Phil's ARPS

It was just over a month ago that I took a few days off to go west and attend the Royal Photographic Society assessment day  at their headquarters in Bath. I arrived the day before to hand in my panel of fifteen prints,  spending the rest of the afternoon in the beautiful city taking the odd photograph. That evening I stayed with Martin's friends Peter and Sue, who provided a wonderful meal and good conversation.

Next day I set off for the assessment which began at 10.30 am. Each panel is presented with a statement of intent,  a short explanation of the photographer's objectives when putting the panel together. In my panel I relate to the influence of Victorian postcards being anonymous, grainy and faded with sometimes mysterious subjects, at the same time demonstrating a personal vision and style.

After two hours seeing about fifteen panels, of which only six or seven passed, it was my turn. You watch as your images are placed on the display stand. The panel of five judges then get up and make a close inspection and discuss among themselves the merits or otherwise of each image. The chairman then selects two of the judges to pass comments on  the images. I was relieved when both made complementary remarks; one or two other judges added their comments. Then they are asked to vote, holding small cards up so only the chairman can see. If it fails he will not announce the name, but with a pass he then asks if you are present, and then congratulates you.

Happily I was successful  and  was later told it was a unanimous decision. A few days later I received my certificate to confirm I am now an Associate of The Royal Photographic Society.

       

ARPS

On October 12, 2011, I presented a portfolio of 15 prints at the Royal Photographic Society in Bath for the Associateship distinction. I'm delighted to record that my submission was successful, and that I am now ARPS.

Here is the hanging plan for the portfolio.

Hanging plan for my ARPS submission

I've put the whole thing on the RPS website (they show them rather small, I afraid), so here is one that I like a bit bigger.

The Fighting Falcon Swoops: Nikon D300, Nikkor 200-400 f4 zoom

It is the Belgian Air Component F16 at Fairford in 2010. I was standing in a muddy field north of the runway. The Red Arrows had been up before, and had left some of their red smoke around. I liked that a lot, so made it a bit more obvious by pushing the a channel in Lab colour, and restricting the effect to the cloud with a layer mask. I also pushed the contrast, and added a bit of grain with a couple of Topaz Adjust layers.

Just a couple of comments about the ARPS process while I'm writing. When I was awarded my LRPS 18 months ago, I had hoped to be able to use those picture towards the ARPS. But on taking advice, only one of them survived into the final panel (#5 in the hanging plan). I went along to an ARPS workshop earlier this year - and that was extremely useful in getting a broader perspective on what it takes to get the A. If you're in the process of working towards an A, I strongly recommend booking in for a workshop (the same applies to the LRPS). I also took advice one-to-one from two members of A panels, and they were extremely helpful in their comments as well. In the end though, I was wary of taking too much advice: I felt I had to make my own mind up, and put together a panel of pictures in my own way. So the portfolio I presented encapsulates my own view of my work, which makes it especially pleasing to have gained the award.