VOLUME 12 / AUTUMN 2018
WWW.RPS.ORG
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
VIEW FROM THE RPS BENELUX CHAPTER ORGANISERS
What’s on for Benelux Chapter members and friends? Study Group Meetings September 18th is the start of the new season for the Study Group. We meet once a month at Het Palet, Duikerstraat 29, just The Royal Photographic Society Benelux Chapter Copyright The copyright of photographs and text in this eJournal belong to the author of the article of which they form part, unless otherwise indicated
off the Rotterdam ring round. It is an opportunity to work towards your RPS Distinctions or simply to share one or two images if that is all you wish to do. We offer each other feedback and support. Everyone welcome. Email Janet Haines if you are not on the list and would like to join in. Other dates: October 23rd and November 27th. Colour Management and Printing workshop October 27th we will be offering a Colour Management and Printing workshop day at Hotz in Aartselaar, Belgium. Sales of tickets will happen shortly. This is a great opportunity to learn from the professionals. If you do not understand Colour Management then you will never achieve first class prints that look as they did on your screen. Discussions are on going to arrange a winter meeting. TBC. Creative in Camera workshop May 11 and 12th 2019 is a two day workshop with Martin Addison FRPS. Martin is coming over from the UK to run us a
Cover photo Chris Dorley-Brown
‘Creative in Camera’ workshop which will be held in Zierikzee, Netherlands. More information nearer the time.
Editor eJournal Armando Jongejan Proof reading Dawn Black Webmaster André Meyer-Vitali
© Martin Addison FRPS - Ice details photographed on small iceberg
Photo Requirements 2000 pix long side and quality 8 no watermark or text in the photo and no borders around the photo
Janet Haines and Richard Sylvester RPS Benelux Chapter joint organisers
IN THIS ISSUE - AUTUMN 2018
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THE CORNERS
Chris Dorley-Brown
25 THIS WORK IS WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE! Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS
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RPS BENELUX CHAPTER SUMMER CHALLENGES 2018 André Bergmans
FROM SOURCE TO SEA Dawn Black ARPS
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AND MORE 2
VIEW FROM THE RPS BENELUX CHAPTER ORGANISERS Janet Haines ARPS and Richard Sylvester LRPS
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IN THIS ISSUE
30 MEMBERS PRINT EXHIBITION 2019 Janet Haines ARPS and Richard Sylvester LRPS 38 ‘MONNIKENLEVEN’ WITH ENGLISH SUPPLEMENTARY SHEETS Armando Jongejan FRPS
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FROM A CONCRETE IDEA TO CHAMPAGNE André Meyer-Vitali ARPS
VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN PALACE Armando Jongejan FRPS
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THE CORNERS: CAPTURING TIME
text by Armando Jongejan FRPS and text and photos by Chris Dorley-Brown
An Indie publisher form East London A couple of years ago I found a very interesting website of an English Publisher: Hoxton Mini Press. Or more precisely, an Indie publisher from East London. They create collectable books and I must say they make great photobooks with all kind of subjects and they are affordable. Most are about
East London. Their focus is urban and niche. I get their newsletter and a few months ago I saw a very attractive photobook: The Corners by Chris Dorley-Brown.
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex Š Simon Roberts
Rio Cinema - Sandringham Road and Kingsland High Street. 10:42am - 11:37am, 15 June 2009 Š Chris Dorley-Brown
The Corners Something was different with these photos. It was hard to explain exactly, but what was it? I found some articles about his new photobook on the websites of the British Journal of Photography and The Guardian. The photos are stunning and the articles explain why DorleyBrown's photos are different. They look both painterly and documentary. The photos are made with multiple exposures, creating dream-like scenes that lie somewhere between fiction and reality. Although the subjects really were all there, they may not have been present at the same time.
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The result is a very attractive photobook about hyperreal photographs of East London street corners. I contacted Chris and asked him to write an article for our Benelux Chapter. In our eJournal you'll find some of his photos, book lay out and a very interesting article. His photographs are completely different from my style of photography, but it is inspirational. Get involved in his way of
making a different type of documentary photography! See also his article in The New York Times.
