RPS Creative Eye Newsletter 2

CREATIVE EYE

Group Newsletter April 2023

WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR

Hello everyone and welcome to this Creative Eye Group Newsletter. On Sunday 26th March we held our AGM on Zoom. Due to family commitments, David Cooke stood down as Chair and I am happy to report that I was elected to take on the role. The committee is therefore:

Chair: Clive Watkins LRPS

Treasurer: Nigel Rea ARPS

Secretary: Graham Lingley LRPS

Webmaster: Steve Varman LRPS

Digital Exhibition Coordinator : David Rutter FRPS

For the time being I will also continue to perform the roles of Membership Secretary and Communications Coordinator, but these may be reallocated over the course of the year.

As we come out of the era of the pandemic the RPS finds itself in a rather changed landscape. Prior to 2020 many of the Society’s activities were carried out in person and this led groups such as the Creative Eye to be concentrated in areas of the country where active members lived. With the advent of Zoom the active membership and the makeup of the committee has become much more geographically dispersed reflecting the new ways of working.

I am keen to maintain remote participation, but I am also aware of a desire for members to meet in person. With that in mind I think we should be drive towards closer relationships with the regions. I am a district representative in the Scottish Region. The Digital Imaging Group and the Landscape Group have already begun to work in collaboration with the Scottish Region, and others, on various projects. There is a tremendous opportunity for the Creative Eye members to be involved in their own regions on activities which can be jointly run between a region and the Group. I know it will take time to work out the logistics, but I think it will be worth the effort as we start to add more value to your membership. If you would like to get involved, please read the volunteer request section of this newsletter.

I am always keen to hear what you would like the Group to be doing, so we can give you the opportunities and information you want. If you have any ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at creativecomms@rps.org

CONTENTS

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Contacts

Website: rps.org/creativeeye

Social media: facebook.com/groups/rpscg flickr.com/groups/rps-creative

Email: creativecomms@rps.org

Newletter design: Steve Varman LRPS

Cover image:

Tyndale Dream by Steve Varman LRPS

© 2023 All rights reserved. The copyright of all images and text contained in this publication belong to the authors. No part may be reproduced or transmitted without written permision of the copyright holder.

Clive Watkins LRPS

PHOTO FORUM

We ran an hour-long photo forum after the AGM. 18 brave members submitted to me one photograph each for discussion at the forum. Thank you to everyone who took part. We trialled method of discussion which involved the photographer talking about their work before handing over to the next person for them to add their thoughts. The forum progressed like this until each photograph had been discussed. The feedback from the event was that it went very well. Some members would have liked to have spoken up on more than just the image which preceded their own, but unfortunately the time constraints and the management of a discussion on Zoom required a certain amount of control to make sure that everyone got some time to speak. I think it is something we will do again, but as always, we are open to suggestions for improvement.

Top: Street Art Creation by Claude Trew LRPS Right: Hope by Tony Fisher

CREATIVE EYE MAGAZINE

You will be aware that we haven’t had a magazine since October 2022. For various reasons the production of the first 2023 Creative Eye magazine is taking longer than expected, but we do intend to provide the usual 3 magazines to you over the course of this year. Magazine editor, David Cooke, is always on the lookout for magazine articles, so if you have something you would like to be considered for publication, please don’t hesitate to contact him.

Right: Shorelines by Patricia Tutt ARPS

Below: Tree Creature by Tracy Ross LRPS

EXHIBITIONS

I am sorry to report that we will not be having another print exhibition this year. Moira Ellice and her team put in a massive amount of effort last year for what was a fantastic, coherent, and professional exhibition. Although Moira is now having a well-earned rest, displays of the 2022 Print Exhibition are still being organised. Your new committee will discuss how we proceed with print exhibitions in the future but staging another one will depend on us securing the necessary volunteer support.

Organised by volunteer, David Baxter, a selection of 40 prints from the 2022 exhibition will be going on display at Stamford Hospital, Lincolnshire in a couple of weeks’ time. Many studies have shown that visual art provides positive healing power to hospital patients, and we hope patients, staff and visitors will enjoy the prints.

Following on from last year, we intend to have a 2023 Digital Exhibition, with David Rutter once again organising the event for us. Keep your eyes peeled for news of how to enter.

PHOTO WALKS & VOLUNTEERS

Following the pandemic, I feel there is a pent-up demand in our membership to reconnect with each other away from the computer screen.

The Creative Eye Group is on the lookout for keen members to volunteer to run photo-walks. We have members all over the UK and the rest of the world! I would like to make a direct request to anyone who would like to volunteer to run a photo-walk in your region to contact me with your idea. We will help with the publicity to ensure that members in your region are made aware of the event. We will also advise on the logistics of organising your walk to make the whole process as simple as possible. We will also be keen to run articles on the website and in the magazine and publish photos and stories that come out of each event.

