Newsletter December 2015
Paul Gilmour LRPS Regional Organiser
Contents 01 Welcome Welcome to our first newsletter to celebrate a new and exciting era in the Southern Region. Since I was appointed your regional organiser, I have experienced a steep learning curve in order to be able to undertake the role effectively. Despite the challenges, the journey so far has certainly been a rewarding and enjoyable one. One of my first tasks was to understand the demographic spread of members and understand what your interests and needs are. You may remember the member’s survey sent out in late August 2015. This returned a response with over 200 members completing the short questionnaire. Although there are nearly 1000 members in total, this I’m told was an excellent response. Thank you.
02 The Southern Region 03 Member’s Survey 04 Meet Your Team 05 Regional News
My overall aim is to ensure we remain a very active region with inclusion for all who wish to participate, no matter where your interest in photography lies.
06 Event Report
I am acutely aware that you may never have attended an organised RPS event before, so I would like to reach out to those members who may have felt disillusioned with the lack of regional activity in the past. I also accept that not everyone can attend meet ups, perhaps due to work or family comitments and that is fine too. As a member of our region, with this added responsibility, I hope to be able to offer guidance and support in helping you achieve the very best from your RPS membership.
07 Dates For Your Diary
Thanks again for your support and I look forward to meeting you.
09 Close
Paul Gilmour LRPS
08 Distinction Successes
02 THE SOUTHERN REGION. Defining your area. When you join The Royal Photographic Society, you are designated a geographical region within the RPS. Your designated RPS Region is determined by your postal code, however, you can always opt to change this if you wish. For example, if you spend the majority of your time at a second home, or work away most of the time, it may be more convenient to be associated with another Region.
We are proud to be part of one of the largest regions by area size, boasting one of the greater regional membership counts, standing at almost 1000 RPS subscribers. Our area is vast, covering Hampshire, Dorset, and parts of West Sussex, Berkshire, Wiltshire, on the mainland. We then extend out southward to the Isle of Wight, to as far south as the Channel Islands. We are neighbours with the South-East Region, Thames Valley and the South-West Region. As Regional Organiser, it is my intention that the whole region benefits from regular events.
03 SOUTHERN REGION MEMBER’S SURVEY – So what did our survey tell us? Thank you to all of you who completed the Southern Region member survey. There was an excellent response to this. Your input will greatly help me to strive to form a Regional community we can all be proud of. It was great to see such a wide range of interest in photography, in particular nature and wildlife. There also appears to be a strong following of digital imaging and landscape photography. Many of you expressed that you would rather be kept informed via email and valued regional newsletters along with the RPS Journal. In terms of where to hold events, it is clear that this really depends on the event itself, although many of you prefer not to travel too far which is understandable. I am confident that the appointment of local event organisers will mean that more events are held in your area. The full report of the member’s survey can be viewed online at http://www.rps.org/regions-and-
chapters/regions/southern/blogs/2015/october/southern-region-member-survey-results
The most popular events are of an educational nature, including workshops & talks with guest speakers. Advisory Days, field trips, & joint meetings with special interest groups scored high in our survey. Roughly half of the members over 50 are also over 65, meaning that about 40% of our members has access to subsidised public transport, indicating that our venues should be easily accessible with good transport links. Thank you for your input.
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04 A REGIONAL COMMITTEE HAS NOW BEEN APPOINTED - Meet your new team.
Simon Wardle ARPS Regional Treasurer
David Ashcoft LRPS Northern Area Representative dashcroft9@me.com
Paul Gilmour LRPS Regional Organiser southern@rps.org
David Peckham Western Area Representative davepeckham@mac.com
Vacant Committee Member
Martin Silman Eastern Area Representative martin@silman.net
Lilian Hobbs Committee Member
Kate Lomax LRPS Newsletter Editor katelomax@me.com
05 NEWS – What’s been happening in the region? It has been an extremely busy and productive time across the region. Within the RPS website, our Southern Region has its own micro site, with information, interesting blogs, along with event dates for your diary. Please visit so that you stay regularly updated between newsletters. We also have a new Facebook page. We have some exciting events and field trips provisionally proposed and are outlined below (subject to change). Please register your interest by emailing southern@rps.org so we can know if there is sufficient interest to proceed.
Proposed Field Trips www.facebook.com/rpssouthern Tyneham Village Ghost Town Dorset
Nikon School – Wildlife Photography Workshop
Athlehampton House & Garden, Dorset
Lee Filters Workshop & Factory Tour. Lee Filters are based in Andover.
