DIG News - January 2018
‘Bristol Man with Ladder (A mere shadow of his former self)’ by Rex Waygood
Winner of the forum competition this past month.
DIG COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS We are fast approaching that time of year again and although the AGM is not till March 4th (see HERE for full details) we do want to ask you if you would consider standing for DIG Committee? It is important for any team that we get new ideas and contributions from a wide selection of individuals. We will need to fill at least three seats on the committee and are looking for energetic volunteers, who want to shape the future of DIG.
What is involved? We hold 90% of our meetings using Skype, so minimal travel required – OS members are welcomed too. Mainly we use email to progress issues and debate. Each team member has responsibility for a given area; these will be membership, national events, social media and DIG News Editor. All associated expenses are paid so you won’t be out of pocket. If you want more information email digchair@rps.org OR to complete the Nomination form then go to the AGM page, scroll down and you will find downloadable forms HERE. As this will be the last year I shall stand as Chair we also need individuals who might consider taking on the Chair role in March 2019. To facilitate an easy hand over we would like to have any interested person on committee for 2018. So if you feel you might like to consider leading the biggest and most energetic Special Interest Group in the Society, then please let us know. If jumping right in is too big a threat we would be happy to have you shadow committee affairs for a few months and are happy to co-opt individuals with immediate effect. Again just get in touch digchair@rps.org A good Group is only as good as the team who lead and organise it – will you step up to the mark and join the DIG Committee?
DIG ANNUAL PRINT EXHIBITION
The annual free to enter DIG print competition is now open for your submissions. The first prints arrived from South Africa – so well done Mike Feldman.
For those of you new to this we hold the selection at our AGM in March. You submit 3 prints and are guaranteed of having one selected. All prints become part of the 2018 travelling DIG Print Exhibition. For full information go to www.rps.org/digprint We have special printing arrangements for Overseas members, where you email your files to our Exhibition Organiser and she gets them Lab printed for you. Payment is made via the Society online payments system. Full information on the web page. So we expect most OS members to participate as we have made it so very easy for you. There are UK drop-off points where you can drop off your prints and they will be taken to the AGM if you are not planning to come along in person. Or a group of you might consider what Scottish members do; collect up all their prints and make one package of them. Less expensive on the post costs that way. Drop-off point details on the web page. Remember that you do have to get your entry form and digital files into us before the Feb 19th closing date.
FOOD ORDERS FOR THE AGM As in the past two years Smethwick are offering us light snack lunches of leek and potato soup, or baked potatoes with various fillings. These need to be pre-ordered but then paid for on the day. Information on this page HERE. Please place your orders in plenty of time – we don’t want to disappoint you. Those wishing to bring their own lunch boxes with them are free to do so. Hot and cold drinks available throughout the day.
DIG DISTINCTIONS HQ Bath have sent just two ARPS confirmations through for December. Our congratulations go to the following members on gaining their ARPS. Graham Watson ARPS Paul Mayes ARPS
- Yorkshire - West Yorkshire >>>>><<<<<
Congratulations to Zoltan Balogh LRPS on his recent Distinctions success. Zoltan was also one of the ribbon winners in the PI Comp so he is obviously on a roll right now. Let us hear what Zoltan has to say about his LRPS journeyâ&#x20AC;Ś..
I joined Southampton Camera Club roughly 3 years ago as a beginner to serious photography. I believe I was very lucky having joined a bigger and well established club as this means that the standard of work I regularly see is high. Southampton has plenty of experienced members, including a couple of Fellows. Furthermore, the club also invites experienced judges to assess membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work in internal competitions, therefore I could assess my level of competence with relative confidence.
When attempting to achieve any kind of distinction, I think networking is key. One needs to discuss ideas with others and listen to critique. Everyone sees differently and this helps filter out images that could be below standard. On the other hand, chatting with people naturally increases noise as everyone tries to be helpful. Therefore as I was establishing my hanging plan, I decided to ask the Seniors (Dr. Barry Senior HonFRPS and Fiona Senior FRPS, both members of Southampton CC and DIG) for advice. At this later stage I relied only on them and ignored everyone else. I’m a generalist, “jack of all trades, master of none” which helps when it comes to demonstrating photographic competence for the Licentiate level. Being a generalist is a marketing disaster but I don’t mind this as I intend to stay amateur. I believe gaining experience in one genre can improve image creating abilities in another.
