EDITOR
WELCOME to the RPS Creative Eye Magazine, Digital Exhibition 2024 Issue No. 95
This edition celebrates an impressive exhibition of exceptional skill and artistic vision by our members who have captured stunning and eye-catching images of merited quality.
As well as the richly deserved awarded images many caught my eye, including atmospheric and dramatic seascapes and landscapes, painterly impressionistic studies, colourful abstract images and compositions capturing the decisive moment
Our Exhibition Coordinator, David Rutter FRPS, organised the exhibition superbly. Under David’s management, three first-class selectors were appointed and undertook their responsibilities most professionally and efficiently. Notification of the awards were sent to members within twenty-four hours and in three days the exhibition slideshow was on our website.
Congratulations to everyone who took part in the exhibition and my sincere thanks to our Magazine Designer, Steve Varman LRPS and Editorial Assistant, Dr Patricia Tutt ARPS.
COMMITTEE
Chair
Clive Watkins LRPS creativecomms@rps.org
Secretary
Graham Lingley LRPS creativesecretary@rps.org
Treasurer
Nigel Rea ARPS creative.treasurer@rps.org
Digital Exhibition Coordinator
David Rutter FRPS creativeimage@rps.org
Membership & Communications
Coordinator Clive Watkins LRPS creativecomms@rps.org
Webmaster
Steve Varman LRPS creative.publications@rps.org
Editor (co-opted) Moira Ellice ARPS moiraellice1@gmail.com
CREDITS
Cover
An Extension Too Far by Wendy Irwin ARPS
Design
Steve Varman LRPS
Editorial Assistant Dr Patricia Tutt ARPS
Printed by Keith Avis Printers Ltd Rear of 68 High Street, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 5EF
CONTACT
facebook.com/groups/rpscg
Flickr flickr.com/groups/3510780@N20/pool
Website rps.org/ceg
© 2024 All rights reserved. Apart from storage and viewing in its entirety for personal reference, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without prior permission of the copyright holder. The Royal Photographic Society, The Creative Eye Group and the Editor accept no liability for the misuse of any content or for any breach of copyright by a contributor. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Royal Photographic Society or The Creative Eye Group. Unless otherwise indicated, all images are copyright of the photographers. The Royal Photographic Society, RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR, UK +44 (0)117 3164450 www.rps.org VAT Registration No. GB 753 3057 41 Registered Charity No. 1107831
INTRODUCTION
David Rutter FRPS Digital Exhibition Coordinator
Let me be very clear – the 2024 Creative Eye Group Digital Exhibition is an astounding success on so many levels. Firstly, there are the numbers; 20% more participants than last year giving us 121 entrants yielding 460 images. Secondly, the quality of those 460 images was fantastic - as they came rolling in (95% via our friends at WeTransfer) I was amazed at the extremely high quality of each and every image as I checked for keylines, matched Entry Forms and image titles and filed them away ready for the Selection Day.
Then there was the Selection Day itself, on Sunday 4th August our brilliant Selectors Simon Ciappara FRPS, Richard Brayshaw FRPS, and professional photographer Laura Shimili Mears were all given the unenviable task of culling images from that grand sum of 460 down to just 12 Award Winners. A very difficult task which started at 9:30 in the morning and finished at a point threateningly close to a traditional afternoon teatime. However, this process was also a triumph as our Selectors gave it their all and in a fun and friendly exchange of views and opinions the top twelve emerged without too many difficulties and I must admit it was very interesting to see those images rise to the top as the various knock-out rounds continued throughout the day.
In this issue Simon, Richard and Laura give their views on the Award
images, which leaves me here to mention several of the ‘nearly almost not quite’ images pipped at the post as it were. These are the ones that gave the Selectors more of a difficult time and were stunning images in their own right:
Jan Beesley ARPS gets the first mention as Lost Stories became the last image to be eliminated before the Commended Awards were named –the beautiful colours and presence of this image were found to be quite wondrous. Blue Vase by Bernie Kelly ARPS was discussed at length for its sheer beauty with delicate colours and textures giving an alluring quality to the presentation. Another last-to-beeliminated image was An Italian Affair by Lynda Golightly LRPS, a gorgeous composite in black and white with a strong portrait engaging the viewer – this was very well received, and the Selectors were sad to see it fall out of the Awards section.
There were so many strong images that I could mention but do not have space here to do so, so instead I hope you enjoy viewing the Exhibition in this magazine and also on our RPS web page. Lastly, thank you to everyone that took part - You make the images, You make the Exhibition, so Thank You from me to all of You.
