OCTOBER 2021
DOCUMENTARY GROUP
Newsletter of the RPS Documentary Group In the October 2021 Issue: • • • • •
Our recent AGM DPOTY 2021 update Courses Engagement Talks Upcoming Events - new course dates and talks
... from the Chair Welcome. At our recent AGM, I summarised activities and progress, namely: • Had our first Documentary distinction succeses • Created and developed our in-depth online ‘Telling Stories’ Workshop series (in 3 parts). Working with professional photographer Jon Cunningham (Creative Escapes). We ran 12 of these in 2020 and a further 7 so far in 2021. • We also ran a series of Engagement Talks from September 2020 until May 2021, and are restarting again, but probably at a lower frequency until the new year. • We continued to develop Decisive Moment, in terms of content and quality • We helped regional sub-groups to go online and supported the start of new sub-groups, including some jointly with Contemporary. This will become more important as we ‘open up’ • Last, but by no means least, we are running DPOTY 2021. All of this is outlined in our updated 2021-2024 Plan. An update of which will be posted on the website shortly. Your comments are welcome. Our Decisive Moment (Edition 23), was published recently, and highlights some great examples ‘beyond the single image’. Take care. Mark
Thank you and welcome Special thanks go to David Barnes (our long-standing and retiring Secretary). David held for the role for eight years; so, it is a well deserved ‘retirement’. Thank you and best wishes. I’d also like to thank Patricia Hilbert (web and social media) who despite work pressures designed our DPOTY website and kick started some of our social media campaigns, she has agreed continue to support us in an advisory capacity. We also welcome Nick Linnett on to the committee as Secretary and Wayne Richards who has volunteered to help our group activities in what I expect will be a busy year. Thank you!!
Feature - Documentary Photographer of the Year 2021
Documentary Photographer of the Year (DPOTY 2021) went global this year. As a result we saw 10x as many images as in previous years and had entrants from China, India, South Africa, across Europe and the USA, as well as the UK and Ireland. In addition to the Member category, we had new Student and Open categories. We have an international panel of judges, that would be credible in any major global competition or salon. We attracted hundreds of entries, from across the globe, and in total had over 3500 images to judge. We are part way through that process and on track to complete the judging soon. We have just announced our shortlisted entrants for each category. Congratulations to each and every one of them. The next stage will be to select two commended entries and one overall winner in each Category. We will announce the Commended and Winning entries at our DPOTY21 Awards Event on 11 December (Free via Zoom) - book here
cont. - Documentary Photographer of the Year 2021 Our DPOTY21 shortlisted photographers are: Shortlist - Open Category Aakriti Chandervanshi Debsuddha Banerjee Edward Thompson Hari Katragadda Laura Pannack Doro Zinn Mohammad Rakibul Hasan Swastik Pal Taniya Sarkar Prasiit Sthapit Santosh Jana Stefano Sbrulli Yarin Trotta del Vecchio
Shortlist - Student Category Aishwarya Arumbakkam Francesco Andreoli Hannah Norton Jake Varker Alexander Komenda Natalie Durrant Nico Froehlich Nicole Mullan Mina Boromand
Shortlist - Member Category Angela Lam Jason Ashwood Bharat Patel Bill Pilkington Chris Jennings Nicholas Mackey David Collyer Gareth Jenkins Neil Johansson Quentin Ball See more on our dedicated webpage: Documentary Photographer of the Year (DPOTY 2021)
cont. - Documentary Photographer of the Year 2021 We will announce the Commended and Winning entries at our DPOTY21 Awards Event on 11
THE OCTOBER IS... December (Free BI-MONTHLY via Zoom) - bookCOMPETITION here . After thisWINNER we will take an exhibition on tour in 2022. working with, the hasO already lined up some exhibition venues at: AHarry ngusHall, Stewart - John 10 regions, Days Post p
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he had not been forgotten. With a lull in infection rates during the summer he was called to the Hospital for surgery, during the operation it wasindiscovered that he had withJohn oneRadcliffe or two more possibilities (hopefully Wales and Scotland) the planning. two valves that needed repair, not one, making the operation longer and more complex than expected. week surgery he was released events and came stay withwith us for a few moths to We hope One to link in topost some regional sub-groups andtoactivities each venue. recuperate - this picture was taken on his third day with us. He was still very tired we managed three or four images and will called it a day. Johnofloves this picture and has eveningiven a copy The Touring Exhibition feature a mix prints and digital projection order to fit to in his with surgeon, as he likes to sayto‘having sickcan noteshowcase from the doctor doesn’t get you outand of modelling’ the various venues and ensurea we the work of Commended Winners in
each category.
