Jim Tampin | Retrospective

was taking pictures and what lenses to use.’ And this outlook remained throughout his career. For Jim, capturing a decisive photographic moment is the priority: He explains: ‘I see things and take a picture and worry about the exposure afterwards.’

Stationed back to East Africa, he filmed and photographed the Colonial British Army’s participation in the nations celebrating independence from British rule and its military regiment, the King’s African Rifles. ‘At the time, they had a staff sergeant by the name of Idi Amin,’ notes Jim. Idi Amin served as the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979 and was popularly known as the ‘Butcher of Uganda’ and considered one of the most brutal despots in world history. Jim continues: ‘On one occasion, I was in Kenya because there was an inter-service boxing tournament, and Idi Amin was the undisputed amateur boxing heavyweight champion of East Africa. He was up against an RAF chap who had been flown in from Bahrain. A huge guy he was, the bell went for the start of the first round, and this RAF Sergeant hit Idi Amin once, and he was down on the canvas and counted out. I swear that punch was the cause of all of Uganda’s problems after that.’

Leaving Africa to be stationed in the Middle East with the Navy along the Gulf coast, Jim found plenty of adventure… Such as when Jim and several other troops were cut loose from a military landing craft and left floating out at sea, eventually washing up on a beach in Persia. He says: ‘We were out there for four days before being rescued!’

On another assignment, he filmed the Navy chasing gunrunners: ‘Intelligence told us a dhow [a traditional sailing vessel used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region] was carrying weapons and that it would be worth investigating. Well, when we tried to get alongside, down came their sails and these high-powered motors kicked in. It shot off down the Gulf at a pace we couldn’t keep up with.’

Above: ‘Rhodesian Riot, 1 June 1975 ’ ‘The panicking crowd flees for safety as police attack them with batons and dogs on what has become known as Salisbury’s “Bloody Sunday” – 13 were shot dead and 28 injured in Salisbury’s Highfield Township.’

Above: ‘Time runs out for Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia, 1975 ’ ‘Ian Smith leaves Cecil Square Salisbury after talking to well-wishers on his way to talks with the South African Government.’

Upon leaving the military, Jim returned to the UK to work as a press photographer in Bishops Stortford, located near to BIPP’s Head Office in Ware. It was here he joined the Institute and completed his Licentiate in 1969. But soon enough, Jim was back in Southern Africa working as the Chief Photographer at the Rhodesia Herald.

At the time, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was highly politically charged following its independence from the UK. The country was experiencing a political shift from majority white European rule with a small number of seats reserved for black representatives, to a more racially inclusive system. Jim comments: ‘We had an awful lot of problems with the government of the day, which is why the newspaper sometimes came out with blank spaces, particularly on the front page, because the sensors had stopped us publishing a particular story. It was an interesting role; it was hairy sometimes. We were always unarmed when we went out in the bush. The biggest worry was landmines. It didn’t happen to us, but it did happen to others – their vehicles being blown up, but thankfully they survived.’

Yet, even though tensions arose with the government, the notion of racial segregation amongst the Rhodesian people wasn’t something Jim experienced: ‘They tell you there was apartheid in Rhodesia, but there wasn’t. Where we worked the African reporters worked too, in the same newsroom and they were members of the same press club.’

Upon returning to the UK, Jim touted his portfolio on London’s Fleet Street, bringing him face to face with the acclaimed Times newspaper editor Harold Evans, who gave Jim a

Above: ‘A young patient at Rhodesia’s Jairos Jiri Rehibiltion Centre’ ‘I met a lorry driver, whose name was Jairos Jiri. Traditionally, if a child in the bush in the tribal area was born with a mental or physical defect, they were put out on the riverbanks, and the crocodiles took them. Now this lorry driver Jairos Jiri started to rescue some of these children as he drove around in his lorry and from that grew the Jirous Jiri Centre.’ job working for The Times and The Sunday Times, covering mainly sport. After this, Jim worked for various newspapers in the UK, and finished up his career as Chief Photographer at the Dorset Evening Echo.

