OPENING SHOT The final frontier NEXT ISSUE
The Duchess of Cambridge begins her role as patron of the RPS; we explore the ethics of wildlife photography; and V&A curator Susanna Brown discovers the fantastical world of Tim Walker HonFRPS
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
IT IS SUCH A SIMPLE ACT – TO leave your footprint on a sandy beach or in recently laid tarmac. There is something deliciously childish about marking your existence, even if the evidence is washed away with the next tide. When American astronaut Buzz Aldrin photographed his bootprint on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission 50 years ago, it was the ultimate declaration of ‘I was here’. His commander Neil Armstrong had taken the first steps on the moon, but Aldrin was close behind – and it is Aldrin’s bootprint, photographed for scientific reasons, that has become synonymous with those few hours on 21 July 1969. Photography had been central to space exploration since the
BUZZ ALDRIN / NASA
The bootprint of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon
STAY CONNECTED
first image of the earth was taken from an unmanned US rocket on 24 October 1946, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on 12 April 1961. To celebrate the Apollo 11 anniversary the RPS is staging an exhibition showcasing some of the most resonant images up to and including the first moon landing. Deborah Ireland, the curator of Space Steps: The Moon and Beyond, offers an insight into the role of photography in space exploration, while photographic artist Monica Alcazar-Duarte is inspired by humanity’s insatiable desire to push celestial boundaries. And if that isn’t enough, visitors to the exhibition at RPS House can see the first Hasselblad camera in space, used on the Mercury-Atlas 8 space flight of 1962. Another pioneer, but with his feet firmly on the ground, is Stephen Shore HonFRPS, who selects the images from a four-decade career that mean the most to him. He explains why he portrays the world as a series of seemingly casual glances – and why he fell in love with colour. Finally, seven recent graduates from across the UK inspire you with their efforts to take photography in new and exciting directions.
KATHLEEN MORGAN Editor
KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE RPS
Or contact the editor with your views rpsjournal@thinkpublishing.co.uk
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 441
THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY RPS House, 337-340 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR, UK www.rps.org frontofhouse@rps.org +44 (0)117 316 4450 Incorporated by Royal Charter Patron The Duchess of Cambridge President Robert Albright HonFRPS Vice President Del Barrett ARPS Treasurer Derek Trendell ARPS Chief Operating Officer Mike Taylor Director of Education and Public Affairs Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS Published on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society by Think Red Tree Business Suites 33 Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow G40 4LA thinkpublishing.co.uk EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Editor Kathleen Morgan rpsjournal@thinkpublishing.co.uk 0141 375 0509 Contributing editor Rachel Segal Hamilton Design John Pender, Amanda Richardson Sub-editors Sam Bartlett, Andrew Littlefield Editorial assistant Jennifer Constable Advertising sales Daniel Blanchard daniel.blanchard @thinkpublishing.co.uk 0203 771 7229 Group account director John Innes
Every reasonable endeavour has been made to find and contact the copyright owners of the works included in this newspaper. However, if you believe a copyright work has been included without your permission, please contact the publishers. Views of contributors and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Royal Photographic Society or those of the publishers. All material correct at time of going to press. Circulation 11,079 (Jan-Dec 2018) ABC ISSN: 1468-8670
Cover Free-fall training by Monica Alcazar-Duarte
442
452 From Dead Water by Marilene Ribeiro
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
470 Brewster County, Texas, 1987 by Stephen Shore HonFRPS
HARRY BORDEN HonFRPS; STEPHEN SHORE HonFRPS; MARILENE RIBEIRO
© 2019 The Royal Photographic Society. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
JULY 2019
CONTRIBUTORS
EVERY MONTH
Teddy Jamieson (PAGE 470)
An award-winning features writer for The Herald, Jamieson was born in Germany, raised in Northern Ireland and lives in Scotland. He is the author of Whose Side Are You On? (Yellow Jersey)
444 | BIG PICTURE Hold me mother, 2018, by Felipe Fittipaldi
459 | WHAT TO SEE THIS MONTH Where to find some of the best displays of photography on show
447 | IN FOCUS Our round-up of Society news and views, plus the 365 competition winners in print
494 | DISTINCTIONS Learn Tracey Lund LRPS and Kathryn Phillips ARPS’s routes to success
457 | BOOKS Works featured include Photography and the 1851 Great Exhibition by Anthony Hamber
503 | EVENTS Society get-togethers from the regions, groups and chapters, and a great range of workshops
494 Deer by Tracey Lund LRPS
Rachel Segal Hamilton (PAGE 478)
488
Honorary Fellow Brett Rogers, photographed by Harry Borden HonFRPS
A photography and visual arts writer, Segal Hamilton is contributing editor to the Journal, compiling the In focus and books sections. She has worked for titles including the British Journal of Photography
ROSIE DAY; TRACY LUND LPRS; RACHEL JAMIESON
FEATURES Tom Seymour (PAGE 488)
478 Hunter by graduate Rosie Day
Writing about the arts and society, Seymour has worked for titles including the FT, The Guardian and Wired. He also hosts artist talks for Sotheby’s
460 | WE HAVE LIFT-OFF A special 50th-anniversary RPS exhibition celebrates the Apollo 11 mission and its giant leap in how we see our world
478 | CLASS OF ’19 Aged 20 to 65, we present a snapshot of talented graduates gearing up for the next stage in their photographic careers
470 | BEST SHOTS ‘I felt like I was a photographer ever since I can remember,’ says Honorary Fellow Stephen Shore, as he reveals his favourite images
488 | THE GO-BETWEEN Champion of a wide range of artists, Photographers’ Gallery director Brett Rogers HonFRPS shares what makes her tick
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 443
Hold me Mother, 2018 By Felipe Fittipaldi This image of a child being cradled by his adoptive mother is from a series by the photographer Felipe Fittipaldi depicting life in his home city of Rio de Janeiro. It is among 28 pictures shortlisted for the Wellcome Photography Prize 2019. The infant, João, was born with microcephaly in the wake of the 2015 Zika virus outbreak in Brazil – he has an abnormally small head and an underdeveloped brain. If contracted during pregnancy the mosquito-borne virus can lead to microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities in the developing foetus. Having been abandoned, like many children with microcephaly, João was later adopted by Marilene, pictured. Fittipaldi says documenting this story for his decade-long series Tropical City was remarkable. ‘I wondered how there could be such good people living so close to me – people capable of loving another being so strongly and unconditionally.’ The winners of the Wellcome Photography Prize 2019 are announced on 3 July. The winning and shortlisted entries are exhibited at Lethaby Gallery, London, from 4-13 July
444
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
BIG PICTURE
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 445
PAGE 448
PAGE 450
PAGE 452
HONORARY FELLOW TERRY O’NEILL MADE A CBE
IPE 162 SELECTOR’S ACCLAIMED YANGTZE RIVER PROJECT
RPS YOUTH COUNCIL SUPPORTS NEXT GENERATION
IN•FOCUS News, views, exhibitions and competitions
The Duchess of Cambridge has been an Honorary Member of the RPS since 2017
RPS welcomes patron New role for Duchess of Cambridge
CHRIS JACKSON / GETTY IMAGES
THE PRESIDENT and trustees of The Royal Photographic Society are delighted to announce that Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge became Patron of the RPS on 25 June 2019. The Duchess has had a long-standing interest in photography and was made an Honorary Member of the RPS in January 2017. To celebrate the patronage, The Duchess attended a photography workshop for young people at Warren Park residential home in Surrey – organised by Action for Children and the RPS – at which she shared her passion for photography. Action for Children, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, is also under her patronage. There will be coverage in next month’s edition of the Journal on the day’s activities, which included workshops by photographer Nigel Wilson, and Honorary Fellows Jillian Edelstein and Harry Borden.
