Honours Update

By Bruce Gidwood FPSNZ Chair PSNZ Honours Board

THE HONOURS BOARD would like to congratulate all PSNZ members who will be awarded PSNZ Honours this year.

We are delighted to see the increased success rates relative to the previous five year average and hope it is related to the extensive education programme we initiated this year.

Honour % successful 5yr 2021 average

Licentiate Print 86% 68% Licentiate Digital 65% 59% Associate Print 42% 34% Associate Digital 29% 24% Fellowship Print 75% 19% Fellowship Digital 0% 17% We held a Q&A webinar for each honour category in October 2020. Each session was recorded and made available on the PSNZ website for reference by all prospective applicants. We will do it again this year!

In the 2020/21 year we focused our education on what it takes to make a diverse set that flows as a portfolio for the Licentiate and in particular the Associate. As a result, we saw more emphasis on greater diversity in the Associate applications. We are pleased that our message that an Associate is an advanced Licentiate and not a mini Fellowship seems to have been heard. This has been a stumbling block in the past and we are very happy to see a great step up in success rates, relative to the previous five-year average.

I chaired my second Honours Board this year and we welcomed Ann Bastion FPSNZ EFIAP MFIAP onto the Board. On Wednesday afternoon we met to induct Ann, to refresh ourselves on the honours guidelines and make sure we all agreed on our approach to the assessment. Our objective was, as always, to take a positive approach to the assessment and to be as consistent as we could be. We agreed to take all the time we needed to assess submissions and to talk whenever we needed to.

The Honours Board developed a great vibe very quickly and we worked well together to assess your portfolios. We had many deep discussions about your work and in the end we all felt comfortable that we had been consistent and that your successes reflected a good standard, respected our existing and past Honours holders and rewarded good photography. We do not believe we raised the bar; we sought to reward those that demonstrated broad skills in photographic craft for the Licentiate level, broad based advanced skills in the Associate and mastery of photographic art at the Fellowship level.

Once again the Licentiate applicants wowed us with their range of skills. Consistent with the guidelines, we looked for the demonstration of photographic craft in a diverse, cohesive set demonstrating your ability in a range of situations such as lighting, environment, genre and camera settings. Overall we felt that the applicants had a pretty good grasp of the guidelines and were doing well to put cohesive sets together.

For the Associate, we looked for the same but at an advanced level. Overall, despite the better success rate this year, we feel that many Associate submissions did not show an understanding of the basics of photography and post processing. This year we will focus our education programme on what it takes to step up from a Licentiate to an Associate.

We have also noticed over the years that people who have already achieved their Licentiate are more likely to be successful at the Associate. We would strongly recommend that applicants start with the Licentiate before attempting the Associate.

This year we were delighted to award three Fellowships. When we were doing the induction our new board members asked how we assessed a Fellowship. After much discussion we said “When you see a Fellowship you will just know as it will speak for itself”. And, so it was. After not awarding any Fellowships in 2020, we were wowed this year.

A key to the success of a Fellowship is a demonstration of your mastery of photography through a thesis-like approach. For this we look for a highly developed exploration of your subject, an interpretation which is yours and reflects your style.

I would like to assure you that we did not look for reasons not to accept applications, rather our approach was to find reasons why we should accept the application. We tried our best to reward good photography in line with the guidelines. We are sensitive people and, as fellow photographers, we fully understand the amount of effort, love and care you put into your work. It is never easy to turn down an application and we do not do so lightly.

Another big change we made this year is the way in which we provided feedback on unsuccessful applications. Over the years we have been told that our feedback is not helpful. Last year we took our time to provide fuller, written feedback. If I were to be totally honest, writing those 70 letters was as equivalent to a custodial sentence! We received better feedback but in the end, written feedback is not the best way of communication and we believe the effectiveness was still low.

This year I sent recorded feedback in an audio visual. I have received more positive comments on this method and I was able to reflect the Board’s thoughts much more fully. I sincerely hope this has made a difference to those who received this feedback. Our objective is to help you on your journey not to hinder you. Always remember, we provide feedback for your consideration, it is always your decision to accept or reject that feedback. The successful sets will be posted on the PSNZ website in due course.

Thank you to everyone for trusting us to assess your work. Congratulations if you were successful and we hope that if you were not that you will take feedback in the constructive spirit in which it has been given. Never give up the pursuit of your ambitions. For future applications I encourage you to read the guidelines and listen to our recorded Q&A sessions carefully. Then show us your creativity in line with those guidelines.

I would like to say a huge thank you to the Honours Board team of Tracey Scott FPSNZ, Bevan Tulett FPSNZ, Ann Bastion FPSNZ EFIAP MFIAP, Helen McLeod FPSNZ GPSA ARPS and Paul Byrne FPSNZ for being such a great team to work with. Sadly we said goodbye to Tracey and Bevan this year. You have both been outstanding long term members; you will both leave huge holes of experience and we will miss you.

To Stephanie Forrester APSNZ and her amazing Southland crew, thank you so much for all the hard work you did to make sure the whole process ran smoothly and for your awesome Southland hospitality. It was also great to have President, Moira Blincoe LPSNZ to observe us at work. We look forward to doing it all over again in 2022!

I look forward to catching up with our successful applicants, those who want more feedback and future applicants at our National Convention in a couple of weeks.

Everlasting Charm by Eunice Belk LPSNZ

Nelson National Triptych Salon 2021

Put your triptych caps on and show us what you can come up with by August when entries for this year’s salon are to be submitted.

All entries will be “Open” but the judges will make three Special Awards for the ...

Best Power of man: machines, nature, the universe, whatever you can imagine.

Best “Love is...“ Use your triptych to complete the definition.

Best Monochrome.

Only digitally projected triptych entries will be allowed for this salon, but we will make prints of the entries gaining high awards and display these at the Presentation Evening in October.

To set you off on the right track, here are some important rules to remember for this event.

• Your three images must be separated from each other with a clear division between each image.

• Background colours and textures are allowed but they must not constitute a fourth image to the subject matter.

• There must be no text on the background but text within any of the three images is allowed.

Your triptych could tell a story, compare three similar subjects, depict a captivating design with the use of texture or colour, or be a combination of all the above.

Please visit www.nelsoncameraclub.co.nz/salon-information.html for more information about this salon.

Judge Training Weekends for 2021

By Shona Jaray APSNZ Judge Accreditation Panel

Judge Training - Auckland Area 12 and 13 June 2021

Venue: The Centre Franklin Room, Franklin, Pukekohe The start time will be advised nearer the time but is generally around 10:00 a.m. Lunch, morning and afternoon tea are provided on both days. A comprehensive manual is also provided.

This year we are charging PSNZ members $25.00. The charge for those who are not PSNZ members but are members of affiliated clubs remains at $60.00. This charge will become non refundable after 11 May 2021.

Register here: https://photography.org.nz/salons-galleries/judge-training-weekendregistration/

The class is limited to 30 people and we often have a waiting list, so book your place now!