I would certainly recommend applying for distinctions as I believe it forces one to historically evaluate work as well as apply self critique and hopefully learn something along the way. I certainly did. Zoltan Balogh LRPS
An Urban Evening River Brittle â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Isle of Skye
FORUM The December winner of the forum monthly comp is as usual our front page image. If you want to hold that special place then why not join us on the DIG forum and join in the fun. Congrats to Rex Waygood for his fascinating winning image. Takes a bit of looking at to work out what we are seeing here – which way is up in the real world? Here is what Rex had to say about it….. Taken in the M Shed in Bristol. A frequent destination when finding things to do with my granddaughter. I have several pictures of my granddaughter in the bus or laying down in the middle of the Bristol map! It is always interesting looking round to see what would look good as a photograph! 2nd place went to Susan Ashford with ‘Wild Tulips’
and 3rd placed was Dr Tony Kaye with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;My Home Townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
DIGIT As we finish off this monthly DIG News simultaneously DIGIT and the PI Catalogue are likely churning through the presses in Dorchester. So within the next week to ten days UK DIG members can expect this bumper edition to be arriving on your door mats. For us Overseas members we will no doubt have to wait a little longer. DIG Online members will receive an email advising them when the online versions are available.
TRAINING VIDEOS This month I have forsaken Ken in favour of Glyn Dewis. First you should know I am a big fan of his and find his videos really inspirational. When time permits I really enjoy his webinars as he has an easy friendly style and shares his knowledge so generously with us all.
Given the DIG Print Exhibition is only just around the corner I felt that something to help you produce really sparkling prints might be useful. In my world we photographers miss out if we do not print our own work; but for Glyn it appears he uses Labs, which surprised me enormously. But the principles remain the same. (Click on the images to go to the websites)
To gain your ARPS it is a big advantage to have developed your ‘own style’. Glyn has produced a downloadable e-Book on this subject – the only catch is you have to register and give him your email address to be able to access it. But with so much on his web site I doubt though that you will ever regret it.
MEMBERS GALLERIES When I go searching for Member Galleries to feature each month I look for two contrasting styles/genre and a good number of photos in the album. So if you want to see your gallery featured in DIG News why not consider uploading images to an album and see if you are lucky enough to get chosen next month? (Click on the images to go to the galleries) First we have some art nude work from Chris Harrison.
The Lofoten Islands â&#x20AC;&#x201C; John Foulkes. The Islands are, for me, one of the loveliest places on earth. These photographs were taken last year in late May and early June, many making best use of the wonderful light in that golden period of 23.00 to 02.00 when the midnight sun just kisses the horizon. The weather was variable but just about any conditions will afford spectacular and exciting possibilities here. An excellent location for landscape, seascape, wildlife, sport, pretty villages and small towns, even industrial interest in the fish drying racks and environs of the fish processing factories. Norway is beautiful but the Lofoten archipelago is where Norwegians go to find spectacular beauty. Check it out!
BELONGING TO ADDITIONAL SIGs 42% of DIG members belong to two or more SIGs. In some ways a surprising statistic, but then again why not? Each SIG has a discrete niche and a different offering to its’ members. All add significant value to the general Society membership. Our biggest overlap is with Visual Art (VA) and a fair way behind that comes Travel Group. So it is easy to understand that DIG members working in those genre find belonging to two SIGs to their advantage. Interested to find out the experience of some who have multi memberships I decided to ask DIG Committee members a few questions about their decisions.
DIG + ISG I joined the DI Group because I wanted to know my enemy; that was because I thought it was all about manipulating images. So I got that wrong from reading the blurb at the time, or was the blurb wrong? I joined the ISG by way of supporting them because I enjoyed ‘Good Picture’ so much and because Tony Kaye had become my mentor in colour. I get their journal on line but do not understand enough to merit reading it. It is a proper peer reviewed scientific journal. Example Original Articles A pre-processing based optimized edge weighting method for colour constancy Shveta Mahajan, Anu Rani, Mamta Sharma, Sudesh Kumar Mittal & Amitava Das Pages: 1-8 | DOI: 10.1080/13682199.2017.1412889 According to our data we have 30 DIG/ISG members – impressive.