Creative Eye Group Digital Exhibition 2024 selectors
Simon Ciappara FRPS flickr.com/photos/158681948@N03
Laura Shimili Mears shimilimears.com
Richard Brayshaw FRPS richardbrayshaw.co.uk
GOLD MEDAL
ROMAN TIMESCAPE
BY MORAG FORBES LRPS
SELECTORS’ COMMENTS
RICHARD BRAYSHAW FRPS
A skilful and intriguing image. The treatment creates a sense of depth, some ghostliness and movement. We seem to be looking through a screen into a combination of ancient and modern worlds. The image seems to be real yet transcends reality. As well as being fascinating we are left wondering why, what is going on? Congratulations!
SIMON
CIAPPARA FRPS
Roman Timescape is a superb example of a multiple exposure image drawing on the work of Alexey Titarenko for inspiration. Every face in the crowd is distinct and creates an extraordinary ‘depth’ to the image. The backdrop of the building contrasts with the forward
movement of the crowd emphasising the passage of time and life’s fleeting impermanence.
Congratulations Morag on the creation of a meaningful and thoughtprovoking image worthy of your Gold Medal.
LAURA SHIMILI MEARS
This image stood out from the way it was composed, created and rendered. I love the feeling of history, continuity and openness it conveys by the way a historic building, the Roman Colosseum is placed as a background with the range of people standing in front of it, appearing as real but also as ghosts from the pasts.
These are modern people, but they could also be people of the past or the future. For the image speaks to the
creative brief, of sparking imagination, conveying feeling and being a personal expression and it shows mastery of composition, technique, conceptual creativity and rendition. It truly deserves the Gold Medal.
AWARDEE’S COMMENT
MORAG FORBES LRPS
I shot a series of images facing towards the Colosseum in Rome late in the afternoon as a steady flow of pedestrians walked towards me. The marathon was being held in Rome the following day and the city was packed. This final image is created from around a dozen images and I am eternally grateful to the people of Rome for making such fantastic subjects against such a beautiful backdrop.
SILVER MEDAL
BUILDING SITE
BY JOHN HUMPHREY FRPS
SELECTORS’ COMMENTS
RICHARD BRAYSHAW FRPS
This image creates a fascinating new world based on a real structure. It is complex and detailed yet retains a simplicity with a strong graphic core. The arrangement of different types of line creates a great sense of depth. We are drawn in to this world. There is much to see so that the picture repays prolonged study.
SIMON CIAPPARA FRPS
Building Site is a marvellous depiction of a construction site, the use of multiple points of view
and exposures emphasising the complexities works to create a photograph over which one lingers discovering much to engage the eye. Congratulations John.
LAURA SHIMILI MEARS
The image is full of lines and detail, it is a building site but made alive and with loads more going on. We feel the movement and the businesses all thanks to the way it is composed, rendered and executed. The colour is gripping, and we want to look at it for more, to get more of a glimpse, to imagine what it’ll become and to feel a sense of the people in it.
AWARDEE’S COMMENT
JOHN HUMPHREY FRPS
The original picture was of a construction site close to the Millennium Bridge in London. I photographed it hoping that one day it might ‘come in useful’. I was later experimenting with digital double exposure pictures and tried combining a section of the original with a horizontally flipped version. The blend was achieved by opacity adjustment of the top layer. My aim was to give a three-dimensional feel to the complexity of the site.
BRONZE MEDAL
LISBON TRAM
BY SUZY COURTNAGE LRPS
SELECTORS’ COMMENTS
RICHARD BRAYSHAW FRPS
An atmospheric image, full of life and action, drama, adventure, expectations and excitement. The vibrancy, the lines, leading our attention trying to resolve a mystery or start a new chapter of a life happening in Lisbon or coming to completion in some other place after this one. A great image executed beautifully, with personal expression, sparking imagination and opening up a spark of feelings.
SIMON CIAPPARA FRPS
An excellent use of colour and line to give a very dynamic image with a strong sense of motion in every direction. Our eye is never still. Despite the extensive manipulation there is still a ‘real’ scene which grounds us. The colour palette is simple yet powerful, splitting the image which adds to the sense of drama.
LAURA SHIMILI MEARS
Lisbon Tram is wonderfully evocative and employs a colour palette that lends an air of intrigue to the scene. The layers all contribute to the whole in a pleasing way, a flavour of Lisbon is apparent, and the presence of figures add to the atmosphere. Very well-done Suzy.
AWARDEE’S COMMENT
SUZY COURTNAGE LRPS
Whilst visiting Lisbon, I wanted to capture the iconic yellow Trams. I had a clear idea of how the finished image would look and knew It would require a creative edit. I used multiple exposures, layers and different blending modes to achieve the final image.