SIGN UP
STUDIO PORTRAITURE
This two-day workshop with Chris Burfoot ARPS is being held in Wiltshire on 20 and 21 July and is £140 for Society members. See page 510 for all our workshops
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 447
IN FOCUS
THE BRITISH PORTRAIT photographer Terry O’Neill HonFRPS has been awarded a CBE for services to photography in the Queen’s birthday honours list. O’Neill made his name capturing the youth culture of the swinging sixties, and went on to shoot portraits of the most iconic faces of that era, including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Across six decades in the industry he has photographed not just pop singers but politicians such as the South African President Nelson Mandela 448
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
and film actors, from Audrey Hepburn to Daniel Craig, spanning the full spectrum of celebrity portraiture. Expressing his delight on social media, O’Neill tweeted: ‘I’m incredibly humbled by it. It’s a real recognition for the art of photography, as well. This isn’t just for me of course, it’s for everyone who has helped me along the way. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.’ O’Neill was made an Honorary Fellow of the RPS in 2004 and received the Centenary Medal in 2011.
TERRY O’NEILL HonFRPS
Terry O’Neill made a CBE in honours list
NEWS BRIEF
One of Mieke Douglas’s exhibited images
BEST IN SHOW l Two equine images by RPS member Mieke Douglas are on display at the Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition until 12 August. Douglas came first in the best domesticated animal category of the British Photography Awards. Visit miekedouglas.com PRESS IMAGE AWARD l Graham Baalham-Curry LRPS has won the politics category at this year’s Northern Ireland Press Photographers Association awards. His image shows Taoiseach Leo Varadkar being shown around Belfast’s Museum of Orange Heritage by Mervyn Gibson, Orange Order grand secretary. Visit facebook.com/gcurryphotos
ABOVE The Beatles, Abbey Road Studios, London, 1963 RIGHT, TOP Elton John, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, 1975 RIGHT, CENTRE Kate Moss, 1993 RIGHT Sean Connery, Pinewood Studios, London, 1971 LEFT Terry O’Neill HonFRPS
PHOTO FLASH MOB l A crowd of people wearing photographs of Worcester on calico and canvas bags – taken by Michael Hallett FRPS using a smartphone – will take over the town’s Cathedral Square on 24 August. Hallett describes his chosen exhibition format as ‘street theatre showing the theatre of the street’. See michaelhallett.com NEW SWPA CATEGORIES l The 2020 Sony World Photography Awards include a new environment category, reflecting this increasingly important issue. A monthly youth competition will be open to photographers aged 12-19 – one of whom will be named Youth Photographer of the Year – alongside dedicated open and student contests. Visit worldphoto.org VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 449
IN FOCUS
Full circle
NEWS IN BRIEF
Connection is crucial for IPE selector St Pauls Carnival, Bristol, England, 2009 by Martin Parr
HONORARY FELLOW JOINS CARNIVAL POP-UP l Martin Parr HonFRPS, Matt Stuart, Lua Ribeira and others will be out and about in Bristol on 6 July, capturing the sights of the St Pauls Carnival. Drop in to watch them edit their coverage at a pop-up studio from 9-12 July at the Arnolfini, where a final exhibition of the work will run until 11 August. Visit arnolfini.org.uk ALICE MANN WINS ADIDAS PHOTO PRIZE l Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 winner and recipient of the 2017 Joan Wakelin Bursary, Alice Mann has now won the £10,000 Breaking Barriers commission. The initiative is run by Adidas in partnership with Studio 1854, and Mann will spend two weeks documenting women’s football clubs in London.
450
MY PLACE By Mike Cullis
Tenby YAN WANG PRESTON; MARTIN PARR HonFRPS / MAGNUM
RPS FELLOW APPOINTED HONORARY PROFESSOR l Professor Afzal Ansary FRPS has been appointed an honorary professor at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, India. Ansary has worked with the PGIMER to develop a curriculum for a BSc course in medical animation and audio-visual creation. Graduates of the course are expected to serve the needs of India’s healthcare, medical, educational and research institutions. Ansary chairs the RPS Medical Group, Imaging Scientist Qualifications Board, and Combined Royal Colleges Medal Awards committee.
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
What brought you to this part of the world? I was born in the north-west of England but, after living in the Bahamas for seven years working in the oil industry, I decided to move to Pembrokeshire in 1981 to work at the expanding Texaco refinery. Tenby is just five miles away from where I live.
An S1R camera image of Tenby by Mike Cullis ARPS
She is recognised for her images of life along the Yangtze River. Now the photographic artist Yan Wang Preston has the chance to illuminate the work of others – as a selector for the 162nd RPS International Photography Exhibition. This image, Yuan – meaning ‘circle’ or ‘origin’ – formed part
of the research for Wang Preston’s acclaimed Mother River project, for which she photographed the length of the Yangtze River at 100km intervals. ‘In a remote region of the Tibetan Plateau, I held 127 stones each in my hands for 10 seconds, before arranging them into a circular shape on the frozen headwater of the
Yangtze,’ she says. ‘By holding the stones, I intended to have an intimate connection with the river.’ Applications for IPE 162 close on 29 July. Visit rps. org/competitions/ipe-162 Forest by Yan Wang Preston is at Birkenhead Priory until 22 September
ONE TO WATCH
Frankie Turner
This 23-year-old creates images that encourage thought for food It might be one of the most widely eaten foods on the planet, but grain is perhaps not the most immediately visually appealing. Seen through Frankie Turner’s lens, though, it becomes something playful and intriguing. Turner has been focused on photography since she sidestepped A Level to tackle a BTEC extended diploma in photography. After graduating from Arts University Bournemouth,
the 23-year-old food photographer has been developing her skills while assisting for Sara Morris and Colin Campbell. This year she won an LPA Futures Award for emerging commercial photography talent, which comes with two years of representation from the Lisa Pritchard Agency. Sounds like a recipe for success. Visit frankieturner.co.uk and lisapritchard.com/ futures
TOP SHOT
What is Tenby like? Tenby is a seaside resort that has retained much of its charm from bygone years. The views over the harbour and around the town’s beaches are so picturesque. In an area commonly known as ‘The little England beyond Wales’ there is a distinct anglicised feel to Tenby and its surrounding area. Many miles of golden beaches, sand dunes and rocky headlands with clear unpolluted waters make the South Pembrokeshire coast so special.
