DIG News - August 2017
‘Wall Street’ by Peter Stickler ARPS
Winner of the forum competition this past month.
PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITION Time is running out. Closing date for your Free to enter PI Comp is August 14th – Have you entered your 4 images yet? You can enter 4 images, either all in one section or across both ‘Open’ and ‘Altered Reality’ (Creative). We are using the same competition system as last year. This is not an RPS system but is outsourced, so you have to register for access to that site if you did not do so last year.
https://photoexhib.co.uk/rps/login.php We encourage all DIG members to enter this free ‘members only’ competition. The submission software is easy to use and we have downloadable instructions on the web page HERE to help you. The acceptance rate is about 22-25% and all accepted images get printed in the competition catalogue, which will come out with DIGIT later in the year. Choose images that are high impact. Judging is very quick; so work that is intricate or subtle, that needs a longer viewing for full appreciation, is less likely to gain a high mark. Selection is on Aug 21st and the results will be out within 48 hours. We get a wide variety of work submitted so yours will fit right on in there and have equal chance to all the others. With the two categories then there is sure to be the right one for your work. By calling it Altered Reality this year we are trying to separate out this grey area where folks do some processing but the end result still looks natural. As opposed to creative work where it is obviously an ‘altered reality’. We hope that we will have a bumper entry and lots of good work to select from.
DI EXPO 2017 Everything is progressing well. The sessions that need booking are filling up fast, with some already fully taken. LRPS Advisory sessions are now full but there are still some ARPS time slots free. So if you want one get in contact with Simon Vercoe really quickly si@rps.org Polina Plotnikova’s flower talk is booked but there are a few spaces left on the practical studio slots. Similarly places for the Brian Collier portrait sessions are filling, and also, his lecture is now almost full. Talks in the main theatre do not need prior booking – we have space enough for everyone there. Don’t forget DIG members and their partners get concession tickets at only £25 p.p. There is also a special offer of 4 tickets for £100 so you can fill up your car with nonRPS friends and all have a jolly good day out. If you don’t fancy the drive to Birmingham then why not take the train or plane? With the airport so close by, communications to there are really good and then the hotel has a shuttle bus to take you from the airport. They are laying on extra shuttle busses for us on the day. If you book your rail tickets early then good prices available from many areas. Parking at the hotel is extremely convenient. We will have allocated disabled parking right outside the entrance. For everyone else you will be directed to the adjacent overflow carpark, which is a mere 200 metres away. Eating. Again you have choices. You can pre-book packed lunches or take advantage of the hotel bar snacks. If doing the latter we recommend you book your choice on arrival in the morning as staff will be extremely busy at lunch time, so this would speed things up for you a little. If you bring your own packed lunch we have been asked by the hotel to point out that this should not be eaten on the premises, so you would have to retreat to your car. The hotel can cater for special dietary needs but we do need to know well in advance to organize this for you.
NEW DIG DISTINCTIONS Congratulations to all those who gained their Licentiateship this month. Enjoy the knowledge that you have gained the qualification and in doing so probably improved your photography. Well done everyone. Julie Francis LRPS Eric Wallbank LRPS Anthony Woods LRPS James Mahon LRPS Keith Roberts LRPS Philip Haith LRPS Michael Herrmann LRPS
- Hampshire - Dorset - Worcestershire - Co Kildare - Warwickshire - Lincolnshire - Dorset
<<<<<>>>>> A lady on last months DIG Distinctions list who recently gained her LRPS is Holly Stranks. So this month I thought you would all like to see her panel of images and hear a little from Hollyâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;Ś My interest in photography initially grew from a desire to take better pictures of my dogs. It was a steady progress, mainly self taught. I got a DSLR, then Photoshop Elements and then took the bold step to take the camera off Auto! Four years ago when I felt I was good enough I joined Bungay Camera Club and quite quickly enjoyed success in the club competitions. I also got plenty of help and encouragement from the club members. Taking pictures of totally different things is a great way to expand and stretch yourself. My knowledge and expertise grew in how to use the camera, and also editing skills. I upgraded to using Lightroom, Photoshop CC and the Nik Collection, by this time my own style had begun to develop too.
At the beginning of this year I was encouraged by Robert Taylor one of my great photographic friends and the Chairman of Bungay Camera Club to try for the LRPS. It was something that I was keen to do, but one day in the future. However, after starting the process, attending a RPS workshop and getting online advice I found myself submitting my panel in June, and to my great delight was awarded the distinction.
Corton Beach
I am unfortunate in that I suffer from a chronic auto immune disease â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Polymyositis - however, having to spilt my days into periods of activity and periods of rest gives me plenty of time in front of my computer screen. Instead of being held back and disabled by my health, through my photography I am enjoying the most fulfilling time of my life!