LAURA SHIMILI MEARS
SELECTOR’S AWARD
AT THE DARKEST MOMENT COMES THE LIGHT BY MARGARET
MARTIN
LAURA SHIMILI MEARS
I loved this image for the powerful and strong message it conveys, inviting us to discern the three flames that are at the core of the light that the image presents vividly. The colours, golden, red and yellow and the textures, have some mysterious connotation that can speak to a heartbreak, a moment of elation or profound healing that can take place inside us. Like the light in the darkest moment, finding that spark can reignite everything and we start again. A powerful image beautifully composed
and executed, leaving enough connection to moments of reality that can bring the message to life and to our human nature.
MARGARET MARTIN
Whilst taking multiple exposure images in Essaouira, Morocco I was attracted by the archway and the three flames on an advert within it. In post processing the idea emerged of an enclosing darkness being dispelled by the light and colour of the flames.
RICHARD BRAYSHAW
SELECTOR’S AWARD
THE LONG HOLE
BY GERRY COE FRPS
RICHARD BRAYSHAW FRPS
An excellent example of photography which both stimulates the imagination and arouses emotions.
The lines point to distant faraway worlds. The treatment of the sea creates an ethereal impression with all the emotions that can bring. The ‘cross’ on the right-hand side seems symbolic and could be from a bygone age, yet the red ‘dot’ disrupts all this!
GERRY COE FRPS
The image was taken at a local landmark on a very stormy day. It was taken on my iPhone with a handheld nine second exposure using the ReeHeld app. The phone was held as steady as possible on a wall, final finishing was done in Snapseed.
SIMON CIAPPARA
SELECTOR’S AWARD
DREAMY SAILS
BY ANDI HARGREAVES LRPS
SIMON CIAPPARA FRPS
Dreamy Sails is a sublime symphony of pastel tones - the simplicity of shapes within implies sailing boats and ‘light airs’ (pun intended). This image invokes the tranquillity of lapping water, light breezes and a long remembered idyllic summer without specific delineation of subject matter, leaving the viewer space to be involved in the story contained therein.
Dreamy Sails was my selectors choice for many reasons, not least of which was it’s one of those images that I wish I had made. Truly a masterclass in understatement, congratulations Andi.
ANDI HARGREAVES LRPS
I created a series of images in 2023 at the West Kirby Regatta in Wirral, on Mark Reeves’s ‘Beauty of Sailing ICM workshop.’
I purposefully excluded people as I wanted to evoke feelings of tranquillity and calmness, thus excluding the power of the regatta itself.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
SUBTERRANEAN SHOPPER
BY MARGARET RAINEY FRPS
This was an iPhone image from a trip to London several years ago, and I wish I could remember what app I used or how I processed it! I do remember thinking the red shopping bag would balance the red on the tube carriages, and that a grunge treatment would suit the underground location.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
THE BIG WHEEL
BY DAVID FEARON
I wanted to capture a different perspective of the big wheel in Stratford upon Avon. I stood close to the wheel and used a neutral density filter to enable a slow shutter speed and achieve motion. I experimented with a range of speeds and settings and came up with this image after only limited processing.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
BLIND ABSTRACT
BY JULIE COWDY ARPS
With my creative photographer’s eye, I noticed that these two blinds were the only pair perfectly juxtaposed in a row of eleven along the span of a panoramic window - a chance encounter!
I converted it to a monochrome image because it favoured a more abstract look. As testament to the saying that the best camera is the one you have with you, I made this on my iPhone 14 Pro Max, using the telephoto lens at 77mm, f/2.8, ISO 32, 1/113 sec.
COMMENDED
NIGHT OF 1000 SARIS BY HONEY J WALKER ARPS
India is a very special place for me. I love everything about it. A cacophony of noise, smells and colours, all jostling for attention. Even at nighttime there is a special magic as the stars come out and the hint of spice and colour remains.
COMMENDED CONTAINED
BY DAVID JORDAN FRPS
This image was taken last October in the National Trust Trelissick House and Gardens in Cornwall. I used an infrared converted camera to exploit the textures and tones of the palm tree that was sitting in the restaurant, contained by the frames of the window.
COMMENDED
PRINCE OF WALES BRIDGE DANCING
BY JOHN BULL LRPS
I started with an image of part of the bridge. The vertical supports make an ‘H’, and the cables are a set of inverted ‘Vs’ reminiscent of string art. I deleted the surrounding sky and tried alternative extreme warps in Photoshop. I chose this one because it suggested a dancer.