How has it inspired you photographically? The 186-mile-long Pembrokeshire Coast Path provides some of the best coastal scenery in the whole of the UK. I’ve also sailed around the Pembrokeshire coastline and have found Tenby to be just as beautiful when viewed from the sea. A few months ago, Panasonic kindly loaned to me an S1R camera and some lenses to trial, and I took these shots with them – I’m very pleased with the results.
Frankie Turner has an eye for an ear, as this stem of oats illustrates
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 451
Silver Forest, Westminster
Youth takes centre stage Photographic artist leads RPS efforts to give young photographers a voice
WE ARE USED TO seeing images displayed on walls. For Rut Blees Luxemburg, though, photographs and walls are indistinguishable when creating a public artwork. To create The Lesson of the Vine, Luxemburg cast a trio of images in specialist concrete and incorporated the result into a public building in the German wine-growing village of Leiwen. ‘I photographed vines with a 5x4 camera in different cycles of the year,’ she says. ‘On the northern façade, the stark clarity of the winter vine is juxtaposed with the baroque fullness of the same vine in autumn. The three columns ornament and sustain the building that houses the annual celebrations and public life of the rural community of locals, visitors and newcomers.’ Blees Luxemburg first used the process in 2016 for Silver Forest, on the façade of Westminster City Hall in London. ‘By making a photograph into part of the architecture of the building the image becomes physical and invites not just the gaze of the viewers but also their touch,’ she says. The Lesson of the Vine is published by Everyday Press. Visit rutbleesluxemburg.com
452
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
THE RPS HAS launched a youth council featuring the brightest emerging talents in contemporary photography and chaired by the award-winning photographic artist Rachel Louise Brown. The group will advise RPS trustees on how to engage with the younger generation. Brown, who has exhibited internationally, says: ‘The RPS is an iconic institution with a wealth of history, resource and knowledge all bundled together with a passion for forward thinking. Having the opportunity to be a small part of its legacy is a humbling experience.’
All UK-based and in their 20s and 30s, the youth council members are from a variety of cultural backgrounds and work across a range of genres including documentary, fine art and editorial. They are Dominika Bartmanska, Harry Crowder, Sasha Hitchcock, Alexandra Lethbridge, Tom Pope, Lukas van Oudenhove, Peter Watkins and Tereza Zelenkova. The RPS has worked with Brown before, having supported Simulations – her Photo London Pavilion Commission – as part of a showcase of women photographers, alongside Susan Meiselas and Mary McCartney.
An image from Marilene Ribeiro’s Dead Water project
POWER STRUGGLE Marilene Ribeiro, who won the 2014 RPS Postgraduate Bursary for her project Dead Water, is the first female Latin American photographer to be shortlisted for the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles. Dead Water reveals the impact of the Brazilian government’s development of hydropower on wildlife, the environment and local cultures. ‘This conflict has been obscured, yet it takes place every day, veiled by the widely spread propaganda representing hydroelectricity as the “green” and “sustainable” energy source that may save us from global warming,’ says Ribeiro. The bursary helped the photographer travel across her homeland, producing collaborative portraits of those affected.
RACHEL LOUISE BROWN; MARILENE RIBEIRO
‘The image becomes physical’
IN FOCUS The Mermaid, Weeki Wachee Springs, 2017, by Rachel Louise Brown
Distinctions successes Congratulations to these RPS members LRPS MARCH 2019 Lesley Peatfield, East Yorkshire ASSOCIATE APPLIED PHOTOGRAPHY RECOMMENDATION MAY 2019 Zoltan Balogh, Eastleigh Paul Berkeley, New Milton John Cavana, Banbury Xinxin Chen, Fuzhou Thomas Cheng, Hong Kong Tony Cowburn, Eastleigh Amanda D’arcy, Craven Arms Nigel Essery, Melton Mowbray Colin Foster, Poole Tony Goodger, Hungerford Kenneth Jacob, Cwmbran Gary Jones, Wanchai Pak Shing Lo, Hong Kong Ming Kui Ng, Kowloon Sue Riach, Whangaparaoa Paul Rigg, Salisbury Balwantrai Thanki, Carshalton Alastair Wright, Glenrothes
ESSENTIALS
Lensbaby lens
FELLOWSHIP MAY 2019 CONCEPTUAL AND CONTEMPORARY Brian John McCarthy, Lincolnshire Anna Stevenson, Plymouth
POLINA PLOTNIKOVA ARPS
BY POLINA PLOTNIKOVA ‘One of my favourite tools in my photo bag is my Lensbaby Composer Pro with Sweet 50 optic. It creates amazing bokeh and is pin sharp in the round sweet spot of focus, surrounded by blur.
FINE ART Helena Spinks, Gloucestershire ‘Creative focusing and partial blurring are wonderful tools for highlighting areas of my image that I want to draw a viewer’s attention to. While fully appreciating the “what you see is what you get” approach, I’m much more interested in chasing an everelusive image that appears in my mind’s eye, an image that
conveys my feelings and emotions, rather than remains a mere statement of fact.’
ASSOCIATE RESEARCH APRIL 2019 Anthony Capper, Staffordshire
Polina Plotnikova ARPS is leading a number of RPS workshops on creative flower photography. For more information visit rps.org/events
ASSOCIATE EXEMPTION MAY 2019 David Christopher Ginn, Oxfordshire Barry Walsh, Wexford
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 453
NEIGHBOURS’ LIGHTS
By Shaomeng Cai
I am a student of art photography. My mentor, Zhi Guang Ju FRPS, has been teaching us: ‘The masterpiece is around us. People are used to it and take it for granted. Did you discover it?’ Whenever I look out the window, the lights of my neighbours shine in the night. I thought they would come back safely and have a wonderful dinner with their family. I was touched by this moment. To create this photograph I used a Nikon D850, 24-70, f/16, ISO 100.
365 monthly competition winners Enjoy the most popular entries themed around neighbourhood
IT WAS THIS BIG!
By John Gough LRPS I live close to Bedford and originally started taking pictures of people in the town in order to participate in an exhibition a few years ago. I have continued this theme as a project. These three ladies were chatting away, waiting for a bus. I just loved their expressions and can only guess at what they were talking about. I used a Canon EOS M3, which is a small and inconspicuous camera. The flip-out screen and wide-angle lens meant that I could get in close and shoot at their level. 454
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
ENTER NOW Inspired by these images? Then vote for your favourites and submit your photographs for the next monthly Society competition at rps-365.org
IN FOCUS
Take your seat in the auditorium at RPS House
Update on RPS AGM TO BE HELD ON 28 SEPTEMBER 2019 We have been publishing information regarding the 2019 Council elections and AGM at regular intervals in the Journal, eRPS and online at rps.org/agm Here is a further summary: KEY MILESTONES l 30 June The nominations period for the Council elections closed. This was also the closing date for members to propose resolutions to Council for inclusion in the AGM. For more information please visit rps.org/agm
HOME
REBECCA FAITH PHOTOGRAPHY
By Kim Burrows This photo was taken with a D750 on a 14-24mm in Morecambe, on the north coast of England, during a walk to find an ATM. Many of the coastal towns in England are known to be some of the worst places to live in the UK. Morecambe is poor, derelict, bleak and uninviting, yet it sits just
a few miles south of the beautiful and popular Lake District. You can actually see the Lakes just over the bay from Morecambe. This photo focuses on the beauty and bleakness of this coastal town, on the hottest day of the year so far – this local man, sat outside of his house, was completely unaware of everything but his book. instagram.com/ flightsandlights
l 29 July Notice of the AGM will be published online. This will be available at rps.org/agm and will include all details of the AGM, such as the resolutions, and how you can access the online platform where members may appoint and direct a proxy. Also available will be information about Council candidates and access to the voting platform where members can cast votes for candidates of their choice.