Alongside his active profession, Jim sat on BIPP Council, served on the Photographer editorial board and became BIPP President between 1988-89. During this time, his team were instrumental in re-establishing the Institute’s faded connection with the British Press Photographer of the Year Award and even managed to get Princess Michael of Kent to host the awards one year. ‘The highlight of my presidential year was going to visit the Professional Photographers of Canada in Toronto. I had a lot of fun. I made some speeches and started off their education side of things.’

After an illustrious photographic career, Jim took to retirement but then sensed a longing for the country where he was posted as a young army recruit and where he met his wife. Trips back to Kenya for Jim and Stella became frequent in the couple’s golden years: ‘I wish now that I’d never left Kenya, with the benefit of hindsight. I love the country, and I love the people.’ In these later years, Jim’s black and white style evolved into colour, with a new-found passion for wildlife photography and that became the final stage of this career of an adventurous documentary photographer.

Right: Basketball Final, De Monfort Hall, Leicester’

The judge’s eye

Judges are forever being asked why: ‘Why did that image do so well?’ ‘Why is the technical aspect of an image so important to judges?’ ‘Why is sharp focussing deemed sooooo critical?’ ‘Why is the choice of paper, even a thing?’… And the inevitable and unanswerable question: ‘Why didn’t my image do better when my clients told me they loved it so much?!’ In this article, Paul Wilkinson talks us through – in detail – what judges look for in an award-winning image, ensuring you are best prepared for this year’s regional and national print competition

Firstly it is worth considering that an image competition, whether based on prints or digital files, is partly an exercise in ranking the images from the best – gold, silver and bronze-awarded entries – to those deemed to need more work. No matter the glorious images you enter into a competition, you are always competing with other photographers… other photographers who, just like you, have created images that stand an equal chance of winning.

And so it’s down to the judges to work methodically through every image, figuring out the scores and being careful to give each image the time and attention that it deserves. Diligence is the name of the game.

Awards criteria

Every competition will publish the judging criteria they are looking for somewhere, usually on the awards website, along with any specific rules. It is an excellent idea to study them and make sure that what you enter follows the rules and has the characteristics that the judges will score well. I had a quick look at the criteria that three of the influential associations publish for their competitions (see table below).

As you can see, they are more or less describing the same thing with varying flavours of wording and emphasis. Most awards sites provide guidance for what the judges will be assessing. So, rather than doubling up on things you can read elsewhere, what follows are notes on what I’ve seen and heard whilst working as a judge.

Impact

Irrespective of which competition you’re entering, impact almost always appears near the top of the list. A great image has impact and invokes an immediate and visceral reaction from a viewer: what do you want that impact to be? Do you want to evoke sadness, excitement, joy, energy, peace, awe, laughter or maybe tears? What is it about your image that will grab (and then hold) a judge’s attention? Look for that wow-factor, whatever you choose it to be. If you can get the judges talking about your image for its impact, then the scores will almost certainly go up.

Bear in mind that the moment of most significant impact for an image is when a judge first sees it. Many judges and mentors will encourage you to keep your image entries to yourself until after the judging, as this gives you the best possible chance of ‘wowing’ the judges with that initial, impactful view. Avoid posting it first on Instagram! If you ever have a chance to eavesdrop on the judges chatting at the bar after scoring has finished, you will probably find them excitedly reminiscing about one of the images for its impact – even if it ultimately didn’t score so well for other technical reasons.

Creativity and style

Hand in hand with the image’s impact, does the image have something about it (beyond that initial ‘bang’) that holds the judges’ attention? Is it something we’ve seen before, or is it something unique?

FEP

Impact Vision Technical Excellence Composition Creativity Personal Style Colour Balance Lighting Subject Matter Mastery Of The Photographic Technique

BIPP

Content of Image Creativity Subject Matter Interpretation Composition Centre of Interest Perspective Direction Use of / Control of Light Style Expression / Narrative Print Quality Tonal Range Graphic Stability Design Texture Workmanship Technique Freshness / Unique Appeal

SWPP

Impact Creativity And Style Composition Image Or Print Presentation Lighting Colour Balance Technical Excellence Photographic Technique Story Telling And Subject Matte