E-Journal No. 1 February 2017
Letter from the Committee The Royal Photographic Society South East Region Surrey Area Representative Martin Gandy LRPS E: martingandy@btinternet.com Sussex Area Representative Paul Connor LRPS E: rps.sussexarearep@gmail.com Kent Area Representative Colin Smith E: colinsmith118@btinternet.com Committee Members Bruce Broughton E: bruce-broughton@hotmail.co.uk Gordon Roots ARPS E: groots@btinternet.com Chelín Miller LRPS Webmaster E: southeastweb@rps.org Published by the South East Region of the Royal Photographic Society February 2017
Copyright in all text and photographs is held by the credited authors, or as otherwise stated. No part of this publication may be reproducd, transmitted or stored in any form without prior written permission of the Publisher. Editor Chelin Miller Cover photo Thurne Mill by Steve Oakes LRPS
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elcome to the first edition of the RPS South East Region eJournal, a new, bimonthly online newsletter for our regional members.
On 5 February we held the South East Region AGM and Members’ Day at Crawley Down. We would like to thank Terry McGhie for his excellent work since taking on the role of Regional Organiser in 2013. Terry has made a huge commitment of time and energy over these last few years in developing the programme and coordinating the events with his excellent organisational skills. He has decided it is now time to step down and we wish him every success with his photographic projects. The new committee would also like to thank George Backshall, Gary Bisshopp, Dave Powell, Marie-Ange Bouchard and Vanessa Parker for all their work over the last few years helping to make the South East Region the great success it now is. The AGM was followed by the Members’ Day, which - as in previous years - demonstrated the amazing range of talents and skills across the region. The format gives our members an opportunity to present and discuss their work in a friendly environment. The standard of photography shown has been very high and the subject matter quite extensive. We saw a number of successful LRPS and ARPS panels; as well as personal projects that ranged from travel photos to images taken within 5 to 10 miles of his home, perfectly illustrating you don’t have to go far to capture great photos. It was a very successful event. In this issue you will find work by Valda Bailey, Mike McAlister and Steve Oakes as well as members’ exhibition announcements. This year we have a calendar packed with activities. Our next event is on 4th March in Eastbourne, followed by an LRPS/ ARPS Advisory day in Detling on 7th May. Make sure you book online soon, as places are going fast. Looking back to last year’s events, our visit to the Arundel reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in October 2016, was very successful, with talks by the Ground Manager, Paul Stevens, and renowned wildlife photographer George McCarthy. We hope to follow this up with another visit to Arundel at a future date. The committee is an enthusiastic group and fully committed to supporting the Region and its members with a full program of events for 2017. If you would like to volunteer in any way, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
The South East Region Committee
South East Region eJournal
The South East Region E-Journal is published by the RPS South East Region six times a year: All contrbutions should be submitted to the Editor. Items covering any aspect of photography are welcome, including inspirational stories, technique, reviews of equipment, exhibitions, books, etc. Copy should be sent as .txt or .doc files by email. Digital images (portrait or landscape orientation) should be supplied by email or through a file sharing platform (such as Dropbox, wetransfer or similar). Please rename your photos: YournameSurname_PHOTONAME, web resolution (72dpi) jpgs or tifs, file size approx 1MB. For more information, please contact the Editor at southeastweb@rps.org.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS South East Region Advisory Day - LRPS - Eastbourne 4 March 2017
South East Region Advisory Day LRPS and ARPS (all five categories) - Detling 7 May
South East Region Advisory Day LRPS and ARPS (all five categories) - Crawley Down 3 September
On 11 June there will be a Summer Photowalk in Hastings, on 8 October we are organising a Street Photography workshop in Brighton with Trevor Gellard FRPS, and on12 November an Introduction to Distinctions event in Cobham, as wellas some joint events with the Archaeology and Heritage Group. Please check the website for updates. We always welcome suggestions from members of South Region for events they would like to see in the programme.
