DIG News - December 2019
Stokksnes Peninsular, Iceland by Trevor Rudkin Winner of the DIG monthly competition for November
Digital Imaging Group
DIG PRINT EXHIBITION 2020
December 2019
Entry to the 2020 free to enter print exhibition opens this month. For the first time for our print comp we are using the same online entry system we used for the 2019 PI Comp, where you are in control. The web page you need for all the rules and information is HERE Then when you are ready to submit your three images go to https://www.rps-dig.org/comp-login.php We have provided plenty of UK drop off points for your prints or bring them yourself to the AGM. If you are posting your prints to the Exhibition Organiser, Sue Totham, please wait till after Christmas before mailing her. For Overseas members we are offering a printing service to encourage you to submit your work.
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AGM 2020
December 2019
As many of you will know our AGM day is a fully and fun one. Only the first hour is the actual AGM, which is followed by the Print Exhibition selection and our finale is a special Susan Brown FRPS presentation. It is well worth making the effort to get to Oldbury, Birmingham for the day and for Overseas members we will make the AGM available online.
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DIG MONTHLY ONLINE COMPETITION For November we had joint winners but regrettably we cannot have two front pages. As Trevor Rudkin is a really new DIG member we opted to put his image on the cover but are featuring both winners and their comments below. The image was taken on Stokksnes Peninsula in Iceland during a trip with Colin Westgate's Quest Holidays. It was September, and the colours were much richer and more autumnal than I had expected - I had imagined lots of snow and ice but the weather was quite mild. The scenery was still amazing though, and under the guidance of Colin Westgate and David West we found many stunning locations, Stokksnes being one of them. I took two cameras (a Nikon D610 and a Nikon D7000) and two lenses (Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 and 24-70mm f2.8). I took a tripod but only used it once! This particular image was hand-held using the D610 and the 70-200mm zoom at 80mm ISO200, 1/200 sec at f8 for those who like the technical stuff. Post-processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 14. (You can tell I don't like software subscriptions...)
Melanie Chalk ARPS This image was from a Photoshoot project I did with a friend from Camera Club. It was his idea for the shoot and was based on the work of Hendrik Kerstens, with a theme of recycling. We sourced reclaimed material, packaging, and found items and I made and stitched clothes, accessories and headgear. 4
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Pause for thought by Melanie Chalk ARPS Her head covering was fashioned from polystyrene packaging, heated with a hot air gun and moulded over a mannequin's head. We hired our model Ayla and used a studio near London for the shoot, with several changes of outfit throughout the day. This image, from a series of shots, evoked a feeling of serenity, devotion, and contemplation hence the title. Taken with a Lensbaby Velvet 56, minimal processing, just made sure the black was black. The crop came about quite by accident from a full length shot, when we were both reviewing our images, we agreed that the use of the negative space just worked so positively on this occasion! Working at a project and finding props and clothes was a very worthwhile experience and I got lots of successful images, straight ones, as well as ones to use in composites. 5
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Third place is ‘Homage to Bill Brandt’ by Paula Davies FRPS
DIGIT PUBLICATION As DIG News goes out DIGIT 83 is just being sent to the printers. The DIG PI Catalogue is also at the printers and likely rolling off the presses as I type. Both will be in an environmentally friendly double wrap and will come out to you before Christmas. Just right to fill your hours in that boring week between Christmas and New Year. We thank the teams for getting both publications assembled, edited, copy read and off to the printers to hit our schedule. It is very much a team effort. 6
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DIG MEMBER DISTINCTIONS Congratulation to all members who have gained their Distinctions this past month. All will be invited by Holly to submit their work and story to DIG Accolade. Ian Hardacre LRPS Andy Kelsall LRPS Alessia Peviani LRPS Brian Perry LRPS Karen Saunders LRPS
Jannett Klinke ARPS (FA). Nick Browne ARPS (FA). Sarah Townley ARPS (FA).