We will provide more information on DPOTY21 Exhibitions in the new year.
From the series, The Shoot - by Robert Hughes - a finalist in DPOTY 2019
Our Telling Stories Series continues ...
We are continuing to run our very successful and popular online workshops, with three courses in our Telling Stories series: Starting Out, The Shoot and Editing & Seqencing. These cover the key stages of any documentary or long-term photographic project - each reveals a tool kit of professional techniques to help you develop, shoot and complete your project. Each course is listed in our Documentary Events section on the RPS website. The price for each workshop is £56 for members (and £75 for non-members). Each course consists of 5 hours of instructorled tuition and a 50 page guide to keep, plus free access to our closed Facebook page, where course participants can have ongoing feedback and support. These courses have been really popular, so, if interested, we recommend that you book soon. The next workshop dates are: Starting Out - 5 December 2021 - Book Here The Shoot - 15 January 2022 - Book Here Editing & Sequencing - 12 February 2022 - Book Here
Engagement Talks Our Engagement Talk series for late 2021 and 2022 restarted with a talk from Mimi Mollica, photographer, founder and director of Offspring PhotoMeet. We are following up with a diverse series of talks. We have Roy Mehta, one of our DPOTY21 judges, a photographer and senior lecturer on the BA Photojournalism and Documentary course at LCC in London. His work is in the permanent collections of Autograph, Historic England, The Library of Birmingham, The Harris Museum and Art Gallery and IKS Collection, Germany. Booking: 27 January 2022 - Roy Mehta In February we host Jack Lowe talking about The Lifeboat Station Project. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the charity of brave volunteers who save lives at sea in the UK and Ireland. The organisation has been entirely funded by voluntary contributions for nearly 200 years. The Lifeboat Station Project is Jack Lowe’s 8 year mission to photograph all 238 RNLI lifeboat stations on glass, relying on the support of his online community to keep it on the road and keep it funded. Jack uses a wet collodion process, the same process used by one of the RPS Founders, Roger Fenton, in the 1850s. It is a challenging process that requires him to have a mobile darkroom to prepare and then develop and fix the plates in around 15 minutes. Fenton used a horse drawn ‘wagon’ (shown here with his assistant Marcus Sparling in the Crimea) Jack uses a decommissioned and re-purposed ambulance, called Neena, as his mobile darkroom. It should be a fascinating talk, linking back to the technology used at the formation of the RPS. Booking: 10 February 2022 - Jack Lowe - The Lifeboat Station Project
Then on 3 March we have Carolyn Mendelsohn, giving an update of her work and projects (more in the next issue). Booking 3 March 2022 - Carolyn Mendelsohn
Upcoming Events RPS Documentary and Contemporary Events (and links): Start Date Time Title Location 05/12/2021 10:00 Telling Stories with your Camera - Starting out Online 15/01/2022 10:00 Telling Stories with your Camera - The Shoot Online 12/02/2022 10:00 Telling Stories with your Camera - Editing and Sequencing Online Places for these courses are already filling up. Open to both members and non-members. Events and Engagement Talks 11 December 2021 - DPOTY 2021 Awards 27 January 2022 - Roy Mehta 10 February 2022 - Jack Lowe - The Lifeboat Station Project 3 March 2022 - Carolyn Mendelsohn These will remain FREE, with the option to make a small donaton. Exhibitions 04/01/2022
Happisburgh : The Village Falling into the Sea
Norwich
Projects By Degrees. Mainly organised by RPS Landscape, the aim is to photograph all of the 45 locations where lines of latitude and longitude intersect over Britain and Ireland. For further information see - By Degrees For an up to date list of Documentary, regional sub-group and other RPS Events, please use the links below:
Link to RPS Documentary Events
Link to other RPS Events A selection of other Events you might also find interesting: Various artists at Bristol Photo Festival (until December 2021) The Photographers Gallery - Helen Levitt - In the Street (Fri 15 Oct - Sun 13 Feb 2022) Online Talks: Magnum Quantantine Conversations (various) (Online, free) There are also a number of on-line talks via Martin Parr Foundation (for subscribers) and also BJP/1854 subscribers.
From the series, The Punters - by AJ Wood - a finalist in DPOTY 2019
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