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PAST EVENTS
s well as Advisory Days and Introduction to Distinctions, the South East region organises joint outings with Special interest Groups. Last year, we visited the Giants of Brede (the steam engines near Rye) and churches on the Pilgrims’ Way in Tudeley and Capel with the Archaeology and Heritage Group. Both events were fully booked and we had a very enjoyable time.
Photographing Chagall’s glass windows at Tudeley Church (c) C Miller All types of cameras at Brede Engines (c) C Miller
Maurilio during the visit to Tudeley Church (c) C Miller
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Brede Steam Engine Society Volunteer (c) Richard Brown
The Giants of Bede (c) Richard Brown
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Interview with Valda Bailey Valda Bailey is based in East Sussex, although she grew up on the island of Jersey, where she acquired an affinity for seascapes and coastal views. Her photography is greatly informed by her background in painting and she uses in-camera multiple exposure and ICM (intentional camera movement) to blur detail and abstract shapes in the landscape. South East Region: How was your journey into photography? Valda Bailey: I used to do a lot of street photography because I travel a lot, for several years. The reason I got into street photography was because everybody seemed to be a photographer and they were all churning up very similar work. What appealed to me about street photography was that it seemed to be the only way to get something unique that cannot be repeated, that nobody else can have. I went to New York a couple of times and I attended workshops under Jay Maisel, who is a brilliant NY street photographer. But after a while I decided I don’t have the personality for it, I find it difficult to hide behind a lamppost and start stealing photographs with a telephoto lens - that’s ethically and morally questionable. Likewise, going out to people and saying: ”Can I take your photograph?” You need a lot of confidence for that. But you are getting a different
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picture, you are not getting the candid shots that I was looking for, so I started looking for something else to do and landscape photography seemed to be the obvious direction, although at the time I didn’t really think there was anything much to it. I associated landscape with the calendar images: seas, and orange sunsets, that didn’t inspire me; obviously I know now that there’s a lot more to it. What I do now is “Abstract Landscape Photography”, that’s the best classification.
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SER: How did you pursue this passion for abstract landscapes? VB: I came across the work of Chris Friel, who was making abstract landscape images using ICM (in-CameraMovement) and I thought “That’s how I used to want to paint!” So I set about how he was making his images, and came across Doug Chinnery, who was giving workshops in the technique, and I realised that was absolutely what I wanted to do. That was five years ago, and then we
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evolved into multiple exposure. One day Charlie Waite got in touch and asked me if I wanted to teach, and it all snow-balled. People have become more interested in alternative techniques, probably because they want to do something different. Also, cameras are so clever now, that virtually take the shot for you, so from the technical side you don’t have to do very much, you have to frame the image and press the button, it’s not quite challenging because there are not many elements to control. SER: When you go out to take photographs, do you have something in mind beforehand? VB: These days I start with an idea in mind for a project. For example, the book that I did last year is about Fragility of the landscape. I tend to have an idea in mind beforehand and then I go out to shoot with that concept in mind - it doesn’t matter where I go, I look for specific elements in the landscape, I don’t tend to go to honey-pot locations. SER: When you take multiple exposures in camera, do you know roughly what it’s going to look like, or do you let it surprise you? VB: Probably a bit of both, really. The joy and the frustration of the technique is that it’s controllable to a certain degree, there is an element of unpredictability about it and there always will be. It’s a bit like watercolour painting, which I used to do. You have so many permutations: my camera will take up to 9 exposures and combine them; four different blend modes to choose from (although in practice I only use two or three) but throughout the sequence you can change things, like the white balance, you can change