Crownthorne Coventry Netherlands Newton-le-Willow Ashford
Cambridge Malvern Southampton
AN OVERSEAS MEMBER This month we have a member from ‘down under’ who has agreed to let us showcase his work. Welcome Simon Elsey LRPS. Expat outback journey highlights Simon Elsy LRPS I am from the UK but have been living in Sydney since 2009. My involvement in photography goes back to my youth and continued while lecturing in geology, recording field trips for teaching
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purposes; and personal interest. In recent years my photography was renewed as I was lucky enough to visit a variety of Australian regions for work. My photographic interests are broad, including landscapes, nature, astrophotography and streetscapes. However, to see differing landscapes here in Australia requires extensive travel, people think nothing of travelling for 2 hours or more for a sunrise or astrophotography image. Readers might enjoy a brief pictorial summary of a recent 4,200km round road trip to Coober Pedy, a renown opal capital. It provided a unique opportunity to experience a diverse range of landscapes, wildlife and remote outback country towns. The trip tested my camera equipment surviving exposure to fine dust, extreme temperatures, humidity, and bouncing around the car floor!
Emus in sandstorm 1. Taken near Merrinee, on the Stuart Highway. A sudden dust storm blew up, with a red fog like mist blowing sand across the road and darkening the landscape! This image captures this red dust veiling the sun, and in the far distance emus can be seen wandering 8
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amongst dusty bare ground and occasional trees, seemingly oblivious to the severe hot dry wind and fine choking red dust.
Milky Way above the dugout 2. This image captures magnificent velvety desert sky, with the Milky Way rising vertically above the rudimentary dugout I stayed in at Coober Pedy. It had no electricity, hot water, or proper drainage, lighting was solar powered. The foreground area is a white chalky dust that covered everything, including camera gear!
The Breakaways sunset panorama 9
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3. Taken 40 km north of Coober Pedy, this is the famous Breakaways, part of a 15,000-hectare Conservation Park in Antakirinja Matuntjara Yankunytjatjara country. A stunning but remote area of ochre coloured mesas comprising the only high ground in this vast flat moonlike desert landscape.
Lake Hart salt flats twilight 4. On the return leg to Sydney, I encountered the evening sun setting over Lake Hart, just off the Stuart Highway, near Woomera. Red/Orange light reflects off the surprisingly rough translucent crystalline salt pan surface. Just 25 Km outside Broken Hill of The Barrier Highway, Silverton, a former silver town. Often regarded as a ghost town. It is an eclectic mix of colourful heritage buildings and the famous pub complete with a Mad Max ‘Interceptor’ parked outside! 10
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A UK MEMBER For our UK contributors we like to ask members who perhaps live too far from a DIG Centre to engage with us that way to contribute. It gives them a chance to show us their work and tell us a little about themselves. Kenneth Ness ARPS I’ve been messing about with cameras since I was ten and was encouraged to take photographs by an uncle and aunt who owned a photographic shop in St Andrews. Throughout the following years, using a variety of cameras and as a member of a local Camera Club, I worked to improve my photo skills. Restricted to Black and White, I had some limited successes. I joined Matlock Camera Club. Although I was an active member, I did little darkroom work as I owned and ran a small commercial printing business and going back into the darkroom at the end of the day, did not appeal.
We Three 11
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Oh, the joy of the advent of Digital photography. At last photography became easier, didn’t require a darkroom and allowed the use of the printers held within the business. I took the opportunity of switching to a Canon 40D as the business owned a number of large format printers including a HP Designjet 3100 with superb print quality: I now had everything I needed
Callanish Stones 12
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Christmas 2008 brought the gift of membership of the RPS and a year later, I upgraded the 40D to a Canon 5D Mkll. Together with my membership and a brand new camera, I was ready to take on the “L� Panel; or so I thought! My first attempt was a bit of a disaster, but, undaunted and with the help of Anne Sutcliffe FRPS, I passed at the second attempt.
