DI News July-August 2021
‘Fallen Tree’ by Peter Stickler ARPS Winner of the Digital Imaging monthly competition for June
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR As we’re heading into the summer with on-again, off-again lockdown restrictions and travel opportunities here in the UK, some of the RPS Digital Imaging volunteers have finally planned some holiday time. So, as you may have noticed, this will be the last newsletter until September. But holiday season notwithstanding, our Annual Projected Image Competition will open for entries on 1 August. We have lined up a team of outstanding selectors - Janey Devine FRPS, Chris Palmer FRPS and Steven Le Prevost FRPS and everyone can look forward to watching the selection in September since our intrepid competition secretary Ian Thompson is again masterminding a live broadcast via Zoom. There’s information in this issue, and more to come via email. We also have another two events this summer. It may be too late to sign up for the legendary and entertaining Leigh Preston with IS THIS IT? Beyond Street Photography on 17 July, but not to late to register for a Tony Sweet’s cornucopia of creative techniques in Creative In-Camera FX on 14 August. As usual, these are free for Digital Imaging members. For any of you thinking to a hand as a volunteer, I thought I’d pass along an anecdote from our Co-Chair, Rex Waygood. At a recent meeting the RPS CEO Evan Dawson asked everyone to ‘name one great thing about the RPS’. Says Rex, ‘I decided that for me it is the friendship and the work ethic of our team to get things done for the benefit of members that I find most rewarding. The feedback from members is the icing on the cake.’ So if this sounds like something you’d like to experience, we’re still looking for a new Chair and some additional volunteers. Contact digsecretary@rps.org. In the meantime, stay safe! Deborah Loth DI News Editor dignews@rps.org
USING DIGITAL MEDIA If you’ve avoided getting to grips with digital media, the RPS has two workshops on offer which might be of help: How to Use Instagram: Webinar for Photographers and SEO and Online Marketing for Photographers. 2
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MONTHLY ONLINE COMPETITION The winner of our June monthly online competition was ‘Fallen Tree’ by Peter Stickler ARPS, featured on the cover. (For more information about the friendly monthly competition, including how to enter, visit www.rps.org/DIGMonComp.) Peter Stickler ARPS Some time ago I purchased a ready converted Panasonic G2 (infrared) for a little over £100 (on eBay) - when you think the fee for conversion is £250 I felt it was a bargain. The image was taken at Felinre Reservoir just two days after lock down was lifted. The lens was set to 12mm “on this four thirds camera". It was hand-held with the optical stabilization turned on. The RAW image was opened in Photoshop with the temperature set to 2400 and the tint to -72. The file was then saved as a Tiff. I could see that more work was needed, I made a layer copy, then used Image > auto colour. This did the trick, just a few adjustments in levels and Hue/ Saturation I felt it was there.
WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS Sheila Farries Don Hodgson MBE ARPS Kit Kuen Andrew Ip Helen Jones LRPS Atul Kshirsagar LRPS Paul Peach ARPS Kirsten Peake LRPS June Poston LRPS Peter Read LRPS Paul Reiffer FRPS Samantha Ruth Booker Skelding LRPS Hidesawa Sudo Philip Tonkyn ARPS Kenneth Wale Peter Whitfield
Dumfriesshire Hampshire China East Yorkshire Hampshire China Devon Merseyside Wiltshire Dorset Derbyshire Mid Glamorgan Japan Somerset Derbyshire Gloucestershire DI News July-August 2021
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Second place was ‘Baby Wagtail 2’ by Melanie Sharp.
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Third place was ‘Playtime at the Lido by Paul Herbert.