by post will receive a full AGM and Council Elections pack with all the necessary paperwork for them to return by post. Members who wish to request postal communication may do so by phoning +44 2380 763987 or emailing support@mi-voice.com RESOLUTIONS UNDER CONSIDERATION Council wishes to provide as much transparency as possible regarding any resolutions to change the bylaws and rules of the RPS. June’s issue of the Journal contained an overview of resolutions under consideration and this information can also be viewed online by visiting rps.org/agm Final resolutions will be published online on 29 July, as detailed above.
l Early August Notice of the AGM will be posted in the August issue of the Journal. Members who have requested information
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 455
BOOKS PORTRAIT OF HUMANITY Various HOXTON MINI PRESS, 1854 MEDIA AND MAGNUM PHOTOS (£22.95)
This collection of shortlisted images from the global answer to the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain competition celebrates ‘what it means to be human today’. The 200 pictures – by photographers such as César Dezfuli, Taylor Wessing 2017 Portrait Prize winner – offer a window into the latest approaches to contemporary portraiture and its themes, including gender identity, albinism and family relationships.
WE CAME FROM FIRE Joey Lawrence POWERHOUSE BOOKS (£45)
Glass fountain by Osler, by ClaudeMarie Ferrier
Great expectations How a historic exposition proved pivotal for photography PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE 1851 GREAT EXHIBITION Anthony Hamber
CLAUDE-MARIE FERRIER / ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST
OAK KNOLL PRESS (£74.76)
‘Ever since the Great Exhibition I have felt that a new era [has] commenced for photography.’ Reading William Henry Fox Talbot’s words in the introduction to Photography and the 1851 Great Exhibition, those of another 19th-century inventor spring to mind. Alexander Graham Bell predicted in 1880 that ‘one day every major city in America will have a telephone’. Neither Talbot nor Bell could have anticipated how much of an understatement their words would prove more than a century on. Now the majority of Americans have a phone in their pockets. And the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations ultimately proved
a watershed, giving rise to influential groups such as the Photographic Society of London, and publications. Talbot’s Reports by the Juries was at the time of its publication in 1852 the most substantial text yet to be accompanied by photographs. In this richly illustrated and scholarly study Anthony Hamber argues that the Great Exhibition’s relationship with photography has been downplayed. The culmination of two decades of research, his book examines how photography was selected, categorised and displayed at the exhibition; the ways in which knowledge of photography flourished, and the consequences of this, introducing us to the figures such as David Brewster, who were pivotal in pushing forward the medium. Reading it, one can’t help but wonder what these pioneers would make of photography today, woven as it is into the very fabric of our lives.
Taylor Wessing prize nominee Joey Lawrence spent the past four years going back and forth to photograph Kurds fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Canadian’s first monograph alternates between portraits of the fighters posed formally with their guns and behind-the-scenes moments, relaxed and laughing, to paint an immersive picture of his time embedded with them.
MASTERS OF STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Rob Yarham (editor) AMMONITE PRESS (£25)
The latest in this ‘Masters of …’ series presents the work of 17 street photographers, according to the technique for which they’re known – from George Georgiou’s focus on community to the Bragdon Brothers’ signature heavy flash. Through images, extended captions, Q&As and technical info, the book conveys that beyond Honorary Fellow Henri Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment, there are many creative ways to approach a genre that’s more popular and accessible than ever. VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 457
IN FOCUS
WHAT TO SEE THIS MONTH
CINDY SHERMAN National Portrait Gallery, London UNTIL 15 SEPTEMBER
Long before fake
1 news, reality TV,
selfies or Instagram, Sherman exploded the distinctions between fiction and fact, reality and performance. This first UK retrospective brings together 180 prints, including staggeringly influential series such as Untitled Film Stills (1977-80). npg.org.uk
Untitled #577, 2016, by Cindy Sherman
URBAN IMPULSES: LATIN AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY FROM 1959 TO 2016 The Photographers’ Gallery, London UNTIL 6 OCTOBER
MANDY BARKER: OUR PLASTIC OCEAN Impressions Gallery, Bradford UNTIL 21 SEPTEMBER
If current rates 2 continue, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050. RPS bursary recipient and awardwinning photographer Mandy Barker ARPS’s beautiful images reveal the devastating extent of plastic pollution. Impressions-gallery.com
SHOWING
over a timescale of 47 years by more than 70 photographers is an illuminating kaleidoscope of image making, from collage to street photography. thephotographersgallery. org.uk
THE LONG LOOK: THE MAKING OF A PORTRAIT Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh UNTIL 27 OCTOBER
Over two years
4 artist Audrey
Grant made a series of portraits of photographer Norman McBeath, who documented each sitting and the charcoal sketches that Grant produced before rubbing them out and beginning again. These, along with four finished portraits, are on show. nationalgalleries.org
LIZ HINGLEY: SHANGHAI SACRED Victoria Art Gallery and Museum, Liverpool UNTIL 25 SEPTEMBER
Among Shanghai’s population of 24 million is
5 an ever-growing number of religious groups
– Buddhists and Muslims, Christians, Hindus and many others. Part of the 2019 LOOK Photo Biennial, this show presents the photographer and anthropologist Liz Hingley’s images of Shanghai’s religious adherents, in a bamboo structure designed by Hingley and artist Chen Hangfeng. openeye.org.uk/whatson
Erwin Olaf: Women Hamiltons Gallery, London, until 16 August // Lola Flash: [sur] passing Autograph ABP, London, until 17 August // Kiss My Genders Hayward Gallery, London, until 8 September // Work Side Gallery, Newcastle, until 8 September // Sam Ivin: Settling The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, until 22 September
CINDY SHERMAN / METRO PICTURES, NEW YORK; LIZ HINGLEY; NORMAN McBEATH; ALBERTO KORDA ESTATE; MANDY BARKER; ERWIN OLAF / HAMILTONS GALLERY, LONDON
This exhibition
3 of work made
THE
As the RPS celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with an exhibition, curator Deborah Ireland explains the ingenuity and inspiration behind that epic journey WORDS: DEBORAH IRELAND PHOTOGRAPHS: NASA
SPACE RACE
SPACE STEPS
Buzz Aldrin on the moon’s surface, facing page, and Michael Collins – who stayed in orbit – practises in a simulator prior to the Apollo 11 launch
O
N 20 JULY 1969, NEIL Armstrong proclaimed he had taken ‘... one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind’. He and his fellow astronauts on Apollo 11 had fulfilled the first part of a goal set by US president John F Kennedy eight years earlier – to complete a crewed lunar landing. The Americans had been playing catch-up since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space on 12 April 1961. The final part of the Apollo 11 mission was to return safely to earth, but before they were to do that Commander Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin would spend 21 hours, 36 minutes in the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, photographing its terrain, their space craft, and each other. The crew’s third astronaut, the command module pilot Michael Collins, remained in orbit. On the crew’s return, NASA would be apprehensive about the results of this incredible photographic journey, but the 70mm film magazine contained
spectacular images of the lunar surface and humanity’s first encounters with it. Those photographs, taken between 20 and 21 July 1969, are at the heart of the exhibition Space Steps: The Moon and Beyond, at RPS House from 5 July. Besides tracing the story of the earlier Mercury and Gemini space missions and the Apollo programme up to 1969, the first Hasselblad camera in space – used on the 1962 Mercury-Atlas 8 space flight – will be on display. The Apollo 11 crew would later use three Hasselblads – made in Sweden and renowned for their high-quality construction – during their historic mission. Armstrong and Aldrin’s lunar images have shaped our collective memory, enabling the viewer to experience the moon from an astronaut’s perspective.