Preston Mill in camera I became Chairman of Matlock Camera Club in 2012 serving the club until I moved back to Scotland to be closer to my son in Aberdeen. My interests now included Infrared and Medium Format film as well as digital with a new 5DMkIII. 13
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I joined Brechin Photographic Society in September 2013 and became President in 2017. With DIG Scotland having recently started, I attended the meetings at Bridge of Allan. With a number of Centre Organisers changing, the group was in danger of folding and I took over the post of CO with the hope of being able to build the centre up. Lack of numbers and increased costs finally forced us to close the group this summer. Having gained my Licentiate, my goal was to gain an Associateship and after a number of false starts, I settled on derelict boats as my brief. Again, the first attempt failed, but, with advice from local panel members and the RPS, I again prevailed and was awarded my “A� in March 2015.
The Ambush
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WELCOME to our new members this month… Alan Platt Roseanne Baume ARPS Vincent Lavender Georgina Lee LRPS Christine Ellison ARPS Christopher Russell Ian Simpson Guy Erwood Mark Pollitt Rodney Hughes April Games LRPS Barry Hoffman ARPS Chris Goodacre Simon Biles Yvonne Casselli Derek Mole
Woking Dublin Emsworth Liverpool Leyland Beverley Bebington Swanscombe York Bicester Crickhowell Berkhamsted Huddersfield Farringdon Bolton Yardley
INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEW RPS WEB SITE
Chas Hockin LRPS DIG Web Editor volunteer
The new website. Since I took over the role of DIG Web Editor years ago, I have been trying to make the web “experience” better for everyone. By that I mean it should be easy for people to find the information and resources they want, but also a platform 15
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to display their images and engage with other like-minded photographers. Because I made a nuisance of myself, I was invited to become a member of the new website stakeholder committee. With other members we made suggestions to the developers and HQ staff about how to make improvements. Sadly, few of these suggestions have come to pass. For example, I think existing members found the navigation difficult at first. Groups, Chapters and Regions are not instantly located on the RPS homepage, you must do a little work to find them under the ‘About’ header. There was a perception that the old homepage needed fewer “tabs” and everyone had to “suffer” a little bit. We suggested that navigation to Groups, Regions and Chapters should be front and centre, but we were overruled. At the end of this article I will provide several DIG shortcut links you can save as Bookmarks. I initially struggled to understand how to create pages on the new website, but at one point I had a “lightbulb” moment and then it was all downhill from there. I now give advice to other web editors – along the lines of functionality rather than how a page will look. I’m not much of a “creative”, after all. With the old website, you could write and add content as you went along, but now you must prepare your work in advance. You gather your “media” together, work out how you want it to look, and build the blocks to populate a page. These blocks are called “cards” in the system we use, and there are several different types. Whilst this has the benefit of making the website look more uniform, or as I say, a “corporate style” it can be a bit restrictive. There were some things I would have liked to have done but couldn’t. But despite that, there is room for some scope. There are one or two features that baffle me – for instance, if you add an image to a “card”, it will produce a coloured border and background for the text. Now this border colour is supposedly chosen by matching the colour in the image to one of the colours in the rainbow footers you see on every page. Although why I got a purple background with a black and white image I tested, I will never know….. I think HQ has missed a couple of tricks with the new website. I know it’s old hat in this day and age, but I think there is a place for a forum in a society that has members. I suspect each SIG has its Facebook/Instagram pages, but it’s not the same. There should be opportunity for members to converse across all parts of the Society. Secondly – Gallery pages. COO Mike Taylor said that there are other websites that show off images better; but we are a photographic society – we should be able to present our work in the best possible manner. Disappointed. On the day of the launch, there was the usual problems of being able to log on etc. I was able to re-establish my account, but when I tried to gain access later, the website was obviously overloaded, so I left it. I think there might still be teething troubles, but it’s not life and death.