Confrontation by Jeremy O'Keefe ARPS
An Extension Too Far by Wendy Irwin ARPS
Cast Aside by Pat Brennan LRPS
Collision of Old and New by Angela Underdown
Old Cinema 70s Reboot by Robin Garrod
Returning Home, Navisha Lake by Ashok Viswanathan
Lost Stories by Jan Beesley ARPS
Towards the Horizon by Maggie Jary ARPS
Escher Bridge by Clive Watkins LRPS
Gloucester College Reflection by Anne Bryson LRPS
UpFest Vignette II by Darrel Jones
The Disorderly Queue by Sue Brame
Amsterdam Psychedelia by David Elford
Pictures within Pictures by Paul O'Flanagan LRPS
Chaotic Defence, Bacton by David Townshend FRPS
Abstract Art by Rob Kershaw ARPS
Is Life Passing You By by Mary Auckland ARPS
Rainy Piazza by Rosalind M Alcock LRPS
Silver Ghost by Donna Gorin LRPS
Figures on the Beach by Cliff Spooner ARPS
Golden Reflection by Ian Booth Rain on Skye by Laura Drury LRPS
MOMA Waiting for Visitors by Christine Prickett ARPS
Filtered Light by Patricia Tutt ARPS
ICM Trees by Ray Duffill
Waterfall by Stuart Fotheringham
Two's Company by Peter Whitfield
Flight of the Oystercatcher by Jayne Sanderson
Scarborough Harbour by Maureen Anderson
Portsmouth Skyline by Carol Walker
The Twig by John Stewart
Twirl by Linda Hunting LRPS
Any Port in a Storm by Allisdhair McNaull
Irises by Sandy Cowie ARPS
Light and Shade by Paul Wells
Poisoned by Neil Scott FRPS
Smoking by Paul Bather ARPS
Tulips by Tom Bowett FRPS
Blue Vase by Bernie Kelly ARPS
Bronze Cascade by Reginald Clark LRPS
Sweet Peas by Pat Couder
Wild Garlic in Ice by Sylvia Moorhouse LRPS
Magnolia and Hessian by Margaret Elliot ARPS
Wilting by Graham Zimmermann ARPS
Calla Study by Margaret Campbell ARPS
Water in Ice by Margery Maskell ARPS
Fill the Frame by Chris Cumming
Gossamer Entrapment by Bill Spencer LRPS
The Presentation by John Thompson ARPS
The Weaving by Sue Edwards LRPS
Angles by Mike Farrance LRPS
Intricate Intersections in the Cloud Forest by Eng Loy Tan ARPS
Steps by Steven Whittaker ARPS
Support by Richard Luxton ARPS
Valencia Arts and Sciences by Marilyn Taylor FRPS
Treads & Risers by Brian Titchiner
Menai Suspension by Jim Cromwell
Winged Time by Stevi Heath LRPS
Visit the Exhibition by Tao Jiang
A Stage by Mike Hill LRPS
Graveyard Chiaroscuro by Michael Cant
Halfway There and Back Again by David Harris ARPS
Autumn by Julie Holbeche-Maund ARPS
An Italian Affair by Lynda Golightly LRPS
Film Noir Reimagined by Peter Merrick FRPS Morning Commute by Rachel Domleo
Waiting by Annette Hockney
Bus Driver by Oliver Steed
Walk on by the Window Tree by Roger Ford FRPS
People Make Glasgow by Tracy Ross LRPS
Off to Market by Patricia Frewin LRPS
Call to Prayer by Paul Raynor LRPS
Split Personality by John P Jennings LRPS
Within The Shelter by Joan Jordan ARPS
Art Box by Janina Nash ARPS
Weary Walk Home by Hilary Bailey LRPS
Just 3 Glasses by Peter Boazman
The Copper Onion by Patricia Ness LRPS
After Holi Festival by Prem Muthu ARPS
Altar by Keith Sawyer ARPS
Come With Me by Basia Bogacka ARPS
Insect Bite by Yoshie Tomaru
Wet Night by Dave Balcombe ARPS
Inticement by Mervyn Mitchell ARPS
Three of a Kind by Angela Ford ARPS
Sheikh Zayed Road by Tim Evans LRPS
Into the Void by Andy Smith LRPS
Smokey by John Allen ARPS
Griggs Field by Bill Wheeler
Golden Fish by Margaret Salisbury FRPS
I know You're There by Claude Trew LRPS
Lady with Handbag by Charles Hobley ARPS Reading Friars Walk by Michel Claverie
Blue Forest by David Baxter LRPS
Sculpture by Palli Gajree Hon. FRPS
River Grasses by Janie Chapman LRPS
Homestead Ruins by Elaine Herbert ARPS
At Canary Wharf by Terry Day LRPS
Which Platform by Tim Walton LRPS
Gloucester College Reflection by Anne Bryson LRPS
Rising Up by Martin Parratt FRPS
Watching the Moon by Olha Pashkovska
Waterfall by Harman Hopkins LRPS
Appledore by Steve Bunce ARPS
Into the Fog by Martin Heathcote LRPS
Nina at the Chapel by Veronica Worrall ARPS
Standing Tall by Colin Prickett ARPS
Oculus by Keith Surey ARPS
Luskentyre Sand Patterns by Anne Ruffell ARPS