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lenses, you can zoom in and out, you can put your camera in a million directions throughout the sequence. So the number of permutations is endless. When you are taking a photograph of a flower, for example, using five exposures, if you start manipulating the value of the exposures and you start moving the camera, the sky’s the limit! SER: So ICM is not about moving your camera up and down using a long exposure… VB: No, it is a lot trickier than that! On my workshop I show the students the elements of what the camera can do, but the ideas have got to come from their own minds, and the people who succeed at the technique are those who have the willingness to experiment and to spend the time working with it. My advice always is: “If I were you, I would find a tree, or something that interests me, and spend an hour there, trying different number of exposures, different blend modes, different ideas with your camera. Don’t just go there and shoot it for five minutes and wonder off”. The truth is, you have to go there and really work it, really understand what your camera is doing when you change the elements. SER: What camera do you use? Digital? VB: I use a Canon 5D Mark III, but there are other highend cameras that will take multiple exposures, and what is crucial for the look of the images is the blend modes, the way the exposures are blended together, a bit like in Photoshop (PS), you can put layers upon layers upon layers and change the blend modes. Canon and some Nikon cameras offer 4 different blend modes, so you
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can have an average blend mode, where every element throughout the sequence will be visible, but slightly more opaque, as the image is built-up. There’s also “bright” blend mode, which will prioritise anything that has bright tones in the image, and it will still be visible after you have layered 4, 5 or even 6 times and that is what gives you the abstract nature of the images, and also it is what gets rid of a lot of the detail. The opposite is the “dark” blend mode. This requires an abstract way of thinking, but you can use it to your advantage. It takes a while, but if you know what you want, you can visualise it beforehand, once you understand how the blend modes work. SER: Have you tried doing the same effect in Photoshop? VB: I’ve tried, I’ve met many people on workshops whose cameras don’t offer the same capabilities and they have attempted creating the same effects in PS, but I can’t make it work – it always looks contrived. And I suppose that is because there are too many decisions at my disposal. When you are taking the photograph, some of the decisions have been made for you by the camera, whereas in PS you have 10 different blend modes, where do you start? Where do you finish? There are boundaries with the camera. SER: Do you first take single ‘straight’ shots to see what it’s like and then continue with ICM? VB: No, because that would only show me what I can
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already see with my eyes. So I start doing long exposures, a combination to see if it’s going to work in the bright mode, or in the dark mode, or whether it needs half a dozen shots combined together or maybe just two, there are all these decisions that you have to make to see what it is I see in front of me that I want to convey. For ICM I find landscape much easier than, for example street. I‘ve done a lot of street photography in London, where there is a lot going on, but everything is moving. SER: Do you take your camera everywhere you go? VB: When I was doing street photography I used to carry it all the time. But not much happens in the little village where I live, you wait for the Decisive Moment but you know it’s not going to happen. It’s fine if you live in a large town or a city. But now that I do landscape photography I don’t carry my camera all the time. I’ve got my iPhone and I use that if I have to. Because when I go out to shoot I really have to switch off, get in the zone… ICM is not something I can do as I’m walking, I’ve got to sit and really tune out and engage with what I’m doing. SER: Do you do some kind of meditation? VB: ICM is a very meditative process, I’m very much aware of this zone where I’m totally focused and concentrated on my job in hand, and It’s surprisingly tiring. When you are trying to do it for 3 hours, you are making so many calculations in your head about exposure values, number of images you can sandwich together, how are they going
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to combine, and making miniscule adjustments, and you are just fine-tuning. It’s not something that you just go along and take a snap and move on, you have to commit to it and spend some time with it. SER: Do you exhibit your work? VB: Last autumn I had an show at ITO - Inside the Outside, a Notthingham Photo Collective. I exhibited alongside Chris Friel, Al Brydon, Joseph Wright, Rob Hudson and Stephen Segasby, among others. I This is the website http://www.inside-the-outside.com/ And for 2017 I am planning an exhibition of Fragile in Jersey. SER:Where do you hold workshops? VB: I’m very honoured to have been invited to join Charlie Waite and a group of very talented photographers to
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hold workshops with Light and Land. I lead workshops alongside Doug Chinery in Bruges, Cairngorms, Bath, London, Stowe and Outer Hebrides, Northumberland Coast. https://www.lightandland.co.uk/photographytour-tutors/view/valda-bailey SER: Are there a lot of people in the UK doing ICM? VB: There are a lot more people now, I think people are becoming a lot more receptive, in part, because these days the cameras are doing everything and the challenges are few and far and traditional landscape is so oversubscribed: there’s always going to be a young, fit man who is going to climb to a higher mountain and try to get a better shot with better equipment. There are so many things you can do with a camera than take a straight shot on a tripod.