In case you are interested I have just published my websitehttps://www.hollystranksphotography.com where you can see some more of my work. I'm currently doing a personal project, which is a 365 of my black lab Pippa in her first year with us. The best images of that are on the website along with other subjects.
Sleeping off dinner
FORUM It was good to see some new entrants to this months DIG Forum competition. This includes one of those gaining second place, namely Peter McGonigal. Well done to everyone. There was some good work to choose from.
Peter Sticker ARPS Whilst it is fair to say that I am a bit biased as I love montage work, I did feel that this months winner was really well deserved – see front page. Peter Stickler has shown us his innovative work before but this one is quite a master piece. So we asked Peter for a few words……. I am very pleased that someone likes this image! This year I entered 8 prints for the Welsh Salon – I had 3 accepted (one had the blue ribbon). Of the 5 that were rejected New York was one of the not accepted. This was a bit of a disappointment to me because I spent a lot of time on it, and I thought it was okay. So many thanks to those who voted for it. I spent many hours making this composite image – there are 5 basic images:- A simple background, two traders taking a break (simple cut out or selection), A pyramid building (another simple cut out or selection), the traders were placed on top of the pyramid building within the layers stack. In addition to the 5 images a close up of the Financial Times with a pencil plus the inclusion of street signs, which were taken while in the Wall Street area.
<<<<<>>>>>
We then had two tied in joint second place â&#x20AC;Ś..
Deliberation
Peter McGonigal
Weird Room
Rex Waygood
GETTING TO KNOW YOU It struck me the other day that members quite likely know little or nothing about their DIG Committee. We are the volunteers who make things happen in DIG, for the benefit of our members. We like to think we are open to anyone contacting us any time, but if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know who we are then we need to break down those barriers. So for the next few months we will be featuring two committee members, starting this month with Dr Barry Senior HonFRPS and Mike Oakes.
Dr Barry Senior HonFRPS
Barry was co-opted to the DIG Committee by Barrie Thomas FRPS in around 1998 and followed him as DIG Chair. Barry is by far the longest serving member on the DIG committee with breaks while he was VP and President. The first mention I can find of Barry’s involvement with DIG was in the DIGIT of January 1999 where I found this image …. Barry’s words need adding here…. “I would hate anyone to think that this is a frame I added!!! An early still life but not one of my greatest images!”
Editorial note – it is interesting to note how back then in the early days of digital things like hideous frames were being used by DIGIT ‘ just because we can now we are digital’.
Note that at this time he was still an ARPS. From 1999 Barry served on Council and was President of the Society from 2007 to 2009. As we all know you don’t reach that high status without having worked up through the ranks, so he was obviously giving many hours of his time to the Society by then including RO of the newly formed TV Region, and has continued to do so over the years. For his services to the Society Barry was awarded the Fenton Medal in 2011. For my part I cannot imagine a DIG Committee without Barry. He is our rock; the senior and highly respected member who keeps us on the straight and narrow when I might ‘conveniently’ try to forget, or do not have knowledge of, Society guidelines. I think of him as a guru and mentor; what he doesn’t know isn’t worth knowing. His achievements are as long as your arm. Currently a member of Southampton and Fordingbridge Camera Clubs his involvement with Camera Clubs goes back to the 1970s. He is a club speaker and judge.
Over and above his role on committee he is also the DIG Southern Centre Organiser where he organises a stimulating programme of quarterly meetings for members in and around the Ringwood/Bournemouth area.
So letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ask Barry a few questionsâ&#x20AC;Ś.. 1. What is your earliest memory of DIG Committee work Barry? The
highly successful meetings at Rugby.
2. What is the biggest change in the Group you have been part of in your time on committee? The doubling of the membership is the
obvious largest change. Providing benefits for members which are value for money has continued over the years always with an eye to new opportunities. Many years ago DIG commissioned its own website which had a Forum and monthly competition. 3. What tip might you like to pass on to DIG Members? Get involved and enjoy your photography. 4. Finally will you please share with us your own most favourite photo since becoming a digital photographer. My favourite image is usually the one I am currently working on! However, an image which I most enjoyed making is a composite of a local scene which for me captures the essence of the location. Barry can be contacted on digsouthern@rps.org
Trees in the Mist
Mike Oakes Mike is perhaps the most unusual of our DIG Committee members in so much that when he put his hand up to volunteer he had little experience of the Society and didn’t even belong to a camera club. So he jumped in at the deep end, but soon learnt to swim. He just goes to prove that volunteering doesn’t have to follow any pattern, nor progression through the ranks. Often someone who might be perceived as an ‘outsider’ will bring fresh ideas and a Joining in March 2016 and taking over the different perspective on external events role on DIG Committee was a things. pretty daunting task. DI Expo has been his main area to work on; he is the main contact point between the venue and DIG. Mike has also been responsible for setting up the new DIG Facebook closed user group. His Facebook experience was limited up to that point so it meant learning as he went along.