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From the RPS home page go to ‘About’ then ‘Groups’ then you see all the SIGs The DIG section of the website is still a work in progress, and I am always willing to accept suggestions and changes. Furthermore, there is an opportunity for you to have an image (or part of your image) on the website. If you look at the top of each page, there is what’s called a “Hero image”. This runs right across the page. Now, on some pages, I have used relevant images – with permission. But there are some pages that I have just a light blue background. I would like to change these to images. So if you have something that you think suitable, send it to me at digweb@rps.org. Title your email Hero Image and ensure that in this case it is 2000 px wide. When viewed, it will be cropped, and more importantly, it will look “duller” than the original. So be warned! If I get a lot, I will rotate their usage. Remember, your centre has their own microsite, so they may be on the lookout for Hero Images as well. Contact your local Centre web editor for info. It may seem a bit strange, but we have two sections on the new website. One is for members who pay the full price and receive printed copies of magazines etc, and the other is for those who read publications on the internet. (Digital Imaging Online members). The developers of the site had to do it this way as DIO members pay a different amount, and it was not possible to incorporate them into the same 17
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section. Rather than duplicating any of the pages I have just directed the DIO members to the DIG Home Page by clicking on a link Until I can find a better method of doing it, I will run the Monthly Competition on the website using images that are 1000 px wide. (Anything smaller and they are upsized, reducing sharpness; anything bigger and they take time to load). Send your entries to me, again at the above address.
Here is a list of shortcuts or aliases as they call them. DIG Home page www.rps.org/DIG Membership www.rps.org/DIGMembership Committee www.rps.org/DIGCommittee News www.rps.org/DIGNews Monthly Competition www.rps.org/DIGMonComp Print Circle www.rps.org/DIGCircle AGM www.rps.org/DIGAGM Print Exhibition www.rps.org/DIGExhibition PDI www.rps.org/DIGPDI Tutorials www.rps.org/DIGTutorials Publications www.rps.org/digpubs (no - it’s not a list of good Public Houses!) Hidden away are the DIGIT, Accolade and Welcome pages as they contain publications that you pay for, so are not public facing or searchable. (Whenever a DIGIT or an Accolade is published, you WILL receive a link to enable you to access it). DIGIT www.rps.org/DIGITArchive Accolade www.rps.org/DIGAccolade Welcome page www.rps.org/DIGWelcome There should be links to all the centres from the DIG Home page.
ANONYMOUS View from a computer chair
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As a Volunteer and co organiser of an RPS Centre and having previously been responsible for adding info to the RPS website, setting up ticketing for events, writing a report or two etc, the badge on my chest read, ‘web editor’ So an email landed in my inbox, inviting me, to learn how to add content to the soon to be launched and long awaited new RPS website.
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And a month ago I was booked to join an online meeting, to learn about the system. Online meetings are the norm now, but I was already floundering, they couldn’t hear or see me, good thing in the end, no ‘lippy’ on and hadn’t tided my office! So I just sat and absorbed, and watched as the trainer’s mouse journeyed back and forth, accessing the Website Tree and all its Branches, the content, the cards, the images and media, the Groups, Regions and Chapters and even the rest of the world. To say I was overwhelmed at the end of the two hour session, is a mild description of how I felt. Then I read the manual, but as you know there is nothing better than exploring on one’s own, playing and trying things, failing and trying again. I had another training session and this time everything made much more sense. So I started on my layout, but it eats time, the cooking, cleaning, ironing, photography and my art have been relegated to another date in the future. My husband has complained of never seeing me. I set aside a day in my diary to get it done and dusted, how optimistic! So 30 days later I have undergone an education, it’s been a steep learning curve, I’ve grasped new skills, and it’s dawned on me that I am really OCD, everything must be lined up, colour coordinated and perfect. That is my summing up of the process as we approach launch. So as you investigate the pages of your region, chapter or group, think of the ‘Unpaid’ Volunteer beavering away, out of their comfort zone, learning new skills at breakneck speed to bring you the pages you are viewing. Be gentle with your remarks and complaints, make them considered and sugar coated. Any changes and tweaks can and do take time and can have a domino effect affecting other pages. Links will all soon be joined up and tickets will be available to purchase but inevitably there will be breaks and error messages and so have patience during the settling in period. Each web editor has been given free reign with the design of their page but within the parameters laid out by the developers. So dormant design talent has been unleashed, and has blossomed and we hope you will all approve of the layouts made by many web editors around the world. Now I must get back to the ironing! From an Anonymous Web Editor 19
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DIG VOLUNTEERS Each month we like to feature DIG Volunteers by way of thinking them for the work they do and to also allow members to see what the roles involve. Perhaps you would be willing to give a few hours volunteering?
