ARPS Distinction: Jan Harris

DISTINCTIONS

Early Rising

JAN HARRIS

ARPS (FINE ART)

Producing an ARPS panel always seemed like an insurmountable challenge. Fifteen prints that all work together and communicate ‘an individual’s vision and understanding’. Where to even start?

Other photographers assured me that I could reach the standard, although I didn’t completely believe them, but that still left the problem of having a style. I took landscapes and macro, travel and urban scenes, occasionally people – all sorts. Over I time I found that the images I was most satisfied with were my misty landscapes – perhaps I did

Along the Thames

have a style after all!

I looked at my catalogue and found I had about 10 images that I felt were good enough. Clearly I needed more images, but I was limited by when the mist occurred on mornings that I could get out to shoot. I decided to concentrate on taking images along the Thames close to home.

Fortunately the right conditions did happen on a few mornings, and I had what I felt was a good set of images. I took this set to the Landscape Group conference, where there was an informal advisory workshop with Paul Mitchell FRPS. He gave positive feedback, so I took the plunge and booked an assessment day in October 2019.

Ironically, just before the conference I had a couple of mornings with perfect conditions and took several good images. I didn’t have time to print them to take along to the advisory day, however, I added these to my set of potential prints to try out some rearrangements, and three of these prints went into my final panel.

One useful tip I was given is to produce 7x5 cm prints of your possible images,

Across the River

Church in the Mist

Misty Calm 2 Misty Calm

so you can shuffle them around to try out various arrangements of your panel.

The final fifteen was narrowed down from over 30 images, looking for images that worked together and balanced each other in terms of colour and tone. The panel was re-arranged several times until I felt that it looked as good as possible, with a good transition of colours between the three rows.

ARPS Hanging Plan

04 01

05 02

06 03

07 08 Misty Willow

STATEMENT OF INTENT

I have always found the way that mist changes the landscape fascinating, hiding some details and revealing others, shifting and altering, creating an ephemeral beauty. A forecast of mist is, for me, the best reason to get up before dawn. I enjoy walking along the river watching the light change with the thickness of the mist and the rising of the sun. Only a few people – rowers, boatmen, and dog walkers – are awake to share this early morning world.

In my panel I aim to record the transient beauty of the misty riverside along three short stretches of the Thames.