‘Armstrong was perhaps the most competent photographer. He had a great mentor – Ralph Morse of LIFE magazine’
Behind the series of photographs, held in NASA’s archive, is a story of technological brilliance that goes beyond the narrative of space rockets and scientific equipment. Armstrong took the majority of the photographs. He was perhaps the most competent photographer, even designing a chest mount during training sessions for ease of use of the camera on the lunar surface. However, he had a great photographic mentor – Ralph Morse of LIFE magazine. NASA realised at the beginning of the space programme that they needed to engage with the public. When they recruited the first seven astronauts, the Mercury 7, they also appointed a public relations officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Powers, in April 1959. Powers enlisted the help of the best writers and photographers. National Geographic photographer Luis Marden – a pioneer in the use of colour – and Dean Conger were loaned to NASA and they covered the astronauts, particularly the first orbital flight of John Glenn. LIFE then entered into an exclusive contract to document the astronauts’ VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 461
SPACE STEPS
lives and this introduced Morse and Carl Mydans to NASA. The LIFE team embedded themselves with the astronauts. Glenn would describe a quiet Christmas in 1961 spent with family and friends with ‘the LIFE contingent being there as usual’. Assigned to the space programme, Morse worked for 15 years with great creative flair on the story of interplanetary exploration and the lives of the astronauts. Many of the images on the NASA website from this period were taken by Morse, often uncredited – from the Project Mercury astronauts posed together in their pressure suits in 1959 to the spectacular lift-off images of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket, captured from the top of the launch tower. To achieve these images NASA made a protective steel box, but the camera inside was Morse’s own. It was a Nikon F series with a remote shutter release and a 20mm lens which took 200 exposures, four per second, as the 3,000-ton rocket’s engines fired, and it rose into space. When it came to astronauts using a camera to record what they saw during their flights NASA was reluctant, considering it a distraction. The capsule used on 5 May 1961 by Alan Shepard,
‘NASA was reluctant to let astronauts use a camera to record what they saw, considering it a distraction’ the first American in space, did not even have a window but a periscope. It was John Glenn in 1962 who persuaded NASA to allow a camera on board – a 35mm Minolta Hi-Matic, sold in the US as the Ansco Autoset. Glenn bought it himself and it was adapted for pressure-glove use. An unforeseen problem was changing a 35mm film in a weightless environment. Accidently hitting the canister, it floated away from Glenn, behind the instrument panel. When astronaut Wally Schirra sought advice from the National Geographic and LIFE photographers on which camera to use, they recommended a Hasselblad 500C, favoured by fashion photographers and promoted by the landscape photographer Ansel Adams. Its larger film frame (6x6cm) and film magazine made it easier to handle and promised better results for the astronauts.
After Schirra’s return with successful images of earth from space, a Hasselblad camera was included on all the subsequent flights. Schirra was unaware that the camera he liked so much had been specifically designed for aerial photography and used by pilots of the Royal Swedish Air Force during the Second World War. NASA would use photography to record each flight, to help analyse the successes and failures of the missions. It also became an important tool for scientific observation of the earth, of its terrain and meteorology. Some of the most dramatic images included in the exhibition are of the space walk by Edward White during the Gemini programme in 1965, which tested the equipment and skills needed by astronauts and ground crew. Apollo 8’s memorable orbit of the moon in 1968 recorded the earth from deep space with the image ‘Earthrise’. Apollo 9 and 10 were the rehearsal flights for practising the free flight of the lunar module, first around the earth, then the moon. The preparation for Apollo 11 extended to extensive training in Building 9 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, where an indoor replica of the lunar landing site was built and
Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in training, with a mock-up of the lunar module behind, below. Aldrin on the moon’s surface, facing page
‘THE MOON LOOKED LIKE MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION’
The second man on the lunar surface, Dr Buzz Aldrin, describes the historic Apollo 11 mission ‘The launch itself was surprisingly smooth. We did not know exactly when we had left the ground except from the instruments we were watching, and voice communications. We could see our rate of climb and altitude changing, but we were comfortable in our seats. We sort of looked at each other and thought: “We must be on our way … what’s next?” ‘It was nice to finally touch down. We saw our shadow cast in front of us as we landed, something we never saw in the simulator. The light turned on,
From left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin
I announced: “Contact light ... engine stop.” ‘While others thought about what we were doing, we were very concentrated on being on the moon. As Neil climbed down the ladder mission control told us they were
getting an image, but it was upside down. They fixed that, and soon we were both out of the lunar module and on the surface. Neil called it: “One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” and the moon looked to me like
magnificent desolation. But we had jobs to do. We had experiments to set out, and so we concentrated on that more than anything else. As for all those watching, we really did not think much about that. We were focused on mission control. ‘We were glad to be coming home. There is only one earth. On splashdown, we had to throw a switch to release the parachutes, only it was a bit bumpy, so we tipped over before we could release the parachutes, then the balloons tipped us right side up again. ‘People often remember the photo
of us at a window in the containment trailer. Funny story. When they played the national anthem, we wanted to stand up, but to be at the window we had to kneel. ‘Even this many years later, it was a privilege to have been on that first manned mission to the lunar surface, an honour to have worked with so many good and dedicated people, and to have left our footprints there. Sometimes, I marvel that we went to the moon. ‘Now I think it’s time for the next generation to set their eyes on Mars.’
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 463
Neil Armstrong in the Apollo 11 lunar module shortly after taking his historic first steps on the surface of the moon
precise timings were made of the lunar surface work, in order to develop an optimum schedule. Hours were spent in the flight simulators refining each part of the mission. Hasselblad was approached to design a camera which could be used on the moon, and a special development section was established in the factory at Gothenburg, Sweden, to work with NASA. After three astronauts died in a fire during an Apollo 1 launch rehearsal on 27 January 1967 there were tighter safety requirements for all materials used in the space capsules. The new camera would have to perform to 464
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
‘Checklists that were sewn on to each of the astronauts’ glove cuffs included a photo shoot list’ rigorous standards. Zeiss, the lens manufacturer, ran tests to investigate how optics would perform in a vacuum. Hasselblad had to solve the problem of lubricating moving parts, particularly the shutter, as lubricants would boil in a vacuum and leave residue that might affect the mechanism.