Janice Payne ARPS Programme Secretary for the DIG Thames Valley Centre I started attending meetings at the Thames Valley Centre back in 2011, on a regular basis, quickly realising that this group was the sort of thing I had been searching for.
Somewhere that offers high profile presenters, different to those we see on the camera club circuit. A chance to learn and get a greater understanding for, the many different photographic genres and processes, to see and hear about photography that pushes the boundaries, both in quality and creativity. It all makes the 160-mile round trip for a full day’s event, well worthwhile for me. Having been on committees for two photographic clubs in East Sussex, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I became ‘roped in’ as a 20
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member of the committee at Thames Valley and took over the role of Programme Secretary. Three years on, I don’t regret it, we are a friendly bunch, a long serving committee of seven, many of whom hold volunteer recognition awards from the RPS for serving over 4 and 8 years. We hold eight events during the year including two competitions at the Woosehill Community Hall, Wokingham, in Berkshire. My main task is to provide a varied season of events for our attendees, many of whom return year after year. This involves calling on presenters, many of whom are well known to me and all are experts in their own chosen field. I would urge others to think about volunteering their services to groups such as ours. It really is enjoyable and rewarding work when it culminates in a successful event and you meet so many interesting people. Reflections on being a DIG Volunteer Barrie Brown LRPS I retired after 42 years as a Forensic Psychologist in 2011, and was persuaded by friends to take up photography to keep me out of mischief. So, I joined a local camera club, went on courses, bought some decent gear and instantly became hooked, particularly on capturing the beauty and fragility of the natural world. I joined the RPS in December 2014, having successfully acquired an LRPS distinction, and promptly joined the Digital Imaging Group.
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From the start, I liked the group’s broad remit and could see how active it was in its local Centres. Over the next couple of years, I became more and more impressed with DIG’s focus on developing members and wondered whether to seek to join the DIG committee and get more involved. Unfortunately, at the time, I was up to my ears looking after a local Camera Club as its Secretary, so I had to put that thought on hold. Later the following year, however, an opportunity popped up to get more involved with DIG’s flagship and highly acclaimed publication, DIGIT. By then, I’d moved to my current camera club, which had a perfectly capable secretary already and thus found myself with some spare time. The opportunity was perfect - DIG needed someone to run the ‘back office’ for DIGIT. Why not me? After all, I’d helped run a student newspaper as an undergraduate, I’d volunteered as reviews editor for a professional publication in my former working life and had even edited a local political rag in my home constituency. So, I offered my services and became an active DIG volunteer. Since then, I’ve joined the DIG committee, helped set up a new DI Centre in the South East and gradually involved myself in wider Society matters. The first and most important thing I want to say is how much I've enjoyed volunteering for the Digital Imaging Group over the last 4 years. It has been a privilege to be part of the Group's organisational efforts and fulfilling to have contributed alongside so many valued colleagues, several of whom have become good friends. It’s also been stimulating to 22
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stretch my knowledge and horizons, dragging me well beyond my comfort zone on occasions. Minding the relationship with a host of commercial sponsors of a major DIG event in 2017 was a definite eyeopener! But as I get closer now to being in my mid-70’s, in truth, I find myself increasingly struggling to keep pace with the demands of all the roles I've taken on. My energy levels are not what they were, and I simply hate not doing things as well as I used to. And, I confess, I find myself wanting more time on other things – enjoying the beautiful countryside of the UK, revelling in the glorious renaissance of Wolverhampton Wanderers, photographing the natural world as it struggles to cope with climate change and spending more time with my growing brood of grandchildren (they grow so quickly) – not in order of importance I hasten to add! There’s a lesson to be learned here - volunteering is not at all a burden if you position it thoughtfully within the broader shape of your life. Managing the workload is not the whole story, though. I also feel that some of what I set out to do when I started volunteering almost four years ago has been achieved. One objective has been to do my bit to nudge the Society to stay true to its core values. In this I’m greatly encouraged by the successful recruitment to the Council at the 2019 AGM of Trustees who share my conviction that the RPS is an educational charity that needs its members to be onside and committed and it can only achieve that if its leadership engages fully with the members. It’s the only way to enable it deliver and improve its charitable educational remit. The leadership now feels to me much more in touch with the many hundreds of volunteers who freely give their time, expertise and effort in the Groups, Regions and Chapters than it has done for the last couple of years. I’ve also been helping to reshape the organisation of DIG itself, so that it can play its part to the full in the future development of the Society. A plan has now been put to the committee and endorsed by it. That feels to me like a substantial step forward for the Group and the Society. But I also know it’s going to need more effort from more volunteers across 23
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DIG to implement what is going to be a significant piece of work over the next 2-3 years.