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For an overview of the 2020 Projected Image Competition and to view previous years’ catalogues, visit www.rps.org/DIGPDI. 6
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PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITION 2021 PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITION INFO Rules: www.rps-dig.org/picomp21rules.pdf To enter: www.rps-dig.org/comp-login.php Open for entry: 1 August 2021 Ian Thompson ARPS Projected Image Competition Secretary RPS Digital Imaging
Deadline for entries: 31 August 2021 Competition date: 18 September 2021
Well, here we are again, planning for another Projected Image Competition. Whilst we all thought that the coast would be clear of COVID this year, we can’t be sure that this will be the case, even looking forward to 18 September when the event will take place. The ups and downs of the pandemic keep taking us and the UK by surprise and so our team has decided not to risk it: we will hold the competition on-line in the same manner as we did last year. In fact, doing so relieves us of not only the COVID consideration but also the as yet unknown limit on members-present numbers which would be the case if we occupied the theatre at RPS HQ. Last year, hundreds of our members dipped in and out of the day-long ‘Zoom’-based selection process and the effort in running it was deemed a success by most folk. Yes, broadband limitations do need a thought – some members have less than acceptable download speeds which do lend a touch of ‘jerkiness’ to the affair but we suppose that – for them - some view of the picture selection process is better than none at all. Our selectors, Janey Devine FRPS, Chris Palmer FRPS and Steven Le Prevost FRPS, will view the entries remotely via ‘Zoom’ and then enter their scores directly into the competition system in real-time. This means that entrants will be able to see the scores they achieve as soon as their work has been scored by logging into the submission system. Last year, we started the show at 10:00 and finished (including a lunch break) at about 16:00, so it was quite a long day for everyone. How many entries we get will of course determine the length of the event but we have a suspicion that our membership is poised to flood us with entries (again!). So, the key dates are: Competition open for entry Deadline for entries Competition Date
1 August 2021 – 09:00 BST 31 August 2021 – midnight BST 18 September from 10:00 BST DI News July-August 2021
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2020 Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy Winner: ‘Just A Number (The Holocaust Remembered)’ by Dennis Russ LRPS 8
DI News July-August 2021
There are three classes of entries to the competition: “Open Colour”, “Open Monochrome” and “Altered Reality”. You can enter a maximum of three images per class with an OVERALL maximum of six images. Information on image size and format requirements, and other relevant detail will be found in the rules at www.rps-dig.org/rules/picomp21rules.pdf. Each of the three selectors will award a ribbon per class, and the best image from each class will be awarded a gold medal with the overall top image winning the Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy.
2019 Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy Winner: ‘Solitude’ by Seshi Middela LRPS
Entries can be uploaded via our on-line submission system at www.rps-dig.org – to gain access you will need your RPS membership number and the name by which you are known on your personal MyRPS section of the RPS main website at www.rps.org . A catalogue of the accepted images will be produced soon after the event and will be delivered to all members along with the current (of the time) DIGIT magazine. As with last year’s catalogue, the images to be printed will depend upon the total number which have been accepted. For 2020, there were some 500 images accepted over the three categories which would have meant a very large catalogue, far bigger that we could afford to print for a competition which has no entry fee. We decided, therefore, that only images with a score above a certain level would be printed, with all others being recorded in a list containing DI News July-August 2021
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2018 Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy Winner: ‘Fight or Flight’ by Sue Dixon LRPS
the title and author name, this being done so as to fit the number of catalogue pages into an affordable price band. The same system will be used again this year if the number of acceptances is large. However, all accepted images will be made available to view on our website after the event. We look forward to seeing your work and – good luck!
2016 Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy Winner: ‘Welcome to the Work House’ by Adrian Lines ARPS 10
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2017 Raymond Wallace Thompson Trophy Winner: ‘Soft Spanners’ by Brian McCarthy FRPS DI News July-August 2021
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AN OVERSEAS MEMBER Jiao Da-Wei FRPS of Taiwan shares his passion for creative artistic photography. Jiao Da-Wei FRPS I was born and grew up in Taipei. I like to go out and look for a good shot on the streets. But my true joy is to go back to my studio and work on the pictures, to follow my imagination, to create something beyond reality. In this passion for photography two persons influenced me most. First, it was my father, born in 1911. He did photoreporting for his own small news agency. As a child I often accompanied him, when he in dark room developed his black and white pictures, and occasionally went with him for interviews with figures from government, business, or artistic community. Many years later, after he passed away, I discovered interest for photography planted in my soul by my father. In 2007 I bought my first DSLR camera and
‘Just Passing By’ by Jiao Da-Wei FRPS. People passing by, they talk among themselves. I am far removed from their passions and concerns. 12
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‘Interior Renovation’ by Jiao Da-Wei FRPS. It is easy to change clothes and make-up, but how to completely remove scars from your soul?
began my own adventure with photography. Another person who influenced me was American photographer Jerry Uelsmann. He is best known for his seamlessly grafted monochrome images. His work inspired and encouraged me to enter the field of creative artistic photography. My favourite spots for taking pictures are display windows, down the city streets. There one can find many fashionably dressed up mannequins. Dummies limbs gestures are expressive, arousing the desire to buy. The mannequins, combined with display window glass reflecting or scattering light give plenty of room for imagination. This collection metaphorically represents the dreams, desires, thoughts and emotions, reflecting diverse stories of our fleeting life.