Any component that could potentially cause a spark was eliminated. Zeiss produced a new wide-angle lens, the 60mm Biogon f/5.6, designed for photogrammetric photography to be used in conjunction with a Réseau plate. It was thought that photogrammetry – a way of taking accurate measurements from a photograph as an aid to the mapping of a landscape – would add value to the lunar photography. Checklists were sewn on to each astronaut’s glove cuffs, including a photo shoot list, and photography formed an important part of the training and rehearsal.
SPACE STEPS
Morse photographed the astronauts at work and at home, getting to know their families, their interests and hobbies, as well as their work life. Morse and Armstrong would spend time talking about photography in the more relaxed moments. Armstrong was particularly interested in the gadgetry of cameras and his attention to detail helped find solutions to handling the camera on the lunar surface. ‘It was not an automatic camera: everything was manual – shutter speed, f-stop, focus, everything,’ Armstrong said. ‘It was obvious that it was a twohanded operation and that if you were doing anything else at the time you needed another hand. Secondly, there was a problem of when doing other
‘It was not an automatic camera: everything was manual – shutter speed, f-stop, focus, everything … ‘ things with other equipment – what were you to do with the camera? You did not want to set it down in the dirt. So it was just immediately obvious that we needed something else. ‘I suggested why don’t we put a mounting bracket for it on the backpack control unit, which was mounted on our chests. That would be a convenient place to locate it. We would be able to
see marks on the camera, and we could probably take many of the pictures we wanted right from the bracket location, essentially making our bodies into a bipod to hold the camera. That seemed to work out well. Everybody ended up using that technique.’ Those momentous first pictures taken on the surface of the moon inspired the general public and a new generation of scientists. And half a century later, a new era of space exploration to the moon, Mars and beyond is exciting people today. Space Steps: The Moon and Beyond is at RPS House, Bristol, 5 July to 29 September. See ‘Brave new world’ on page 466 and visit rps.org/spacesteps
The Apollo 11 lunar module lifts off from the moon, with the earth rising above the lunar horizon
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 465
BRAVE NEW WORLD
As part of a celebratory exhibition at RPS House, artist Monica Alcazar-Duarte explores humanity’s timeless desire to ascend into outer space WORDS: GEMMA PADLEY PHOTOGRAPHS: MONICA ALCAZAR-DUARTE
S
HE IS ONE OF THE RPS Hundred Heroines, an award-winning artist who uses photography, audio, installation and augmented reality (AR) to create her interactive artworks. For the past five years, Londonbased Monica Alcazar-Duarte has been working on a project about space exploration that has involved travelling to the United States, speaking with scientists and even venturing inside the European Space Agency (ESA) with her camera. 466
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
This summer, as part of Space Steps: The Moon and Beyond – an exhibition at RPS House marking 50 years since the Apollo 11 mission – Alcazar-Duarte will present a new version of her work in an immersive installation. Ascension, the project she will be adapting for the venue, is the second chapter in a space-themed trilogy. The first part, The New Colonists, combined photographs taken in the small town of Mars in Pennsylvania with images taken at the ESA. Published as a book in 2017 by Bemojake, The New Colonists is a study of the people pushing to make travel to
Mars a reality. The book’s AR elements, such as 3D animations of spy satellites, are embedded within its pages and accessed using an app. Hold a smartphone over each of the five ‘portals’ in the book and the hidden material lifts off the page. ‘Lots of people are talking about Mars and there is a lot of work going on around it, but what has really pushed my work forward is I have decided to use technology to talk about technology,’ says Alcazar-Duarte at her studio in Stratford, London. ‘When I started The New Colonists I realised there are a lot of technological
SPACE STEPS
An image from the Ascension series showing an astronaut in extreme environment free-fall training
developments happening [within space exploration] so I decided to focus on different issues I had noticed through my research, dividing the work into chapters.’ Ascension, which also uses AR as a storytelling device, explores humanity’s desire to ‘ascend’ and live in outer space. Ascension Island, a remote volcanic island that was transformed into a verdant oasis, also features. ‘At first you wonder, “what does that have to do with anything?”, but then you start reading the different layers,’ says Alcazar-Duarte. ‘When Charles Darwin passed in front of Ascension Island
‘What has really pushed my work forward is I have decided to use technology to talk about technology’ there was nothing, but he returned to England and suggested to Kew Gardens that an ecosystem be established on the island, which became the first manmade ecological system in history. ‘Scientists today are making a connection between the terraforming
on Ascension Island and what we could one day be doing on Mars, but what we are not thinking about is that ecological systems take hundreds of years to evolve. We won’t just be able to duplicate what we have on earth anywhere else. It’s this over-romanticising of exploration that interests me.’ Through her work Alcazar-Duarte also hopes to draw attention to issues related to space exploration that are not always spoken about – including law, economics, politics, ownership, regulation and ethics – and to challenge the ‘oversimplification’ of knowledge, VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 467
SPACE STEPS
of what it would really take to set up home on Mars or mine the moon. ‘I started researching the doublesided philosophical and existential feat that space exploration is,’ she explains. ‘The big contradiction that I find tragic and human is the combination of the bravado that’s needed to go out and say: “Yes, we will colonise Mars. We will go there,” but at the same time how fragile and small we are within the bigger context of things. I’m trying to play with both [ideas].’ Key to the work is an interview with space philosopher and theorist Frank White, who coined the term the ‘overview effect’, which describes the profound mental shift that astronauts
‘I want to make people slow down and encourage them to relate to the work in a different way’ often experience when they see the earth from space. The work includes a voiceover of White talking about a future ‘we think is far off, but in fact it’s not,’ says Alcazar-Duarte. ‘More and more people are going to experience this view of the earth and what will that mean? I marry that with images of very shiny technological
places and elements – objects of human ingenuity – and this idea of science being the perfect answer for humankind.’ Besides the voiceover, the installation at RPS House will feature lightboxes suspended from the ceiling or placed on plinths, a map of Ascension Island, and a mysterious floating element to do with magnets and magnetic fields. When you learn Alcazar-Duarte’s background is in performance, filmmaking and architecture, as well as documentary photography, it all starts to make sense. ‘I want to make people slow down and encourage them to relate to the work in a different way,’ she says. ‘We’ve stopped looking. I want to make people realise it’s not just about the images –
Isolated from the outside world, this HERTZ anechoic chamber simulates the boundless conditions of space
Specially trained spacesuit testers take part in a European Space Research Technology Centre/European Space Agency workshop
it’s about the relationship of the images to the text, to the objects, to the sound. This is something that is multilayered – it’s more of an experience. Everything is so much more intertwined now. Why not mix these things and show how they interact with each other and reflect the ways we see the world? I’m interested in creating these installations for an audience. Exhibitions are opportunities to test ideas and the work itself, to ask: “Is it still relevant? Is it still interesting?”’ Ultimately Alcazar-Duarte hopes to ‘start shifting the way we relate to space exploration’, and to ‘look further into the poignancy of the moment in which we find ourselves’. Although rooted in research and science, the work uses her findings as starting points from which creative ideas shift and evolve. ‘I’m not a journalist,’ says AlcazarDuarte. ‘I’m not saying: “This is fact.” I’m using it as artistic, exploratory ground to present some reflections. The way I see it is, let’s start asking questions and see where those
‘I ALSO WANT TO BE SEEN AS A HUMAN ARTIST’ Gender should be irrelevant in space, argues Monica Alcazar-Duarte ‘One of the things I find interesting is how in the beginning especially, people thought the work was by a man. We make the assumption that when we are talking about science or technology it’s a male subject and therefore it must be a man doing it. ‘[Science and space exploration] are still a very male area, but the ratio of men and women I met was around 50-50. There are a lot amazing women in science at the moment, pushing forward. ‘I want to be seen as a woman artist, but I also want to be seen as a human artist. In 100 years’ time I would like for us to have moved on from this conversation, for it to not be relevant any more.’