DIG + VA I joined VA before DIG was formed probably late 1980s. On VA Committee for several years – helped with the VA Print Exhibition. Reason for continued membership: Exhibition, Magazine and Monographs – when produced!. SW VA Centre meeting at Bovey Tracey is good. Our information shows DIG/VA have 256 mutual members.
DIG + Nature I joined both in 2004 because I had digital cameras and was hoping that I might learn something from joining the DIG. Nature I joined because I spend a lot of spare time out photographing wild life. Would you recommend additional SIG membership to others and why: the answer is yes because there is always a chance that you may gain some insight into photographic areas that you may not have thought about. There are 164 members of DIG who also enjoy membership of Nature. If You have a good experience of belonging to more than one SIG why not tell us – email digchair@rps.org
DIG CENTRES By clicking on any of the Ads it will take you to the RPS Events pages where more information can be found about the meetings.
Thames Valley Centre
Southern Centre
Western Centre
N W Centre
DIG COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES We thought it might be interesting to members to see a little more about what DIG Committee gets up to in your name. So following each committee meeting we will produce a very short overview. If anyone has any questions or wants to contribute then do get in touch. December 13th 2017 meeting notes 1. Review of Finances. Updated 3 year rolling forecast. Cause for concern as income dropping and expenses rising. 2. Ending of Free SIG offer discussed – prepare paper for Council. 3. Strategy – needs updating. Ongoing. 4. DIG Constitution revision necessary – changes to go to Council 5. DI Expo. 2017 now wrapped up. Need decision for 2019. Further work needed prior to next CM. 6. PI Comp 2018 – minor revision to rules regarding colourspace. 7. Exhibition Print 2018 – all in hand, promotion started. Exhibition spaces booked for 2018. Others will be investigated. 8. Centres. Meeting of Centre Organisers (COs) proposed pre-AGM. 9. Centre sponsored speakers 2018 – need to communicate process to COs. 10. DIG Forum and Facebook both need reenergising. Need a dedicated team member(s) on this. 11. DIGIT – 2018 schedule to be agreed. 12. DIG Webinars – good research and report back to CM. Conclusion to not do this due to plethora of professional webinars on internet. 13. 2018 AGM – all on course. Date agreed for 2019. 14. Committee nominations. Need to encourage new volunteers. Require minimum 3 new people to stand, including potential new Chair for 2019. Offer immediate co-option onto committee. 15. Committee roles and responsibilities – defined. Will reorganise after AGM to share workload more evenly. 16. SIG meeting (was Advisory Board previously). Feedback on discussions. Agreement on DIG Rep in 2018. 17. Brainstorm new ideas. Further action needed.
THE INNOVATION CHALLENGE DI Group started out when some innovative Society members got together to form a self help group when digital cameras first came out. Some early DIG pioneers started experimenting and a guru of the time was Barrie Thomas FRPS (DIGIT 1996)
By 2002 members were getting more adventurous.
By 2006 Ian Skelly LRPS produced this…..
By 2012 things had come a long way…….
Pam Sherren ARPS produced this simple but stunning creation in 2016
Where do we go with our creativeness next? Interestingly Michael Brown had this to say and show us on the DIG Facebook page this week…… What mobile phones will do now is amazing! Image quality in the more expensive smart phones is so impressive, yet they do much more. They are video recorders, sound recorders, mp3 players, and mp4 players as well. Recently I’ve had my head down and have been having fun exploring what one can do with advanced filter effects (using post processing on a laptop) and have created a sequence illustrating some of the processing capabilities that are unique to our time. It’s not by any means traditional photography, but one wonders what future generations of image-makers will make of the facilities now at their disposal. Here’s just a speculative gaze into the crystal ball for anyone who might also be interested in creative abstract work displayed using multi-media. It can be viewed in HD with a good broadband connection but be aware it is almost a GByte long if on a limited download tariff. All the images started as a traditional photograph prior to the application multiple filter effects that take them beyond recognition. The aim was to use creative imagination to produce new image sequences that appeal in their own right.
Click on the image above to access Mike’s mini AV to see his work.
So the challenge to you all is what innovative things are some of you working on out there? Show us how you are pushing the boundaries of what is considered photography, or using amazing new software. Love it or hate it, experimentation is what ultimately becomes the next ‘norm’.