Photography Chris Dorley-Brown Publisher Hoxton Mini Press, 2018 Price GBP 30 + shipping Binding Hardcover ISBN 978-1-910566-32-9 Extent 96 pages Trim 243 x 291mm Photographs 42 Colour Design: Friederike Huber
I am just collecting evidence For me, photography is a recording, I am just collecting evidence. In one sense the pictures are very personal as they chart my movements and obsessions, and on the other hand they could be read as rather systematic and standardized. My approach is straightforward I just put the thing or place I want to photograph in the middle of the viewfinder and hit the release, no angles or fancy stuff.
London is really still cleaning up after a war that ended in 1945. One of my first projects was to document the high rise tower blocks in Hackney that had been built in order to provide cheap housing for the working class whose homes had been bombed by the Luftwaffe. Most had been completed by the mid-seventies and when I began the project a decade later, they were starting to blow those up, so the bomb sites reappeared and I made images of that cycle, often they would discover German high explosives in the rubble that had to be disarmed. I was witnessing what seemed to be the end of a failed experiment, or at least a loss of faith in a modernist ideal. It was out
of a sense of civic duty to mark the occasion by making a record just in case nobody else was doing it and that feeling has just kind of stuck with me, making an archive that had potential as a resource for future historians and researchers.
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It’s all there in the image Since the 2012 Olympic Games held in east London, the rampant development has accelerated beyond comprehension. Part of my work now is to document what is being eradicated alongside what is being created in it’s place. What is going on around me is my subject matter, I don’t need to
attach a concept or a theme to clarify things for the viewer or to directly address political issues, it’s all there in the image. Now I have started making books with a number of publishers who are
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Well Street & Cresset Road. 06:39am – 07:09am, 5 July 2013 © Chris Dorley-Brown
committed to contemporary photography. I enjoy working in close collaboration with commissioning editors, designers, publicists and archivists to create these books and often they will suggest titles, sequences and contexts for the books to exist within. I don’t always know what the pictures are about when I am making a series, I prefer to involve myself in the process and let my instincts guide me to the next image, only later will the meaning and coherence of the series be evident. My pictures remain in the documentary tradition, but outside news and journalism, I have no urges
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in that direction. Recently I have received some criticism for using a composite techniques to make “truthful” images, but I am really interested in extending the time frame of the decisive moment to embrace a multiple element to the narrative. The digital tools at our disposal invite us to play and experiment and that’s what I enjoy, making pictures to please myself and stay stimulated by the
normal and mundane world around me.
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Opening Ceremony - from East End Archive, 2012 © Chris Dorley-Brown
Photography could combine the past, present and future in a single image A recent review of my book “The Corners “ in the New York Times ran under the heading “How to Photograph Eternity”, I liked that idea, I think the writer (Geoff Dyer) was speculating on the possibility that photography could combine the past , present and future in a single image and that somehow the narrative contained in the picture had no beginning or ending, the viewer could just enter of leave the scene in their own time.
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Kingsland Road and Downham Road. 11:38am – 12:01pm, 18 July 2014 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Tate Institute - from East End Archive, 2016 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
St. James Street and Grange Road. 08:46am - 09:02am, 4 May 2017 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Tower Court Demolition - Castlewood Road and Rockwood Road. 11:41am - 12:24pm, 20 June 2014 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Ocean Estate - from East End Archive, 2015 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
Leytonstone - Vernon Road and High Road. 08:50am - 09:02 am, 11 April 2017 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Shoreham Air Show, West Sussex © Simon Roberts
William IV - Shepherdess Walk and Micawber Street. 10:39am - 11:06am, 6 March 2017 © Chris Dorley-Brown
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FROM SOURCE TO SEA - MY RIVER DEE PROJECT text and photos by Dawn Black ARPS
Moving “home” was not my first choice Early in 2017, I discovered I would be repatriating to the North East of Scotland. A move had always been going to happen once my daughter finished school but the location was an unknown. Moving “home” was not my first choice but needs must and I had to get my head around it. One way to do that was to start thinking about a new project to get me out and about and looking at a very familiar landscape in a new way. The River Dee flows into the North Sea at Aberdeen and I have photographed it, the breakwater and the Brig o’Dee before.
