RPS Southern Region Winter Newsletter

Volume 4 | 2019

New slet ter WELCOME

Redwing in Winter by Chris Tank Hello and welcome to our Winter Newsletter. As another year closes we are delighted to announce our event programme for 2020. As well as a full schedule of Distrinctions Advisory days across the region, we will be presenting a new series of technique workshops.

In this newsletter you will also find a report on our Imaging Festival in partnership with Sony, a truely memorable and enjoyable day for everyone.

Our Q and A is with Paul Rigg who talks about the photowalks he hosts in Dorset and Wilshire, and shares some photos from his recently approved ARPS panel.

I look forward to seeing more of you in the year to come. In the meantime, on behalf of all the RPS Southern Region Team, I'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Best wishes, Paul Cox ARPS, Regional Organiser 1

EVENT REPORTS Sony Imaging Fest ival, 6t h October 2019 Report and photos by Jana Murray

Our Imaging Festival, supported by Sony Cameras, was a huge success with over 100 members attending and lots of positive feedback received.

Photographer Rober t Pu gh captivated the audience with a talk about his photography career whilst offering a few tips on how to suceed as a professional in today's market.

Then we viewed lighting demonstrations from Robert and played around with a range of Sony cameras close up, as well as the latest equipment from Longridge, Fotolight and Rotolight.

The second speaker, Keit h Ber n st ein, was equally enthralling, sharing fascinating stories about his work as a Hollywood movie set photographer, working with Clint Eastwood and many other famous directors and actors.

It was an enlightening and memorable day.

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EVENT REPORTS Port land Photow alk, 8t h September 2019 Report and photos by Paul Rigg ARPS Nine members and guests attended the Southern Region photowalk on Portland in September.

The Portland Bill area of the Isle of Portland offered street, wildlife, sport, seascape and industrial archeology opportunities and we were blessed with good light throughout.

The day proved to be enjoyable as well as producing a variety of quality images for the participants.

Look out for future photowalks in our 2020 event programme as they offer a sociable way of discovering new areas.

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Tony Worobiec FRPS Landscape Workshop Guernsey, 7t h September 2019 Report and photos by Eric Febrache ARPS

The weekend of our landcape workshop with Ton y Wor obiec FRPS arrived with a cool breeze and threatening cloudy sky, excellent conditions for putting into practice the theme Photographing Landscape Whatever the Weather.

predominant in the island of Guernsey, following on from the previous day's illustrated presentation by Tony on Coastal Landscapes.

Both workshop events were at capacity and, as always, it was a great opportunity for local members to meet other members and align themselves with curent trends in photography.

Much use was made of the coastal landscape

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Changes to Advisory Days in 2020 Report by Paul Cox ARPS In the time that I have been involved with organising Distinction Advisory Days, Licentiate applications have outnumbered Associate applications by roughly two to one.

be offering split categories for each.

At our first Associate Advisory Day we will offer advice for the Travel and Contemporary categories and at the second one we will offer advice for the Applied and Documentary categories.

So, for 2020 we are going to respond to that statistic by organising separate Licentiate and Associate days, and further respond by organising double the number of Licentiate Advisory Days to Associate Advisory days.

As per the usual direction for other category advice, applicants will need to send their panels to head office for specific category advice prior to bringing their panels to the Advisory Day.

We are also acting on the very clear outcome of our recent survey by organising those Licentiate days in the East, West, North and South of the Region.

All Advisory Days will be advertised on our website which will be available after the launch of the new RPS website at the end of November, but as an early update have a look at our event programme below.

For Associate Advisory Days we are moving away from making them Fine Art centric and will

Kingley Wood Photow alk Report and photo by David Ashcroft LRPS The Southern Region is planning a photowalk in Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve in 2020.

The reserve is a very special place as it is the largest yew wood in Europe. It was designated one of the country?s first National Nature Reserves in 1952.

Kingley Vale is known for its twisted and ancient yew trees and includes a grove of veteran trees which are among the oldest living things in Britain. Several are at least 500 years old, with the oldest measuring more than five metres in girth.