His photography is interesting as he is an opportunistic photographer, often using his iPhone to capture that magic moment when out walking the dog. But let us find out a little more about him in his own words…. 1. What made you volunteer to join the DIG Committee Mike?
I was expecting another project I was working on to come to a close and Barry had told me of the vacancy on the committee and I thought it sounded really interesting, especially as it was linked to photography. I then had a chat with Janet and she helped overcome the concerns I had about not being a camera club member and therefore not wise in their ways. 2. Has it changed your view of the Group having been more closely involved?
I have become far more aware of the range of work covered in the group – from mobile phone camera shots to full on photoshop creations and the standard is exceptional.
3. How has your own photography changed over the past two years?
Though my photography tends to be impulsive I have drawn inspiration from the work I’ve seen in the Group. I’ve also been impressed by the quality of work members have created on their mobile phone cameras and again I have found that inspiring. The biggest change though is that I take far more photos in black and white and that was a direct result of having seen b&w images taken by group members. In fact those DIG images inspired me so much that I set myself (and achieved) a challenge to take one b&w photo every day during 2016.
4. Will you share you most favourite photo with us please?
This is the first photo I had been able to take of my pet dog Pickle. She had always moved away the minute I tried to take a photo. This time however she stayed where she was but turned away from me. What struck me about this was the fact that Pickle’s coat was the same colour as the hay and it was a typical harvest scene.
It was taken on my phone and I used the Snapseed App to tweak the photo. Mike can be contacted on DIGEvents@rps.org
DIG PRINT CIRCLE In the last year or so, membership of the Print Circle has changed quite dramatically. We lost a few members but have now got back to a maximum manageable strength. The way the Circle works is that each member puts in one image per round, comments on everyone elsesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entry, adds a personal message about themselves and picks their top 6 images in the round in order of merit. Since each of us must be given almost 3 weeks to carry out this review and add the new image, the length of time for any round to be completed with our current 11 members is inevitably over 6 months, which is really too long to keep interest. In order to keep things moving, therefore, we employ a system with two overlapping rounds, so that we each progress a round roughly every quarter. Still long enough but workable. As secretary of the Circle, I find the present set-up just about right â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as well as instructive and good fun. I hope that all our members would agree with that. The standard of the images entered in recent rounds has been very strong. The new members have given the longer-serving members new targets to
aim for. In the last three rounds, we have had some quite excellent entries, and by no means always from the same members. Attached to this report are the winners and runner-ups from these rounds. Quite a varied bunch. I hope you find them interesting. Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski
Waiting by Dennis Russ LRPS
In Prayer by Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski ARPS
Listening in the booth by Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski ARPS
Ice Cream Cone by Rex Waygood
On yer bike, Sukey! by John Shaw ARPS
Looking in through my Window By Pen Lynas
MEMBERS GALLERIES Martin Farrow ARPS Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a fine art photographer living in Bursledon, near Southampton. My pictures involve looking at things from a different perspective, using unusual angles or selecting small elements to create original views. I frequently produce monochrome images, where tones and shapes create more graphic forms. My colour pictures often involve blocks of colour, also creating graphic compositions.
Lynda Mudle-Small ARPS Statement of Intent Around our home in rural Portugal are abandoned smallholdings which for centuries housed selfsufficient families, living a very simple lifestyle with no electricity or running water. Beneath bright blue skies these low dark buildings are redolent of small communities that have disappeared. As I wander through them I invariably think of the families that called these buildings home. They have left few clues behind, just a few broken and unwanted items. However the rooms, the fireplaces, the crooked doorways and even the walls that once protected these people have a story to tell. I love the traces of paint, the textures and even the cracks, that all add to an overwhelming sense of sadness at the total abandonment of these buildings. Where there was once a vibrant family there are now cobwebs, rubble and decay.
As usual click on the gallery images to see their work.
iPHONEOGRAPHY – Apps reviewed by Jo Cope Snapseed
Is my first choice, ‘go to app’ for editing. I started using it from my early days of mobile photography and it is often a good idea to stick with a program or app that you know and use often. Many apps are similar and it is just the interface that is different. Snapseed was developed by Nik software who readers will know for its Photoshop plug ins and it has now been taken over by Google. The best thing of all it is free and is available for iPhone and Android users. There are many tutorials and helpful websites out there so I will not attempt to explain all its features here.
I like the fact it has two 'sets' of tools - a filter set lower down the screen (that opens after you press the edit pencil bottom right after opening a photo) that give a set of quick filters e.g. Grunge. The top set of tools offer more control and have features anyone using a PC based editing package will know e.g. Curves, image tuning, dodge and burn brushes.