© Dawn Black ARPS - Spires of Aberdeen - the River Dee snakes into the city beneath the Brig o’ Dee
Researching the river my interest was further piqued as the 85 miles of landscapes through which it runs vary from mountainous to rural to urban and industrial. I will have to increase my fitness levels The Dee has its source deep in the Cairngorm Mountains at the Wells of Dee on the plateau of Breariach, which at 1296m is the third highest mountain in Scotland and forms the highest source of any river in the UK. I will have to increase my fitness levels somewhat to make it to this high, remote spot – these may well be the last images of the project! The Linn of Dee, beyond Braemar on the Mar Estate is the last point upstream to which you can drive on public roads and I photographed it late last year. It will take a few trips and long hikes into the Glen of Dee to explore the upper reaches of the river into the mountains.
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The river once again winds itself gently though the landscape After the Linn, the river once again winds itself gently though the landscape, past Braemar and into the more rural agricultural lands of Royal Deeside, which I have captured over the winter with snow on the ground. One of the things the Dee is so well known for is the salmon fishing. People come from around the world to fish here and many of the riverside estates depend on this. All along the river are bridges and the project will eventually include them all. Two prominent ones are Potarch (which has a wonderful café close by) near Kincardine O’Neill, the oldest village on the banks of the Dee and the Brig o’ Dee in Aberdeen.
© Dawn Black ARPS - “Rush” Linn of Dee - from the Gaelic meaning a pool or cascade of water - a 300m long chasm where the Dee suddenly changes from being a broad, gentle river into a raging torrent forcing itself through a gorge just a couple of meters wide
The project has a long way to go As you approach the tidal end of the river in the city of Aberdeen the river rises and falls with the tides. The banks boast old and new residential housing, a business school, cemetery, sports fields and industrial buildings as it converges into the busy Aberdeen Harbour before flowing out into the cold North Sea. The project has a long way to go but it spurs me to get out and do photography for my own pleasure as well as learning more about the history of my local area.
If you want to follow the progress of the project you can visit my website: www.dawnsblackphotography.com under the Landscapes Gallery tab where I will post images as I create them.
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© Dawn Black ARPS - “Echoes” Creag Bhaig over the River Dee near Braemar
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© Dawn Black ARPS - “A river runs through it” Creag Ghiubhais & Creag Nam Ban near Ballater
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© Dawn Black ARPS - Fisherman’s Hut, Invercauld Estate
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Š Dawn Black ARPS - Potarch Bridge - dating from 1811-13 by Thomas Telford and used to carry the old Edinburgh to Fochabers military road across the Dee
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© Dawn Black ARPS - Brig o’ Dee - dating from 1527 this once was the only access to Aberdeen from the south
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Š Dawn Black ARPS - Caledonian Oil - despite the downturn, Aberdeen harbor is still bustling with the activity of the oil industry
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Š Dawn Black ARPS - The Dee meets the sea - the contrast of the old Customs house (now the Silver Darling Seafood Restaurant) and the new Shipping Control Buildings at the mouth of the Dee
THIS WORK IS WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE! – A SUCCESSFUL LRPS PANEL text and photos by Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS So join them to improve yours then I first came across the RPS at a photography exhibition in the Netherlands in 2016. The RPS had a little stall, manned by Janet Haines and Dawn Black. We chatted for a while. I told my wife who was with me at the time. “This work is way out of my league!”. “So join them to improve yours then”, she told me. Fast-forward two years and now I am a LRPS! Kill your darlings is not easy One of the things I find most difficult, and still do, is to rate my own photographs. Even when I like one more than another one, what is it that makes the preferred one stand out, appear better, more attractive? Working on a panel in a RPS chapter certainly helps. During our monthly get-togethers you will receive a lot of feedback. Janet and Dawn are both great at providing very good, constructive specific feedback. What is it that makes this image good, what needs improving on the next one and why should you just leave this one all together? Dawn has moved back to Scotland since but all the RPS Benelux chapter members that attend our monthly meetings have been very supportive. I can take the time I need So it does enhance the way you look and think about your own images a lot. Until I joined the RPS I rarely, if ever, printed my images. Printing my images has definitely been a big revelation to me, both in terms of how much more enjoyable it is looking at them on paper, nicely mounted in a passpartout, as well as adding more skills into the game. Printing is also a complete science of its’ own! A lot of my photography takes place during our travels and this shows in my panel with various places in India, the Netherlands, London and Venice featuring. These days when we visit far away places, I will usually take a few hours every day to go out with my camera by myself. This way I can take the time I need. I have found that as I spend more time on capturing the image, the quality is improving.
© Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS - Hangingplan of his LRPS-panel
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Photography is never an exact science The ten images in my panel were chosen through a near endless process of elimination and shuffling them around during our many RPS Chapter evenings in Rotterdam. I also took my panel to three advisory sessions. This was useful up to a point - that point being I got very different feed back. On many of my images I had varying advice of “definitely LRPS standard, below standard, maybe LPRS standard. If that taught me anything it is that photography is subjective and never an exact science. It also means you just need to become more confident and experienced at how you rate your own images.
Š Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS
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I liked working on my LRPS panel. I like to have a real project on hand, rather then just go out with a camera and shoot so I am looking forward to starting my A-panel. I have seen numerous A-panels during our chapter meetings and at various other occasions. Getting your statement of intent put together first appears to be the universal rule for all. So I have picked a three-day event I want to cover, got a statement of intent and I will be spending three days in Germany capturing images. I don't expect my first attempt to produce anything good enough for submission but that is not the point. Most likely I will try various topics and put together multiple panels before choosing one I believe is up to ARPS standards and subsequent submission. I will go through many iterations and feedback sessions again at our RPS chapter meetings. Looking forward to it!
Š Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS
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© Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS
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MEMBERS PRINT EXHIBITION 2019 text by Janet Haines ARPS and Richard Sylvester LRPS Given the success we repeat the idea For those members who have been with us a few years you may recall that we organised a Members Print Exhibition in 2017. This was supported by around 25 members with each of their prints being shown at the Society HQ in Bath, Den Haag and Brussels. Given the success we thought we would repeat the idea in 2019. Each individual goes in to the 2019 Exhibition! We start with any member who wishes to submit for exhibition sending us 3 images by a given date. We then have three selectors who each separately mark the images giving a 5, 3, 1 to the individual images. The image gaining the highest score from each individual goes into the 2019 Exhibition so you are guaranteed to have an image chosen. You can shoot anything you like – there is no class or category. Mounting Once the images are chosen we let everyone know. They will then be requested to send a high quality print of their winning image. This time we are collecting un-mounted prints to make life easier for you and to reduce postal costs. We will mount them for you. Frames Two years ago those who had prints in the exhibition paid for frames. Jeroen currently stores these. There are 30 of them. If the number of prints selected exceeds 30 this time round then those who did not purchase a frame last time will be asked to fund one this time for their work. We will make the purchase if necessary so that they all match. Other than that there is no direct cost to enter this Chapter project. Dates •
Submit your 3 digital images to janet.haines@me.com by September 30th 2018;
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These should be jpg files at max 1024x768 max;
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Your name and image title should be on each photo. E.g. ‘Jeroen_Dorrestein_Alfa_Spider’;
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Selection will take place in October with results out to all by early November;
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Prints to be received by Janet Haines no later than December 31st 2018.
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Exhibitions will be during 2019 – if anyone has a venue they could offer or know about then please do let us know.
Any questions? Email janet.haines@me.com
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© Janet Haines ARPS - impression exhibition in The Hague
© Eddie Maes LRPS - impression exhibition in Brussels
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RPS BENELUX CHAPTER SUMMER CHALLENGES 2018 text by André Bergmans No digging in your archives It seemed so straightforward. You get ten photo assignments that are described briefly and provided with links to more extensive documentation. You deliver one image per assignment and no swaps. Then two experienced reviewers will give you personal feedback for your possible LRPS. What an offer! And you have got ten weeks to do this in the holidays season. Seems so doable. However, thinking about it, ten weeks for ten photos means one photo per week. One photo that is at L-level and you are happy with. And by the way no digging in your archives because that’s cheating yourself. Some of the topics or techniques might be a first time experience for you. Do you feel a bit uncomfortable already? I did after having said yes to all this and after having grasped why it was called a Challenge in the first place. There was water, air and land so it must be a landscape First photos I suggested as an Abstract were not abstracts but more contemporary or conceptual. Second option was an abstract indeed and I submitted it. Second was the Landscape. I live in the Netherlands which is a country flat by nature. Landscape are a special challenge here. But after finding a little hill (actually some artificial hill on a golf course) I could, by using an extreme wide angle at least suggest a landscape. There was water, air and land so it must be a landscape. Feedback of the reviewers: less water. And they were right as it improved a lot. Architecture is something I never get involved in so a real challenge. A big basilic had enough opportunities but I am not sure whether I submitted the best photo out of the series. Free choice was a photo of a cricket player and ‘typically me’ I think. Macro was a bit of an easy escape of a flower (sorry for that) and Something in Nature was not understood. In hindsight it was too quirky really. I think I can manage Street Photography if I am not too much hindered by the new laws on privacy. Another four to go The real headaches come… topics that one always avoid and these topics are different for each of us. The ones for me are: Portrait (who do I dare to ask), Low Light (never do that), Something on the Move (my technique sucks). So including Street another four to go for four weeks and we are still on schedule. Which photos are useable for an L-panel Very curious to know which photos are useable for an L-panel. Thanks to Janet Haines, Dawn Black and André Meyer-Vitali for their ongoing support. More about their experience in the next eJournal. Information about the Rules and Challanges can be found on our Benelux-Chapter webpage.