It also has superb chalk grassland with an abundance of chalk-loving plants like birds foot trefoil, kidney vetch and fairy flax. You can also find 11 different species of orchid in the Reserve including bee, common spotted and frog.

Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve (NNR) is 5km north west of Chichester. The Reserve is signposted from there and is about a 15 minute walk along an all access footpath from the car park to the main entrance. Here there is a small field centre with permanent displays and more information about the Reserve, beyond this point the terrain is more challenging.

The Reserve also contains one of the most important concentrations of well-preserved archaeological sites in Southern England, including 14 Scheduled Monuments of which the Devil's Humps and Goosehill are the most prominent.

We will be posting details of the event on the Southern Region website in the very near future.

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2020 EVENT PROGRAMME Using the feedback we revieved in the members survey, we are planning some fantastic events for 2020 including Distinctions Advisory Days, technique workshops, visiting speakers and photowalks.

Have a look at our provisional programme below which we hope will interest a greater number of members and more in the outer reaches of our geographical areas.

Events will be available to book online after the launch of the new RPS website at the end of November.

Advisor y Days

Locat ion

Dat e

Advisory Day - LRPS

Dorchester

February

Advisory Day - ARPS Travel & Contemporary

Poole

May

Advisory Day ? LRPS

Chichester

June

Advisory Day ? ARPS Applied & Documentary

Salisbury

August

Advisory Day ? LRPS

Isle of Wight

September

Advisory Day ? LRPS

Basingstoke

November

Wor k sh ops, Speak er s an d ot h er New Members Welcome Meeting Architecture Workshop Documentary Workshop Photoshop Layers Workshop Introduction to Lightroom Infra-Red Workshop (RPS Speaker) Landscape Workshop (RPS Speaker) Wildlife Workshop (RPS Speaker) F Panels Tour Ph ot ow alk s Langford Lake Photowalk Street Photography Photowalk Yew Wood, Chichester, Photowalk

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VOLUNTEERING AND VOLUNTEERS Request from Paul Cox, Regional Organiser Have you ever considered volunteering with the RPS? The Southern Region volunteers are a skilful and committed set of individuals without whom we wouldn?t be able to achieve what have.

And I am very grateful to each and every one for their help and dedication to the region.

However, to continue to improve our reach and engagement levels we need more volunteers.

So, if you are at all interested in helping the region (and the RPS) through giving up a little (or more) of your time to assist in the management and/or organisation of events and activities then please do get in touch.

My contact details are: Email: southern@rps.org Phone: 07748 115057

EVENT SURVEY Thank you to everyone who completed our event survey. We received a total of 170 responses from across the RPS Southern Region.

We have also added more events to the most requested locations which surprisingly were Chichester, Salisbury and Poole.

The survey confirmed that Sunday was the most popular day for events and we will continue to schedule most events for Sundays.

Based on your feedback we have tailored our 2020 event programme to provide more of what you want, including a series of technique workshops and accomplished speakers.

Thank you!

REQUEST FOR PHOTOS The RPS website is currently being updated along with the Southern Region site.

If you'd like to see your photos published online, please send your favourite images as jegs to our web editor, Chris Tank, at southernweb@rps.org

We are seeking photos from members to feature on the new site.

All photographers will of course be credited.

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MEMBER Q & A Paul Rigg ARPS Interview by Jana Murray

Paul Rigg ARPS is a landcape photographer and coordinator for RPS Southern Region events in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

You may have met Paul on one of his photowalks. If you haven't been on one yet, they are well worth attending.

Q. Wh en did you f ir st becom e in t er est ed in ph ot ogr aph y an d h ow ?

A. I first developed an interest in photography in my late teens ? so a long time ago! My first camera was a Rollei 35 which I carried whilst climbing. The standard of photography at the time was appalling! I?ve been shooting (and climbing) ever since.