Whichever set of tools or combination of filters and tools you use a good rule of thumb is 'up and down' 'left and right'. So for example in Tune Image- swiping up and down will change the feature and swiping left and right will change the strength. With some features there are icons on the bottom toolbar to give you more choices. Tick to confirm what you have done or cross to reject.
Another beauty of Snapseed (which was not a feature in the early days) is the ability to work in layers. Tap the back arrow over squares at the top of the screen and the layers are shown and view edits-you can then delete layers, make further changes.
Another useful feature is to be able to apply a look to more than one photo by saving a look - go to the back arrow and save look and it will then be in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;My Looksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for when you need it again.
Saving gives you the choice of saving the original or not and you can open in direct into other apps or share instantly by going to the options in the three dots at the top right of the screen.
I suggest starting simply and using the tune image and or curves and saving it to get used to how it works and then try the same photo again using different features and try some filters. Sometimes just a little strength of Drama filter or HDR can save you time at the start of an edit. You will not end up using everything but gradually you will know what you like and want to achieve and you will be able edit quickly and effectively.
BRICKBAT AND BOUQUETS Whenever a DIG member appears on our monthly ‘lapsed’ lists we follow them up to see if they really meant to leave us and perhaps ‘why. Often it is for reason beyond our control; as the example below from Martin McCormack
Yes I have left RPS. No axe to grind with the DI group who did a marvellous job, I enjoyed all my events there, well worth the money. I might rejoin the DI at a later date. Another email came from Palli Gajree HonFRPS
We have been away on a couple of week's holiday to Hawaii, having returned late last night. A package containing the RPS DIG Magazine along with the DIG Print Exhibition 2017 Catalogue awaited our arrival. Both of the copies have been tastefully designed and produced, for which congratulations are in order to the Editorial Team. However he then went on to tell me that we had omitted his HonFRPS in the Exhibition print catalogue, for which I sincerely apologies Palli.
SPOTLIGHT ON AN OVERSEAS MEMBER This month we are showcasing the work of Debra Colman. We spotted Debra when she joined the DIG Facebook page fairly recently and realized she may have an interesting tale to tell…..
I'm pleased to have been asked to describe my photographic activities for the August DIG newsletter. I've been an RPS and DIG member for three years. I look forward to and thoroughly enjoy reading DIGIT and the newsletter; as an amateur hobby photographer both have provided me with ideas and inspiration.
For the past 15 years AndalucĂa has been my home. Living near the vibrant city of Malaga in one direction, and Gibraltar and Cadiz province in the other, the Costa del Sol is a well known, busy and active tourist destination. But a short drive inland in almost any direction and you arrive in "Spain". Here, landscapes, culture, wildlife and beauty abound, with Sevilla, Granada, CĂłrdoba and Jerez a short 1-2 hour drive away. Photography overkill.
Feria
With such an abundance of choice, it's easy to accumulate a great number of images, but difficult to pinpoint what exactly I wanted to do, and say, with my photography. Like a lot of hobby photographers, I'm a "jack-of-all-trades". I love to travel, but lots of us travel, and we aren't all necessarily travel photographers with a capital "T". The beauty, movement and grace of dance inspired me, and I realized that I could combine this, and travel, with the challenge of photographing horses.
Polo 2
Polo
I have always loved the beauty, movement, the sight and smell of horses. Whether they're working horses, sporting horses or much loved companions, I've tried to capture something of the character of the horse and the people closest to them...I've been fortunate to be able to photograph the mares in the DonaĂąa National Park, and the iconic working white horses of the Camargue in France. Horses led me to the world of
polo, and as luck has it, some of the best world class polo, and the finest polo ponies, are a short trip away in Sotogrande. Finally, if it's summer in Andalucía, it has to be feria. Every city, town and village has a summer fair, no matter how small. So, I've included one last image which will hopefully sum up Andalucía, my home, in summer. Here's wishing DIG members a happy productive summer wherever you are! Debra Colman – Estepona, Spain
Working horse – Camargue
Young Vaquero
DIG continues to be really busy with lots of activities going on that members won’t be aware of – Centres booking speakers and halls, your DIG committee paddling fast beneath the surface to get DI Expo organised. The DIGIT editorial team are beavering away to put together the next issue. Work never stops – all for you our members to enjoy and benefit from. You can help by promoting DI Expo to your photographic friends and club colleagues. There is a downloadable Ad on the web page www.rps.org/DIGExpo so you could pop this on your Facebook page or email it out to everyone you know who might be interested. We can all do our bit to help.
Regards
Janet
Janet Haines ARPS DIG Chair digchair@rps.org