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Carol Olerud ARPS I enjoyed the challenge, knowing I would have to look into some subjects that I don’t normally photograph. Like, Macro, in Nature & Abstract in particular! However, I have an excellent 100mm f2.8 macro canon lens. I was using it to take photos of my son in ‘Natural Light’ when I noticed the ‘Nature’ in my garden. I continued photographing and discovered many (zillions) of caterpillars eating a low growing bush (buxus), so I thought here is my Macro challenge: I took very many photographs of the little creatures, playing with focus and DOF. It wasn’t easy but I think I succeeded in getting a good shot of them. I carried on and took some photos of bees and dragonflies.
© Carol Olerud ARPS
That covered 3 challenges, just in the back of my garden! The other challenges happened as I went about taking the many photos as I always do. I’m glad I finished all 10 challenges, they really were challenges and I’m quite pleased with my results!
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Alessia Peviani During the past year I focused my attention mainly on landscape, and the Summer Challenges were a gentle push to explore out of that genre. I decided to start with macro, and ended up spending hours on the balcony playing with cardboard and bike lights! Architecture and abstract were also surprisingly fun. Sometimes it's good to feel a bit of external pressure.
Š Alessia Peviani
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Zoe White Actually I had decided to take a break from photography this summer. However I did take the compact camera on holiday with me to Granada. Some of the resulting images were suitable for the Challenge. I took many images of the swallows flying backwards and forwards to their nesting holes in the exterior wall of the Alcazaba (Alhambra fortress). They were tiny specks, zooming around high above me. It was the most inspiring sight. I could have watched them for hours!
Š Zoe White
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Cobi Neeft ARPS I enjoyed participating the Summer Challenges and found it inspiring. During the Summer we cycled a lot and visited any event. I always had my camera with me and the ten Challenges in the back of my mind. One walks and looks around with a different mindset carrying a camera. More is seen and possibilities are discovered. My favourite photo is the one taken at the Gay Pride in Amsterdam; a great event. Also the cattle call (calves this time) in Santpoort was an exciting event. Before sunrise the calves are cleaned and prepared for the show. I could make full advantage of the early morning light.
Š Cobi Neeft ARPS
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André Bergmans A friendly game of cricket with colleagues gave me enough opportunity for some special images. Not without risk as I was the only one seriously hit by the ball. Making great photos of sport requires, like any other subject, a deep understanding of the subject. In the case of cricket a real challenge.
© André Bergmans
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‘MONNIKENLEVEN’ WITH ENGLISH SUPPLEMENTARY SHEETS text by Armando Jongejan FRPS Characterised by a thematic approach Regular readers of our Benelux Chapter eJournal knows that I like to create a coherent body of work rather than a single photo. My work is characterised by a thematic approach. As a documentary photographer, I like to make contact with people in their own environment. I am curious as to how they live and work. In addition to the photos, this also yields nice conversations. On 2nd June this year my sixth photo book was published and is my fourth photo book about Egmond's monastic life. Since 1995, over several periods of two years, I went to capture daily life in one of the Egmond monasteries. My camera has given me the possibility to closely follow this. The results of my latest series are to be seen in the photobook Monnikenleven (Monks’ life), see also our Summer eJournal. Written in Dutch and ...English I have received many nice reactions and reviews on television, in newspapers, photo- and religious magazines. But I got also questions about the language as the text pages are written in Dutch. The text of the Preface by Abbot Gerard Mathijsen osb, the Epilogue by me, About the Authors, Colophon and the Back Cover are now also available as English supplementary sheets in the same 30x30cm size and book lay out of Monnikenleven (Monks’ life). If you have ordered the book
© Armando Jongejan FRPS
already, please feel free to contact me and I will send you an A3 PDF-version. If you would like to order the photo book Monnikenleven with English supplementary sheets, please contact: armandojongejan@hotmail.com. Create your own series for a photobook, or your A- or F-Panel I also like to collect series in small ‘print on demand' photo books. You can find some examples of these at the end of our eJournals. Perhaps it may inspire you to create your own series for a photobook, or your A- or F-Panel. Enjoy creating your own coherent body of work!