questions lead. Photography does tell a truth, but we need to accept it is a truth that changes. It’s not that I’m saying photography is not enough, I’m trying to say it’s not fixed, it’s in motion. Maybe that’s why I find value in developing projects over many years.’ How has creating the work made her feel about the future? Hopeful? Disheartened? ‘It hasn’t made me negative or despondent,’ she says. ‘If anything I think we need to act, and soon. We need to start having these conversations and asking questions for the future. It’s made me more active if anything.’ Next stop, NASA? ‘I’m due to go to Houston later in the year to work on chapter three.’ There is, it seems, no stopping Alcazar-Duarte. Ascension is part of Space Steps: The Moon and Beyond at RPS House, Bristol, 5 July to 29 September. Visit monicaalcazarduarte.com and rps.org/spacesteps VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 469
BEST SHOTS
470
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
CASUAL OBSERVER
He elevated the glance to an artform, earned respect for colour photography and partied with Warhol. And Stephen Shore HonFRPS is still asking what makes a photograph WORDS: TEDDY JAMIESON
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 471
BEST SHOTS LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 4, 1969 PREVIOUS PAGES
‘At the time I was doing conceptually based sequences and they were often very programmatic. For this one I was
going to shoot for a day and use everything that I shot. ‘I’d been looking at snapshots. Snapshots have their own visual conventions, but every now and then you see one that feels like
W
HAT MAKES A photograph? Maybe we can start there. What should a photograph look like? Should it be in colour or black and white? How do you create a sense of three dimensionality in a twodimensional form? So many questions.
472
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
raw experience because there is no pretence to art, and often what a serious photographer would think of as mistakes. ‘I think we can learn from them. ‘In this series, knowing my
inclination is to take pictures that are formally pretty organised, I kind of intentionally threw that out the window and shot pictures that structurally might look like mistakes, just to shake up how I see.’
Questions that Stephen Shore HonFRPS has been wrestling with for decades now. It’s morning in upstate New York and Shore is at home answering some more before he gets on with his day. ‘I’m going to take the dogs for a walk in the meadow and maybe take some pictures in the woods by our house,’ he says, then spends more than an hour talking about the pictures he has already taken. A lifetime’s worth. To talk to Shore, 71,
KINGMAN, ARIZONA, JULY 2, 1975, FROM UNCOMMON PLACES BELOW
‘I’m interested in paying attention to what’s around me. And in a certain way the pictures are saying
“go through life paying attention”. ‘The reason I chose this is it harks back to the first picture we talked about where there’s a kind of self-awareness. My feet and the tripod legs are in the picture.’
is to talk to someone who is careful about words and ideas and images. Time and again he describes his work as a way of ‘paying attention’. That attention marks the images – of people, things and places that are the antithesis of Ansel Adams landscapes and yet have a sly, sometimes disguised, romanticism of their own. ‘I’ve always been interested in photographing everyday experience and not grand
TARRYTOWN, NEW YORK, 1960 LEFT
‘I was at a boarding school and this is the soccer team being photographed by the headmaster of the lower school. ‘This was 60 years ago practically. I was probably 13. It seems very formally thought out. I see that, even when I was starting out, I had a strong formal sense and there was a kind of self-awareness in this picture. ‘There is my shadow on the man taking a picture. So, rather than photographing a scene I am photographing, in a sense, myself.’
subjects,’ he adds. ‘And I felt like I was a photographer ever since I can remember.’ At the age of 14 he called none other than Edward Steichen, persuading him to buy three of Shore’s pictures for the Museum of Modern Art. Aged 23 he had a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, its first one-person show by a living photographer in 40 years. And Shore was in his late teens when he started hanging out at Andy Warhol’s Factory.
‘I’ve always been interested in photographing everyday experience and not grand subjects’
It’s what he did, he says, instead of going to college. ‘It was exciting; this was the studio of a famous artist who got invited to parties every night and openings and the circle of people around him would always go with him. I saw how an artist worked, because he worked every day. I saw how he made decisions and I left there thinking aesthetically in a way I hadn’t before. I’m not sure I learned this from him, but VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 473
BEST SHOTS
474
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
BEST SHOTS
PROFILE STEPHEN SHORE HonFRPS Named Master of Photography at PhotoLondon 2019, Shore has had his work widely published and exhibited across five decades. In the early 1970s he sparked an interest in colour photography, as well as the use of the view camera for documentary work. Among his books are Uncommon Places: The Complete Works and American Surfaces. He was named an Honorary Fellow of the RPS in 2010
there was a similar kind of fascination and delight in contemporary culture.’ That was evident in Shore’s work in the 1970s as seen in his American Surfaces and Uncommon Places projects. ‘By the time I started American Surfaces I had spent more time in Europe than I ever did in America outside of New York City. So, these were journeys of discovery. I saw myself as a kind of explorer.’ Shore’s pictures – of the meals he ate, the rooms he stayed in, the art on the walls – were a diary of gas stations, strip malls, and the giddy banality of modern America. And he did it in colour. ‘In 1971 fine-art photography colour was simply not done,’ he says. ‘There were people working independently without being aware of each other like [William] Eggleston and Joel Meyerowitz. But it was not being exhibited at galleries. ‘But everything else was colour. LUZZARA, ITALY, 1993 LEFT
‘This is a mother and son. In the nineties I went back to black and white, and that gave me two more stops of shutter speed. And that gap made a picture like this
possible. The faster film allowed me to photograph people in a way I hadn’t been able to in years. That was a door opening. It allowed me to explore these people and the emotional tie between them.’