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SER: Where did you take the photographs that make your book “Fragile”. VB: The photographs were taken mostly around my garden in an old Sussex farmhouse, it’s very sweet, quite a traditional property. We are lucky that we have a fairly big, wild garden, nearly 5 acres and it has quite an interesting story; the structure of the garden was put together by Italian prisoners of war and it’s well laid out. I’ve got a selection of plants, and things to get lost in. I wanted to explore the elements.
SER: And finally, do you take photos with your iPhone? VB: Yes, there is a fantastic app, Photosplit, that I show to all my students, because some cameras don’t have the ability to do ICM the way I do it, but this app is rather good and it’s approx what I do with my camera. You can take a photo with your iPhone then go back and take another photo and create a multiple exposure, you can make the last image bigger, smaller, rotate them; and you can change the opacity of the last image. and then you can change the blend modes and get different effects and it alters the look of what you are doing. . To find out more about Valda Bailey visit her website valdabailey.com and follow her on Twitter @tanyards
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Hiding
Michael McAlister ARPS
(c) Chelin Miller
Why do so many of my photographs have people hiding? Is it really me who’s doing the hiding? If so then why? To create a distance? To put up a barrier? For self protection? Or is it a fear of exposure? Trying to conceal something so no one knows? Being ashamed and embarrassed? And scared? What would they think of me if they really knew? Or am I just too damaged. Buggered up and withdrawing more.
Unable to cope. An open wound. Troubled and flawed - and just bloody tired! Fighting a losing battle. Wanting to be left alone. Or am I just sensitive? Too sensitive? Over sensitive? Hyper-sensitive? Easily affected by the world around me? The obnoxiousness of so much? Don’t know. Maybe I just like my privacy.
DAVE 2009
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MARTIN 2016
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MIKE 1997 PETER 1998
STEPHEN 1998
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BAZ 1999
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DARREN 2005
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LRPS - Mistakes to avoid
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Steve Oakes writes about his Licentiateship Panel
aving dabbled in photography for over 50 years and done a small amount of freelance work in motorsports photography, when I came to retire, I began to consider sharing my photographs in a more meaningful way. So, in 2014 I joined the Tonbridge Camera Club. I soon found out that the standards both in photography and in presentation were going to give me the necessary impetus I needed to improve. I was urged by my camera club to consider trying for a distinction. The club suggested either the RPS or KPAG as a means of gaining a distinction and offered generous support in perusing either goal. Not really sure what this would involve, I agreed and took along a dozen photos I considered possibles to an RPS Advisory Day at the Nikon School in London in November 2015. I was then greatly impressed by the quality and the presentation of the mounting of photographs of several of the entrants who were about to submit for an Assessment. My meagre set, mounted on pre-cut A4 cards was politely received and I hastily explained that I was here to test the
waters as much as anything else. Nevertheless, there was much constructive criticisms and at least 6 photos were considered to be of an acceptable standard. This was when the hard work began. Whilst I had plenty of mainly landscape photos that I liked, it was difficult to choose 10 that fitted into a cohesive panel. The need to demonstrate a variety of techniques, control of lighting and general photography skills all seemed to make the choice of a cohesive panel all the more problematic.