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© Armando Jongejan FRPS
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FROM A CONCRETE IDEA TO CHAMPAGNE text and photos by André Meyer-Vitali ARPS A life-long learning process Becoming a better photographer is a life-long learning process. It requires study, practice, feedback and recognition. You need to study the technique and the masters. Practice as many different things as possible. This need not be a solitary endeavour, because the RPS provides for feedback with their study groups and for recognition with their distinctions. Where to Start? I've been a member of the RPS Benelux for about a year, after joining a couple of events and some study group meetings, organised and guided by Janet Haines ARPS. At those meetings, I got in touch with the concepts of distinctions and panels. I was hesitating between going for a Licentiate panel (demonstrating diversity and technique) and an Associate panel (demonstrating style and story). I had followed many courses and practised many techniques and subjects before joining the RPS. What I felt lacking in my photography was not so much technique, but content. My goal is still to develop a more coherent and meaningful body of work, which consists of themes, series and stories. This is exactly what the Associate distinction is all about. So, finally, I gave it a try and took a series of pictures to our study group meeting. One of my favourite themes is architecture. The first feedback was a disaster: some good pictures, but no story, no theme, and no apparent intention - I missed everything that I was trying to achieve! Incidentally, I was following a course by David DuChemin, which is all about intent (The Compelling Frame [1]). Finally, I also understood the concept of the Statement of Intent (SoI) that is required for the A level. You have to start with the SoI! Taking pictures comes second. And - very different from the L level - you have to demonstrate a consistent style. Well, that's the theory and good practice, but some people were successful with writing the SoI after the fact... Nevertheless, I found it very helpful and inspiring to go shooting with a concept and style in mind. It can help to look for views that otherwise might appear less interesting. Relationship between structure and events So, I knew that I wanted to do "something" with architecture and cityscapes. I also had a theory in mind that I wanted to translate into pictures for decades, but never managed before. This was the time to go for it. This theory is formulated in the book "The Savage Mind" by the French philosopher Claude Lévi-Strauss [2]. It was cited in the well-known book "Collage City" about (post-)modern urbanism by Colin Rowe. A specific passage in Lévi-Strauss deals with the relationship between structure and events. Structure refers to the intentionally designed and built, while the events refer to the unplanned and unexpected things that happen spontaneously. It is the interaction between these two concepts that creates exciting environments. But how could one visualise such an abstract and generic concept? Use the example of Brutalist architecture Another inspiration came from a picture by Stephen Shore that I saw accidentally on Instagram: an industrial facade with plants growing all over [3]. Now, I had a concrete idea! I would use the example of Brutalist architecture for my purpose. The term "brutalism" is wrongly translated - it refers to the French term "béton brut" as Le Corbusier used it - raw concrete (no brutality involved). The use of raw concrete is interesting in at least two aspects: the raw nature of the material invites environmental change, and the material can be shaped in any imaginable way, which often results in
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Š AndrÊ Meyer-Vitali ARPS
rather organic constructions. Thus, the relationship between the planned ideal and accidental modifications would become apparent in more than one way, as intended. In terms of style, I wanted to step beyond the obvious. Again, inspired by David DuChemin, I went from colour to black & white and from 3 by 2 to square format. This new way of composing liberated my pictures. Restricting myself to this style allowed me, at the same time, to see the subjects in a new light. In combination with the post-processing, this style fits very well with the theme: Naturally Concrete. Working on the Idea A month after my poorly received first presentation of random architectural pictures at the study group, I came back with a statement of intent [4] and a new set of pictures. This time, the feedback
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was much more positive. My new panel was intended simply as an example of what I was trying to do, but it was far closer to a potential A panel submission than anything I had ever produced before. Apparently, I was on the right track. It was now or never and the idea of an L panel was definitely left behind. Shortly after the study group meeting, an advisory day was planned in Ghent [5]. The motivation to present a good panel there was very high. It proved to be a very interesting and inspiring weekend. Besides learning a lot from other panels, the feedback on my panel by Ray Spence FRPS, head of distinctions, was encouraging. I also learned about the different categories, or genres, and their different rules. It appeared that my panel would either fit in the Conceptual or Fine Art category. With Conceptual, the story is paramount and the SoI can be extended to explain it in more detail. With Fine Art, the quality of the pictures is what counts most. After some hesitation, I decided to go for the Conceptual category, because I felt that my panel had an important story to tell.