So, please get your thinking caps on and contact me at creativecomms@rps.org with your ideas.

As I mentioned in my introduction to this newsletter, the Creative Eye Group will also be working with the regions where possible and appropriate to take part in each other’s events. This is already happening successfully with other groups, and I think we should also get in on the game. Once again, if you are aware of events in your region that may appeal to members’ please contact me to let me know and we’ll do our best to work together to spread the word.

Going Underground by Jan Harris ARPS

Balcony Chair by Nigel Rea ARPS

ONLINE TALKS

Jan Harris is lining up a stellar series of talks for us this year. These talks are one of the main benefits of your membership of the Creative Eye Group, so please take advantage of the education, entertainment, and enjoyment they bring.

Poetry And Photography

When : 3pm BST (UTC+1) on Saturday 22nd April

Price : Free for CEG members

£2 for RPS members

£4 for non-members

Tickets : events.rps.org/4LrdQ66/5a2N4L6a2rq

The P2 Collective , a collaboration of four poets and three photographers, explores a conversation between poetry and photography in which each artform inspires the other.

Poetry and photography. These two very different art forms have a lot in common, but can they converse with each other? Can photographers get inspiration from poetry and poets from photography? The answer, or course, is yes, but how does this work?

In the summer of 2019, a group of Chicago area photographers and poets met to discuss the idea of pursuing an ekphrastic conversation between poetry and photography, a conversation in which one artform inspires the other. For example, a photograph might inspire a poem, which in turn inspires another photograph, which then inspires another poem and so on.

The group named itself The P2 Collective, a collaboration of four poets and three photographers. The P2 Collective has held both online and inperson poetry readings in which accompanying photographic images have been displayed and has produced several poetry-photography videos. Their work was exhibited at the Perspective Gallery of Fine Art Photography in November 2021 and was summarized in their first catalogue of poems and images: “ Poetry and Photography ”. More recently, the readings with projected photographs have been presented in live in-person performances with musical accompaniment at various Chicago-area venues. The group has produced a second catalogue “ Collective Visions ” and is currently working towards a new program in the summer.

After a short introduction there will be a presentation in which poems from the P2 Collective will be read whilst the associated photographs that inspired, or were inspired by the poems, are projected. This will be followed by a round table discussion with the panellists from the P2 Collective, and participation from the audience.

Impressionist Landscape Photography

with Andy Gray

When: 3pm BST (UTC+1) on Saturday 24th June

Price: Free for CEG members

£2 for RPS members

£4 for non-members

Tickets: RPS Website

Andy Gray has unique style of landscape photography created with Intentional camera movement (ICM) techniques. He gets his inspiration to create his work from the old English master painters of the 19th century, along with the later impressionists. A huge influence and someone he actively tries to mimic in the form and colour scheme, is the 19th Century English master, JMW Turner.

While in the past Andy enjoyed making traditional landscape images of the local iconic views and more intimate landscape scenes, after a spell of loving making minimalist long exposures, usually monochromatic, he stumbled (literally) on intentional camera movement. It wasn’t long after this that he first saw the work of Valda Bailey who was just a short amount of time into developing her multiple exposure style and was captivated. So began Andy’s journey which has ended up with him all but abandoning the “reality” of photography.

He has never been afraid of carrying out seemingly excessive alteration to his captured images, which has probably been a large factor in the way his individual style of intentional camera movement photography has developed over the years.

Visit: andrewsgray.photography

Coming soon

Finally, I have exciting news that Linda Bembridge’s new talk, about developing projects will be on Saturday 7th October at 3.00pm (BST). I’ll give you more details when we have them.

Andy Gray

ON THE WEB

Facebook group

Our Facebook gro up is administered by Margaret Rainey. With 290 members it is very active and is a great place to share your images for comment, as well as exchanging ideas and finding out what is going on in the Group.

Flickr group

I have recently taken o ver the management of the Flickr group and I’m currently evaluating how best utilise it for the Creative Eye as we move forward. More news on this over the next few months!

Portfolio group

David Harris co ntinues to run a friendly forum for members to exchange images for peer review. Additionally, David holds Zoom sessions to meet with group members to discuss their images.

Group website

Steve Varman cont inues to run the Group’s website with great success. The site contains a wealth of information about the Group including news items, events, the print and digital exhibitions, the members’ day, documents, and details of members’ websites. I recommend this site to all those who wish to know more about the Group and its activities.

Greenwich by Ali Garrett