Portsmouth Historic Naval Sites
‘Urbex’, Forgotten Heritage
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Andy Finney – Copyright Talk, Newbury
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06 EVENT REPORT – ‘How To Produce A Good Photobook’. Led by Brian Steptoe FRPS This event, held at Winchester Discovery Centre, sold out! This was our first event since regrouping the Region. The day, which included an interactive workshop, was led by Brian Steptoe FRPS, to a packed house of approximately 50 attendees. Photo books are becoming increasingly popular, and are now accepted as a way of presenting your work when submitting for your Distinctions. The November issue of ‘Journal’, carries a 20% discount voucher for RPS members, for all of us who left the day all fired up to produce our next or even first photobook! It was great to see so many people turn up including non-members as well! The ticket sales of the event, bore testament to Brian’s excellent work. Brian opened the morning session with an educational talk on the history of photo books, discussing considerations on how they should be designed, demonstrating with page turning examples. There was ample opportunities to view the books on display, to absorb the many styles of variety on offer, giving us all food for thought for our own creations. After lunch there was time to gather around tables for the afternoon workshop session to have a go yourself at sequencing and editing individual photographs to a short brief given to each team by Brian. The day ended just before 3pm, not before council and regional member, Vanessa Slawson FRPS offered our thanks to Brian for his valuable insight. A very enjoyable day shared by many! If you missed the day, you can find a video blog, presented by Brian, on the RPS website here: http://www.rps.org/specialinterest-groups/contemporary/blogs/2014/may/brian-steptoe-frps-talks-about-theselection-criteria-for-photobooks
07 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – Future events & Advisory Days Greyfriars Community Centre Ringwood, BH24 1DW- Book Online An opportunity to see and examine a range of recent successful RPS Licentiateship, Associateship and Fellowship Distinctions print Panels. We hope some of the award winners will share with us how their work was conceived and produced. This is NOT an Advisory Workshop Bring a packed lunch. Tea and Coffee will be available Opening times th 6 December 2015 - 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
10.00 – 16.00 Kinson Community Centre, Millhams Road, Bournemouth, BH10 7LH Southern Region Distinctions Advisory Day This event ‘not to be missed’, will be invaluable for providing guidance to RPS Members and nonmembers who are considering applying for Licentiateship & Associateship in the categories of Applied or Pictorial. Applied Panel assessors are to be, RPS President Walter Benzie HonFRPS & council member, Vanessa Slawson FRPS.
24th January 2016
Are you preparing for a RPS distinction, but not sure how to mount your work? Longridge Mount Cutting Systems, will be at Kinson to give you an insight into their products. RPS members benefit from a 10% discount on all Longridge products. The incentives at Kinson will be even more attractive.
Southern Region Distinctions Advisory Day We will travel to Guernsey, to give you another opportunity to prepare for a distinction. LRPS, ARPS, FRPS and Creative & Travel will be covered.
27th February 2016
Panel members will be Nick Despres FRPS & Steven Le Provost FRPS.
The Harry Bound Room Les Cotils St. Peter Port Guernsey Channel Islands GY1 1UU Regional Organiser Paul Gilmour email: southern@rps.com Jaonneuse Bay, Guernsey © Jayne Priaulx LRPS “Guernsey has a rich source of subject matter. We have our wonderful coastline, which has a range of rocky coves and long sandy beaches which offer changing views due the weather through the year. Guernsey also has a very picturesque harbour in St. Peter Port, together with several old jetties and ports around the island, and on top of all that we have a large number of German fortifications from the WWII and Martello towers and forts from the Napoleonic era”- Jayne Priaulx LRPS
08 CELEBRATING SUCCESSES! Distinctions are so very important. They motivate you to be creative, to plan your shoot and your project. Those of you who have recently gained your award, be very proud, of your work, your determination, and of course, your distinction! Below is the stunning, Natural History panel of Peter Orr ARPS.
LRPS Hilary Barton Mark Lanigan Iona Mckenzie Nick Townley Sue Nash Louise Brown Christine Campbell Chris Gillard Graham Ireland Wendy Spencer Carol Paes Barbara Jayne Priaulx Roland Crook Lucy Victoria Sharpe Luke Parkinson Kate Lomax Debbie Smith ARPS Roger Dixey Roger Clark Peter Orr Christopher Bamber Andrew Beeson
Visit your Southern Events pages at www.rps.org to book your place on an Advisory Day.
Below, is the work of Mark Lanigan LRPS
Ensure you book early as places fill up fast!
09 AND FINALLY ...... Thank you for bearing with us through all of the changes. 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for the region. Become part of it and work towards your first or next distinction. We welcome you to attend the activities we have planned, including the day in Guernsey. We hope to have more planned in all corners of the region in future. Please stay in touch with us if you have any news or inclusions we may be interested in, we will be happy to hear from you. We wish you all a very merry Christmas, followed by a happy and healthy New Year. All the very best from your dedicated team at RPS Southern. See you in 2016!