Heather Carslake LRPS Diana Chan ARPS Jo Cope LRPS Christopher Cumming Loman FitzGerald Christine Holt Liz Kenny Ali Muspratt Gerard O'Brien Steven Parrish Lynn Pascoe LRPS Jacqueline Penfold Margaret Powley Paul Thackeray LRPS Alison Winterburn
Rugeley Saltburn-by-the-Sea Tadley Tadley Bristol Cheadle Hong Kong London Caterham Launceston Hoddesdon Frodsham Chester Limerick, Ireland Doncaster Truro Ashford Ormskirk Wimborne Warrington
DIGITAL IMAGING DISTINCTIONS Congratulations to members who gained Distinctions in October. All will be invited by Holly to submit their work and story to Accolade.
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Davide Agnelli Jan Beesley
ARPS Fine Art ARPS Fine Art
Guernsey Uckfield
Brian O’Callaghan Kevin Smoker
LRPS LRPS
Southwold Seaford
A UK MEMBER This month’s contributor, John Ainsworth ARPS, shares his long view on photography. For an elegant view on more of his images and his other interest, ranging from clarinet to woodworking, visit www.johnains.co.uk. John Ainsworth ARPS Having looked back at previous members contributions to DI News I think it can be said that most of those members are relatively recent to the fascinating world of photography (at my age ‘recent’ is in the last ten years or so) or are at the peak of their interest. Whereas I, at 87 and with limiting health problems, am rapidly approaching the end of my photographic journey. That journey began in 1945 when, at 11 years old, on the first family seaside holiday after World War 2, I persuaded my parents to buy me a simple camera that I had seen in a chemist’s shop window. Basically it
‘Wicken Fen, Cambridge’ by John Ainsworth ARPS DI News December 2020
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was a Bakelite (the plastic of the time) box camera which took 127 film. I can still remember the joy I experienced using the camera for the first time and then eventually seeing the results after commercial processing. I was hooked! Within a few years I had progressed into doing my own processing and had moved up to a 35mm viewfinder camera. 10
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‘West Dean, Sussex’ by John Ainsworth ARPS
Jumping ahead to the 1960s I joined the RPS and had a couple of my prints exhibited in their annual exhibition and one of my child portraits on the cover of Amateur Photographer. My subject interests were mainly landscape, portraits and family and friends. By the end of the 60s I was processing and printing my own colour prints and also processing slides. A growing family and house moves then caused a break in photography until the late 1970s and in the early 1980s I DI News December 2020
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joined the Molesey Camera Club where it was a joy to work and socialise with fellow enthusiasts and with their encouragement I re-joined the RPS and then obtained my Associateship in 1987. As early as 1990 I realised that digital photography was the future and I sold all my darkroom equipment. As digital cameras were very much in their infancy, and very expensive, I initially carried on using film but then scanned the negatives into a computer and printed them with an inkjet printer. I also had one of the first articles on digital photography published in the RPS Journal. The results at that time did not compare with the chemical process but I was impressed with the
‘Anemone’ by John Ainsworth ARPS
potential that I could see the future would bring. I am a technologically capable person and I had worked with computers since the early 1970s and had seen the advances that had been made in the previous twenty years. And now even more so in this 21st Century! Although I take very few pictures these days I still feel very happy to be carrying my camera. Currently it is a Sony RX10iv mirrorless which has the amazing zoom capability of 24mm – 600mm (35mm equivalent) and the results it provides exceed those I used to get, 40 years ago, with a medium format SLR. I can’t imagine what the next thirty years will bring but to those fellow photography 12
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‘Brixham Harbour’ by John Ainsworth ARPS
enthusiasts that will be around to see it I wish you all continuing enjoyment in this enthralling pursuit.
‘Chichester Canal’ by John Ainsworth ARPS DI News December 2020
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ANOTHER UK MEMBER Many DI members who achieve RPS distinctions will know Holly Stranks, as she dedicates considerable time and effort to her role as Assistant Editor of Accolade, our publication celebrating members’ achievements. As you can see from Holly’s RPS portfolio, she herself has recently achieved her own ARPS. Here she shows us what it means to be a dog-loving photographer. Holly Stranks ARPS Over the years the love of my dogs and my desire to take better pictures of them lead me to get more serious about photography. I joined my local camera club, watched a load of YouTube tutorials and entered competitions. Through this I discovered another love – that of landscape photography – hardly a surprise, I am out in the countryside every day on a dog walk. Depending on what lens I decide to take when the camera comes with me (I am a great advocate of prime lenses), depends on the style of image I take of the dogs and their surroundings. Through this I have come to enjoy taking more environmental portraits of the dogs and landscapes with my dogs in them.
‘Old Pals Jack & Cassie’ by Holly Stranks ARPS 14
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‘Reflected Pippa & Jack’ by Holly Stranks ARPS
This is purely for my own enjoyment, although some have been used in camera club competitions – with some success too! (Like this one).
‘Pippa in the Barley’ by Holly Stranks ARPS ‘t.
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I like to show a sense of humour too with these images. I send these to family and friends via social media, so it is good to have some fun with them.
‘I wonder if they can see me in here’ by Holly Stranks ARPS
The result of this is that I have fun with my camera whilst out with the dogs, and I have a lasting record of them doing what they love the most!
‘Where’s Dad going?’ by Holly Stranks ARPS 16
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When the sad day comes that we have to say goodbye to our beloved pets, our happy memories of them are triggered by looking back through the photos taken. Unfortunately, we lost Cassie earlier this year, she was almost 14 years old. We miss her so much. However, we have now been joined by a new family member – a Fox red Labrador called Penny, so I will have lots of fun with her!
‘Running to Mummy’ by Holly Stranks ARPS
As I did with Pippa, I am doing a 365 project with Penny and it will be lovely to see the progress throughout the year.
LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TO PHOTOSHOP? The RPS has laid on two workshops introducing Affinity Photo, an alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop. One of the workshops covers Affinity Photo desktop workflow and the other covers Affinity Photo tablet workflow. The tablet version is very fully featured, and might make you reconsider using a tablet for photo editing.
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RPS DISTINCTIONS Although distinctions assessments have finished for this year, the RPS Distinctions department has set up a schedule of new assessment dates up through June 2021. To support those seeking distinctions, the department provides a range of events, activities and documents. These include: Guidelines • LRPS Guidelines • ARPS Guidelines • FRPS Guidelines Talks - Although the second season of the popular Distinctions Live Talks is ending, many are available online if you missed them earlier in the year. Advisory Days - attending an Advisory day will give you the opportunity to discuss your portfolio with a current panel member in a professional but friendly atmosphere. Assessments - have your work assessed for a Distinction. To see the most up-todate 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, will be available in January. 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**.
To view the gallery and not the ads, click where it says ‘VIEW 32 IMAGES’ in the upper righthand corner of the first image.
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DIGITAL IMAGING EVENTS & LISTINGS With restrictions on meeting venues 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. But many are now taking their events online. 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 April will continue indefinitely. New online events are being planned for throughout the autumn and into the New Year. Click on any of these ads to visit the event page:
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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. 20
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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 The ‘new’ RPS website is almost a year old, but may still be proving a challenge to some. For guidance from the RPS on 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. If you have not had an opportunity to explore the site, you might want to take a look at the President’s news page from Dr Alan Hodgson: https://rps.org/about/ president-news/. 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/DIGMembership 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. DI News December 2020
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