EASTBOURNE PIER
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SPITALFIELDS LUNCH TIME
Members of my camera club were more than helpful with advice, often highlighting errors in printing or camera skills that I had not seen. So, the process of selecting, rejecting, reprinting and frequently rephotographing began. After about 15 iterations of a choice of panel, I finally felt sufficiently confident to put in for an Advisory Day at Detling, near Maidstone in March 2016. There were 2 other members from my club present and all our panels were acceptable and ready for submission. Thus, buoyed up with success, we all made application for Assessment. My colleagues chose Bath in the
summer and were subsequently awarded their Ls. I chose Norfolk in October as I wanted more time to finalise my panel. By way of insurance, I took advantage of the RPS’s on-line assessment and submitted my panel in JPEG format for comments. The result was devastating as only a couple of photos were considered to be of an acceptable standard. Panic was just one of the emotions as I now had less than 3 months to reassemble a panel or delay the Assessment. Well, I had plenty of photos available so it should not have been a problem. I was very fortunate to have the help and advice of Richard Walton FRPS who guided me through the selection of yet another panel. My abilities of cutting and mounting photos suggested to Richard that I was using a breadknife to cut the mounts. So, without any further ado, I printed off the photos and took them to a local art shop for mounting. All well and good but time was getting nearer to my Assessment date. As I was off to Florence for a holiday, I arranged that on my return, I should collect the professionally mounted photos on the Friday and be off to Norfolk for the Sunday Assessment – no problems. That was when things started to go wrong. I had booked an hotel for the Saturday night so that I would be in good time for the Sunday Assessment. Unfortunately, there was a very noisy wedding reception in full swing until after midnight and the hotel did not serve breakfast until after 08.30. I was somewhat agitated by the time I arrived for the Assessment.
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My panel was about sixth that morning which gave me plenty of time for the nerves to get going. As the judges hovered over several of my photos for what seemed like ages, the room grew unnaturally quiet. The judges
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conferred with each other and then looked again at some of the photos before deciding that the panel was not going to be referred for an L. At least my name was not mentioned so that I could slink away anonymously. I was invited to resubmit my panel. The mounting of one photo had clipped the bumper of a lorry, another photo has too much of a blue cast and, horror of horrors, there was banding in the sky of the windmill photo. I realised that I had not properly inspected my photos when I collected them from the art shop. I had been in too much of a rush and not given myself enough time to prepare for the Assessment.
I was not brave enough to attend in person a second time but it all turned out well.
The next Assessment date was in February 2017 at Bath. This time I replaced a couple of photos that were weak, reprinted others where there was a colour problem and re-photographed one completely. I then asked a graphic artist friend of mine to inspect the photos for any obvious errors of printing or colour casts. Thus, by the beginning of January 2017, I was ready to send off my panel to Bath.
Nevertheless, looking back on the process, it is very worthwhile and rewarding. The big question now is where next.
As to drawing conclusions from this exercise, I think you should regard it as a process of development. You learn more and more along the way and cannot fail to learn from the mistakes and the less frequent successful photograph. You will become a better photographer just by simply thinking what you are doing and what you wish to express. It is both challenging and exciting and does require a level of commitment in time and effort that initially may seem high.
All photos and text by Steve Oakes LRPS steveoakesphotography.com/my-lrps-panel/
VIEW FROM THE CAMERA OBSCURA
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LOADING THE OIL DRUM
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PENSHURST GARDENS
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FLORENCE SUNRISE
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HOVE BEACH
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BUS STOP
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MEMBERS’ EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS CAPTURING ON COLLODION
Using the collodion photographic process from the 1850s and an original camera and lens from the 1870s, Sean Hawkey captures portraits of people which have an intense, ethereal beauty to them. For this exhibition, which runs until 20 May 2017, Hawkey has produced new portraits of people from Tunbridge Wells to add to his existing body of work. He has also selected historic photographs, cameras and processing equipment from the collections at Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery to complement his work. Images by pioneering Victorian photographer Thomas Sims, based in Tunbridge Wells from 1868 until 1910, together with Hawkey’s contemporary work, enable us to reimagine and reconnect with the people captured in these historic photographic portraits. Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery Civic Centre, Mount Pleasant Road, TN1 1J www.hawkey.co.uk
(c) Chelin Miller
If you would like to have your exhibition featured in the next issue, contact the editor on southeastweb@rps.org. 24
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First Meeting of the Documentary Group SE Tangmere, nr. Chichester, 26 Feb. Visual Arts Members Exhibition Croydon Library, Katherine Street Croydon CR9 1ETยง, until 11 March. Travel Group Symposium Runnymede-on-Thames Hotel Windsor Rd, Egham, TW20 0AG 25 March.
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