And there is something else. I have a such high regard for fellow volunteers in DIG and more broadly across the RPS. It's been a joy and privilege to work with so many people of experience, ability, shared values, wit, conviction and determination. But, I have become increasingly convinced that what the Society needs now as we approach the third decade of the 21st Century is more and more of the creativity and energy of a younger, more diverse cadre living closer to the modern connected world to lead it. Step by step, that cadre needs to replace grumpy old 20th Century men like me! I'm encouraged by seeing signs of that already happening when I see the brand and ability new members now joining the DIG committee. I’m privileged to continue to be contributing to the work DIG is doing, but in the long run it is that new generation that will enable the process of change to accelerate more and more. There’s still a need for more volunteers to come forward, and, most importantly, now that Janet Haines has been elected as a Trustee, one of you needs to pick up and run with the role of Chair that she has so ably filled for the last six years. Why not you? It will be hard, complicated and stretching work leading the DIG, but in my experience, deeply satisfying. And, trust me, you’ll have all the support you need.
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NOMINATIONS If you have been inspired by our recent Volunteer stories then might we persuade you consider a nomination to be on the DIG Committee from the Feb 23rd 2020 AGM?
It is vital we find a new Chair. This is an interesting leadership role which gives the new incumbent the opportunity to shape the future of DIG. You would be supported by a very able and hard working, experienced committee. More information is available if you are in the least bit interested. We would also be very happy to have you join us unofficially to shadow the current Chair to see how things operate. For more information contact digchair@rps.org Nominations for any committee position needs to be made on the official form and sent to us before 15th Feb 2020. You can download a form on the DIG AGM page HERE.
Click on image to go to the web page – then where it says ‘view 50 images’ 25
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DIG RECRUITMENT The draw for the £300’s worth WEX voucher will take place at the AGM 2020. For every new member you recruit your name and theirs goes in to the draw. You can have more than one chance of winning if you recruit more than one person! It doesn’t matter if the new member is joining DIG at £16 p.a. or DI Online at £8 p.a. And better still the new member can quickly recoup their membership fee by attending any DIG meeting as tickets at Centres are always discounted for DIG Members.
Click the ad above to take you to the DIG Membership page for full info.
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DIG CENTRE MEETINGS
December 2019
By clicking on any of the Centre Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.
DIG Southern Centre
DIG Western Centre
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DIG Yorks & NE Centre
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DIG Thames Valley Centre
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DIG South East Centre
DIG N W Centre
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Alan Hodgson has written an article in the next DIGIT and it recommends attendance at the Good Picture 2019 event at the University of Westminster in order to find out more about his article. Book now! Click the image to go to their Events page for full details.
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Given this is the last DIG News of 2019 the DIG Committee would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2020. This is the last DIG News I will produce as from January my colleague Deborah Loth will become the DIG News editor. Please give her your support; send her anything of interest such as information about your exhibitions etc. I am sure she will be delighted to hear from you on dignews@rps.org
Regards
Janet Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org
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