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 July-August 2021
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‘Bliss? Bondage?’ by Jiao Da-Wei FRPS. What future will bring? He suddenly left - what about our wedding? If he comes back, what about my life?
‘Farewell’ by Jiao Da-Wei FRPS. Our love no longer shines so brightly. He went into the rain. Is he crying too? 14
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‘Solitary’ by Jiao Da-Wei FRPS. I used to pity myself, but this is not the way. Look forward and you will see the passing nature of things.
‘The Last Night’ by Jiao Da-Wei FRPS. They appear to be a perfect pair. But look deeper - you will see that their plans and dreams are so different. Is this the last night? DI News July-August 2021
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A UK MEMBER Finding herself locked down in Flintshire, Melanie Sharp changed direction and made the most of her garden. Melanie Sharp After years of lugging around big lenses and a backpack full of kit, chasing an elusive animal or waiting patiently for hours for that much sought-after bird shot, I have developed the beginnings of arthritis in my shoulders and can no longer carry all the weight. With the advent of Covid, and the enforced stay at home, this gave me time to focus on what else I could do and still pursue my love of photography and nature. Still life and floral became the obvious answer. I am lucky enough to have a good-sized garden full of wild and cultivated flowers, as well a house full of vases – I can’t pass a florist without popping in and buying some flowers. But I wasn’t getting the thrill that photographing birds and wildlife gave me. But now, at last, I had time to study, learn and practice the digital side of photography Lightroom, Photoshop, Topaz, Nik and the rest, a whole new world opened up to me and I love it. But flowers could not be more different to wildlife! I have had to learn to slow down and take my time. Flowers are static, which gives me the time to really look at the plant, move around it, study it, getting down on the ground, getting in close, and not forgetting to look behind me! Rather than firing off a quick burst of shots when an animal or bird finally comes into view, I have all the time I need to decide how best to photograph and present the scene, time to think about the final interpretation. I treat a cut flower as though I was taking someone’s portrait, move it, pose it, a tweak here and there. Playing with the lighting and angles, trying different backdrops, different clothes (vases!). I try to really look at the flower, be it cut or in nature, at its form, the petal configuration. See the patterns, the symmetry, the flaws. Really look and see what mother nature has created in such exquisite detail – for just one flower. It takes your breath away. ‘Down in the Grass’ by Melanie Sharp 16
DI News July-August 2021
‘Gerbera Black Dark’ by Melanie Sharp
‘It’s All Over’ by Melanie Sharp
‘Sea Holly’ by Melanie Sharp
‘White Rock Rose ’ by Melanie Sharp
‘Yellow Rose Macro’ by Melanie Sharp DI News July-August 2021
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ANOTHER UK MEMBER Brian Cooke ARPS has taken advantage of his retirement to explore photography in a myriad of ways. To see more, visit his website: www.briancookephotography.co.uk. Brian Cooke ARPS My student days were spent in Newcastle studying chemistry where I had ready access to a dark room and spent many happy hours developing and printing black and white photographs. Since then I have maintained my interest in photography but it wasn’t until I retired that it became more serious. I fully embraced the digital age and joined the Harpenden Photographic Society. What a steep learning curve that was! I soon realised that I knew very little about photography. I was fortunate to attend the excellent workshops organised by Iain McGowan, Bill McKnight and Hugh Milsom. They took us to wonderful locations including Northumberland, Glencoe, Dingle Peninsula and Harris. It was during these workshops that I learnt the fundamentals of landscape
‘Morning Light on Inch Beach, Dingle Penninsula, Ireland’ by Brian Cooke ARPS 18
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‘Recession of the Cullins, Isle of Skye’ by Brian Cooke ARPS
photography under their tutorship. The workshops were always very sociable and enhanced by the cuisine of Bill McKnight who did all the cooking! I gained my LRPS at the first attempt but the ARPS was a different story. I put together many different panels and my first submission was rejected. My eventual success came not from a landscape panel but from a series of abstract images taken from the side of a rusty old barge on the canal in Berkhamsted I teamed up with two friends and fellow club members, Peter Stevens and Paul Johnson. During our twice a year trips we have revisited many of the workshop locations and added a few more including the Northeast coast, Skye, the Gower Peninsula, Dorset, Essex and Southwold. In addition we initiated our ‘commercial enterprise’ and started to exhibit and sell our work at local arts fairs. This for me was a whole new world. I am an academic