Submission More pictures were made and the selection of the best ones only became more difficult. Not only does one have to select perfect pictures, but they also have to fit in the panel and complement each other. The SoI was fine-tuned in many iterations. This process is the hardest part and the one which benefits the most from discussions in the study group. After selecting, printing and framing the pictures they had to be sent to Bath, just in time for the next assessment day. The panel was accepted and I received confirmation a few days later [6]. A bottle of Champagne was ready to be opened for the occasion! Although the ideas and intentions were ripening for decades, the period from the first idea for a panel to a concrete result in terms of a submission was rather short. It took less than half a year from conception to award. Sometimes, it can take ages before you're ready, but there's nothing to stop you when you are. The support that I got from the study group and my wife and children was extremely important. The best way to learn is to try and get feedback. And, for me, learning and improving myself and my photography are extremely important. I have learned a lot in this process and become a better photographer. Now, I'm ready for new challenges, again. Never stop learning... [1] http://www.thecompellingframe.com/ [2] Claude LĂŠvi-Strauss, La PensĂŠe Sauvage, Librairie Plon, Paris, 1962 [3] https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcp4ewHnSfI/ [4] Statement of Intent, see page 43 [5] http://www.rps.org/events/2018/february/24/distinctions-celebration-weekend [6] http://www.rps.org/regions-and-chapters/regions/headquarters/blogs/2018/april/associateconceptual--contemporary-april-2018
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© André Meyer-Vitali ARPS - Hanging plan
STATEMENT OF INTENT
Naturally Concrete We make the world that we live in—at least, that's what we believe. We create structures that organise our lives. We construct the buildings that we inhabit. Yet, not everything happens as planned. Our structures are subject to unpredictable events that modify them. The wrongly-named Brutalist architecture plays with the concepts of the raw matter and accidental events, as well as their juxtapositions and relations to organised structures (according to Lévi-Strauss [1]). The use of raw concrete enables free-form buildings that sometimes assume organic textures, patterns and shapes. Moreover, age and environmental conditions leave marks on the concrete buildings and assimilate metamorphosis. Raw concrete invites the symbiosis between built structures and events in nature. It is my intention to show the beauty and unexpected harmony between human-built structures and natural mutation.
[1] Claude Lévi-Strauss, La Pensée Sauvage, Librairie Plon, Paris, 1962
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© André Meyer-Vitali ARPS
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© André Meyer-Vitali ARPS
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© André Meyer-Vitali ARPS
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© André Meyer-Vitali ARPS
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VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN PALACE - LINNAHALL text and photos by Armando Jongejan FRPS
This huge complex of concrete in Tallinn Estonia - looks like a bunker for submarines but
was designed by Estonian architects Raine Karp and Riina Altmäe as the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Palace of Culture and Sport. The complex was later renamed as Linnahall, which means city hall. But it is not a city hall at all. The complex was built as a concert and sports venue in 1980 as a 5000-seat amphitheatre and a 3000-seat ice hall on the occasion of the 22nd Moscow Summer Olympic Games in 1980. At that time Tallinn was the capital of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and the sailing events took place here.
The monumental building is situated as part of the harbour, just outside the medieval Old Town. It looks like a fortress but access is also an element of the structure. It is a strange combination. The building was completed in 1980 and in the 1980s the project won several international architectural awards. The quality of the construction is poor and it makes a dilapidated impression. The last public event was in April 2009 and since then it is closed to the public. It is now an enormous ‘modern’ ruin. Regardless, in a certain way it is still attractive. Sources architectuul.com, spottedbylocals.com, academia.edu and/en Wikipedia
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