DIG FACEBOOK Members are beginning to use the DIG Facebook in a great way – isn’t it time for more of you to join this closed user group (DIG Members only) site? Your colleagues are posting work and asking for feedback, getting advice from others in how to improve work – even examples of how to process work to advantage. We have fun challenges from time to time. Members are sharing experiences, reaching out to support each other and even getting little informal groups going to meet up and discuss using software.
We know that many of you are anti-FB and hate the little useless ‘like’ button as a form of feedback. But that is not how this group is operating. We are simply using FB as an interactive forum, between
members wishing to engage with one another. It gives us cohesion and a feeling of belonging – no matter where you are in the world. Open only to DIG members – just ask to ‘join’ giving us your RPS number, and our moderators will make it happen for you. Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/255778611506306/
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS Each month the group gets a list from HQ of our new members. Some maybe new to the Society, a few RPS members decide to give us a try. And some migrate from other SIGs. All receive a Welcome Pack, either a physical envelope if a UK based DIG member, or an online pack if they are an overseas or DIG Online member. There is first year initiative to stay in contact with new members as they come to feel part of the DIG community. This month we welcome Barry Mead FRPS (Bristol) Linda Findley LRPS (Eastbourne) John Clark LRPS (Uxbridge) Richard Walter (Fordingbridge) George Buckley LRPS (Gerrards X) Michael Pockney (Coulsdon) Katie Buchanan (Dundee) Jeremy Stock (Tunbridge Wells) Richard Stoker (Tapporley) Maggie Clews (Steyning) James Lewington (Tonbridge) Terry Pollard ARPS (Kidlington) Chris Jordon LRPS (Wokingham) Zixiang Zhang (China) Edwin Paling (Liverpool)
Gary Biddlecombe LRPS (Seaford) James Gibson LRPS (Huddersfield) Susan Gibson LRPS (Huddersfield) Colin Young (West Malling) Steven Powell (Barnet) Edward Simpson (Lichfield) Brian Dinnage (Cirencester) Akinyemi Akinwolere (Nottingham) Philip Tong (Ross-on-Wye) David Chalmers (Dundee) Jorma Karkkainen (Finland) Ronald Ingoldby ARPS (Grimsby) Olaiya Ojo (London) David Turner (Wymongham) David Layland (Salisbury)
AN OVERSEAS MEMBER This month we are featuring Antony Yip ARPS from Hong Kong. Antony was another of our ribbon winners in the DIG PI Comp 2017 so you will recognize one of his images from there. Chinese Painting By S C Antony Yip, ARPS I am glad that my photo entitled “Chinese Painting” has received the Selectors Award (Altered Reality) in Members Annual Projected Image Competition 2017. The photo features a standing upright lotus in a natural environment with leaves and stems against a foggy and rainy background, and composed in the shape of a vertical Chinese painting. Lotus is one of the widely painted and photographed flowers in South East Asia, nowadays as well as in the ancient times. Present lotus photographs always present in high saturation to distinguish its pinkish red flower from the green leaves to set a tone of contrast in colour. Some photographers may even change the flower to yellowish gold for the purpose of making some degree of difference. However, in ancient Chinese poems, lotus is praised as a gentleman-flower as it “rises up from the mud but not contaminated”, “stands proudly upright and straight in the air”, “discharges elegant and gentle scent” etc. Because of these characteristics, ancient lotus paintings are either in ink or in colours of low concentration. Such presentation is significantly different from other flower paintings such as peony, which are unmistakably rich in colours.
As my design intent is to intimate a traditional Chinese painting, I purposely reduce the saturation, and put the upright flower side by side with a long standing stem and leave in line with the vertical orientation. The small red chop at the low right hand corner is the stamp of my Chinese name. It is a long standing practice in China that the author put his/her stamp on the drawing, similar to signatures in western paintings.
Some other work from Antonyâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;Ś.
I hope we have given you lots to think about as we start 2018. Your committee are open to new ideas and feedback so please get in touch.
DI EXPO 2019 ? Finally we have one more request of you as we start to consider whether or not to put on another DI Expo in 2019. To help us with that assessment and planning we have put together a short questionnaire, which we would ask as many of you as possible complete for us. If you came to either of Expo 15 or Expo 17 you will have some idea of the style of event we like to organize. But even if you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come but might consider doing so in the future then your input is just as valuable. You will find a link HERE. It is only a short questionnaire so please spare us the time and help us to make decisions that suit the majority. Thank you. We wish you all the very best for 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; may the light go with you. Regards
Janet
Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org