and I spent most of my career in a university environment. It was great feeling to think that someone would actually buy something that I had produced. We quickly learned that the images people bought were usually because of association i.e. they were of places they had visited and loved and also of local scenes. One particular example of this is my avenue of trees in Rothamsted Park in Harpenden where I live. Without fail I sell several copies a year of this image. As far as equipment is concerned for many years I used a Canon 5D DSLR (and its predecessors) but my increasing age has made it difficult to carry around the heavy weight of the camera and its accessories. I have now switched to an Olympus OMD E-M1 mark ii with which I am delighted. Even that can be more than I wish to carry so I am also a devote of my iPhone 11 Pro. It is always with me so I never miss an opportunity to take photos. I have DI News July-August 2021
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‘Rothamsted Park Avenue, Harpenden’ by Brian Cooke ARPS
‘Poster Fascination in Arles, France’ by Brian Cooke ARPS 20
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followed an online course run by Emil Pakarklis at the iPhone Photo Academy. This was well worth it because it is amazing what you can achieve with the iPhone. The image ‘Poster Fascination’ was taken with my iPhone in Arles, France. I was pleased that it came first at one of my camera club competitions. Like so many other people I have had to adapt my photography subjects during lockdown. I am very fortunate to live opposite Harpenden Common which is a large area of open countryside. I have taken advantage of the abundance of wild flowers and delightful wooded areas. During this period I was very pleased to come across the work of Glenys Garnett. Her creativity and especially the use of brushes in composites are great. My image Poppies was created using some of her techniques. My present work is being influenced by the recent acquisition of a Lensbaby which allows you to differentially have the main subject in focus leaving a blurred background. I find it very creative. I especially like the work of Kathleen Clemens and Polina Plotnikova who have used the Lensbaby lenses in very creative ways in their flower photography. I doubt if I will achieve their very high standards but I will enjoy trying which is what photography is all about.
‘Poppies’ by Brian Cooke ARPS DI News July-August 2021
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PUBLICATIONS By the time you read this you should have received DIGIT 89 and the Print Exhibition 2021 catalogue. Accolade 9 will be published soon. We welcome your contributions to DIGIT or DI News, so please do contact dignews@rps.org.
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The Print Exhibition 2021 images are also available for viewing at the RPS Digital Imaging Hall of Fame, along with images from several recent Project Image Competitions and Print Exhibitions.
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MEMBER DISTINCTIONS Congratulations to members who were recently awarded Distinctions. All will be invited by Holly to submit their work and story to Accolade. Martin Parratt
FRPS Visual Art
Carol Graham Maggie Jary Sharon Leighton Katherine Maguire Ingrid Popplewell David Rayner
ARPS Visual Art ARPS Documentary ARPS Visual Art ARPS Documentary ARPS Visual Art ARPS Visual Art
Gordon Bishop Anne Haile Clare Kersley Adil Pastakia John Peters Mark Wardle David Wilson
LRPS LRPS LRPS LRPS LRPS LRPS LRPS
To view the gallery and not the ads, click where it says ‘VIEW 11 IMAGES’ in the upper righthand corner of the first image.
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DI News July-August 2021
RPS DISTINCTIONS This 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 are 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. From Natural History to Visual Arts, you can now book your Distinction assessment for each level and every genre. As there is a lot of demand, RPS members are being offered priority booking until 9 July 2021. Observer tickets for all assessments are also available to book now. 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**.
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DIGITAL IMAGING EVENTS & LISTINGS Although some real-life (as opposed to online) events have been organised, they still may be disrupted by the COVID pandemic. So check on the events page or with the event organiser for the latest status of any event. There are more events in the pipeline. You can sign up to receive our events listing email at bit.ly/ RPSDIEvents. And if you’d like to lend a hand, Centres need volunteers to help with Zoom events, so contact Lyn Phillips (digsecretary@rps.org) to get involved. The Digital Imaging online event programme we’ve been running since April 2020 will continue indefinitely. Click on any of these ads to visit the event page:
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SOME OTHER VOLUNTEER-LED EVENTS 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. You can subscribe to our events listing email here: bit.ly/RPSDIEvents. 28
DI News July-August 2021