Q. Wh er e ar e you r f avou r it e places t o ph ot ogr aph y ar ou n d t h e r egion an d w h y?

A. I think my top locations in our region are Southampton Docks, Portland Bill, Hatchett Pond, Langford Lakes and of, course most of the South Coast.

Q. Wh at do you m ost lik e t o sh oot ?

Q: Can you sh ar e ph ot ogr aph y?

A. By default I?m a landscape photographer but nowadays I?m motivated by anything new. I?ve embraced macro photography and I am still experimenting. Most recently it?s been SplashArt and ferrofluid macro work. I can lose myself for hours exploring the world of the very small.

a

t ip

f or

lan dscape

My ?secret? for good landscape shots is that it must feature water.

Q. You r ecen t ly gain t h e ARPS Dist in ct ion , con gr at u lat ion s! Can you t ell m e a lit t le abou t you r su bm ission an d sh ar e t h r ee f avou r it e im ages f r om you r pan el an d t h e st or y beh in d t h em ?

Q. Th e ph ot ow alk s you or gan ise in Wilsh ir e an d Dor set f or t h e RPS Sou t h er n Region ar e ver y popu lar . Talk m e t h r ou gh w h at is in volved?

A. My A panel in the Applied genre documented the importance of human hands in our evolution, with fully opposing thumbs. I chose the square monochrome format as I felt it helped focus the observer on the hands rather than the setting.

A. It?s a really simple format. A group of members and guests of varying experience meet and explore a location using photographers? eyes.

Some come along to learn something, some to share their expertise and some attend because it?s a very sociable event - we usually end up in a pub or cafĂŠ.

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Hasselblad. I found this image amusing with the photographer ?s face peering at you.

Horologist. These hands perfectly mirror the task they are performing in a very artistic way.

Tattooist. Lovely to see the artist?s image emerging from the subject?s body and lots of interest to the observer.

Q. Do you h ave an y advice f or m em ber s w or k in g t ow ar ds t h eir ARPS? A. Yes, it?s vital, before you even start shooting, to nail your Statement of Intent. Every shot in the panel is predicated upon this so on every shoot you must be asking if this image will fit the Statement.

However good the images are, if they don?t support the Statement they can?t be considered for the panel.

Q. Wh at ?s n ext on you r ph ot ogr aph ic jou r n ey?

A. I like to think I?ll have a go at the FRPS and would like it to be a travel panel. It would have to have a wilderness theme but definitely not one to encourage tourism!

Do you remember the lyrics of the Eagles song "The Last Resort?" ? ?You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye."

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CONTACTS Sout hern Region TITLE

NAM E

EM AIL

Regional Organiser

Paul Cox ARPS

southern@rps.org

Southern Secretary

David Ashcroft LRPS

southernsecretary@rps.org

Southern Treasurer

Bhupinder Ghatahora ARPS

southerntreasurer@rps.org

Basingstoke

David Ashcroft Bhupinder Ghatahora

Emails as above

Bournemouth & Dorset

David Peckham

davepeckham@mac.com

Channel Islands

Eric Ferbrache ARPS

rpsciorganiser@gmx.com

Portsmouth & East Hants

Martin Silman

southernevents@rps.org

Salisbury & South Wilts

Paul Rigg ARPS

paulrigg@outlook.com

Southampton & South Hants

Paul Cox ARPS

southern@rps.org

Web Editor

Chris Tank

southernweb@rps.org

Publishing Editor

Jana Murray

southerneditor@rps.org

Social Media Editor

Position vacant

Ar ea Coor din at or s

Specialist Volu n t eer s

Volu n t eer s Salisbury & South Wilts

Anthony Topham

atopham9@gmail.com

Documentary Group (main)

Mark Philips

doc@rps.org

Documentary Sub Group (Chichester)

Janey Devine FRPS

docse@rps.org

Digital Imaging Group

Barry Senior (Hon FRPS)

digsouthern@rps.org

Landscape Group

Jim Souper

landscapenews@rps.org

Region al Special In t er est Gr ou ps

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