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 475
BEST SHOTS
‘THE CAMERA IS HOW HE TOUCHES THE WORLD’ There’s more to Stephen Shore than meets the eye, writes Gerry Badger Stephen Shore is known for the miraculous colour work he did in the 1970s with an 8x10 view camera for Uncommon Places, but the pictures he has selected here show he is far more than that. With American Surfaces he used the 35mm camera for colour, and he embraced digital, even smartphone cameras, when many of his ilk were sanctimoniously praising the joys of ‘analogue’. For Shore the device was not the vital factor but the mind and eye of the person using it – although, in his case, it often looked as if it were done with the unaided device, due to his authority and a willingness, born of artistic conviction, to allow his subject to speak. Shore is, with William Eggleston, one of the two figures who, in the 1970s, made colour photography respectable – a gigantic achievement – but he is so much more. He is one of those American photographers, like Robert Adams, to confirm that Eugene Atget and Walker Evans were probably the medium’s most important figures prior to the American art museums’ 1960s discovery of photography. Through Evans, Atget gave the US a viable modernist model. In the 1980s Shore was instrumental in handing back the torch to the continent where the medium was born by influencing colour photography in Europe. He linked the photographic and art worlds, key in helping eliminate the scorn ‘real’ art sometimes has for mere photographers. Crucially, he has done this – although a great artist – by remaining a photographer, unpretentious and modest. The camera is how he touches the world, and he cannot let a day go by without making pictures. In this, I can only paraphrase what Evans said about Atget. The work of Stephen Shore demonstrates that the photographic medium ‘sings through him like lightning’. Gerry Badger received the 2018 J Dudley Johnston Medal
476
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
LYUBOV BRENMAN, BORYSPIL, KYIVSKA PROVINCE, UKRAINE, JULY 19, 2012 BELOW
‘It was actually my wife’s suggestion. We had come across a foundation
helping to support Holocaust survivors in eastern Europe. My wife said: “Wouldn’t it be fascinating to meet some of these people?” That was in 2012, I guess. I don’t know how many of them are still alive.’
Television was colour, movies were colour, magazines were colour, postcards were in colour. I began to see black and white as a convention.’ Shore got his pictures developed by the local chemist, then displayed them like snapshots. Even when he moved to using an 8x10 camera he stayed with colour. The larger camera changed how he worked, however. ‘It forced a very conscious decision making, not just because the camera is so large but also because it’s on a tripod so if I want to move the frame over a few inches I had to lift up the camera and so it just makes the decision physical.’ There was another advantage. It made him look like a professional. ‘When I photographed people’s houses using the 35mm people would ask me, “What are you doing?” And a couple of occasions they called the police. “There’s some kid photographing our house.”’ There is a dry humour to Shore. This is, after all, a photographer who once mounted an exhibition of images he took with a Disney Mick-A-Matic camera
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 29, 2017 FACING PAGE
‘I got my hands on this new camera, a Hasselblad X1D, that has a higher resolution than an 8x10 camera. These prints are large, four feet by five and
a half feet. When you go close to them, they are totally detailed. I’m not interested in that as a visual gimmick. I’m interested in the experience of it. It almost becomes three-dimensional. They’re so tactile.’
(which was shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head). But he was always serious about his work. His images are in conversation with the history of photography. Sometimes explicitly. When he went to Luzzara in Italy in 1993 he was aware of Paul Strand’s book of photographs of the same place taken 40 years earlier. ‘I wasn’t trying to do a modern version of it. In fact, I had some problems with his book. He produced a book that could have been done 40 years before, in 1913. There were no automobiles in his pictures, no power lines. What I found was a village that had deep traditional roots, but was also very contemporary. I’d go into a farmhouse that had 10 layers of peeling paint on the outside and black glass tables with Macintosh computers inside. The butcher in Luzzara, I remember, wore Gucci loafers.’ Where, you might ask, is the emotion in his photographs? It’s there if you look. In 2012 Shore went to Ukraine to take images of female Holocaust survivors in their eighties and nineties. His own father’s family had emigrated from
Ukraine, and the resulting photographs have a weight to them. ‘I found it a very emotional experience being there and interacting with the women,’ Shore says. What was he asking himself while taking those images? ‘That is exactly the question,’ he adds. ‘I’ve often dealt with formal problems in photography. This was something different – about how to deal with an emotionally charged subject. There is no hotter-button word than the Holocaust. How do I take pictures that
‘These prints are large. I’m interested in the experience of it. It almost becomes three-dimensional’
aren’t manipulative, but don’t solve the problem by going the other way and being impersonal? I think this was a particular subject which had particular meaning for me and I was at a time in my life when I was ready to deal with it.’ It is time to go. Stephen Shore has to walk his dogs. And take some photographs. It’s what he does. It’s the best answer he has found. Visit stephenshore.net VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 477
478
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
THE
Meet a new generation of photographers challenging perceptions of the medium
GRADUATES WORDS: RACHEL SEGAL HAMILTON
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 479
THE GRADUATES
Theodor Asoltanei Edinburgh Napier University (BA photography) Age: 26 ‘After studying architecture in Glasgow I started to invest more time in my hobby: photography. I’ve always had this insatiable hunger to record and to create. In 2016 I started my photography degree. My favourite styles are constructed photography and editorial, and I want to combine them. ‘For my latest series, Overrun, I built dioramas over two months. Inspired mostly by movie sets, I wanted to create a narrative about our modern society. I like to call it a “real fake”. That relates to so many things nowadays. ‘Currently I’m freelancing in Edinburgh. I just finished a book containing two of my large-scale constructed projects – Apotheosis (2017) and Overrun (2019) – and I’m 480
part of Napier Photo Collective. We showcased our fourthyear major projects at the Free Range Exhibition in London in June. ‘I could see myself moving to London and working there. I
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
carry this card in my wallet on which I’ve written: “You will create and photograph an album cover for The Killers.” It keeps me striving.’ Visit theodorasoltanei.com
PREVIOUS PAGES
Untogether, from the project Overrun THIS PAGE, TOP
Court, from Overrun ABOVE
Melting, from the project Apotheosis
RIGHT
Safety training BELOW
Richard’s trailer
Rosie Day Falmouth University (flexible MA photography) Age: 31 ‘Photographing remote communities and towns in the central Oregon high desert for my project Witness Marks I’ve been totally captivated by the self-reliant, resilient nature of those who choose to live in these isolated regions, as well as the distinct, dramatic landscape. ‘Over the course of my MA I’ve developed a long-form documentary approach. I’ve been revisiting many of the same people and locations for 24 months and have spent time earning the trust of the communities I’ve been photographing. Maintaining an ethical practice is incredibly important to me, so I’ve worked hard to create a harmonious, collaborative relationship with them. ‘I love the opportunities that photography offers. I’m an inherently curious person and carrying my camera has offered me a passport into many situations that I would not usually be invited into. I enjoy being on the road and making work so it would be a dream to land some commissions which allowed me to document more of Middle America. Residents of rural regions and small towns in the USA are so often reduced to a series of stereotypes and I’d love to work on projects which better represented this portion of the US.’ Visit rosieday.com VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 481
THE GRADUATES
Abbey Bratcher
ABOVE
Untitled BELOW
Untitled
Belfast School of Art, Ulster University (MFA photography) Age: 24 ‘My project Phantom Parks examines our relationship with wilderness, wildness and naturalness by observing constructed wild environments
from Europe to North America. When I started, I had it in my mind that animals were the only ones that didn’t fit into these constructed places, but in actuality neither do we. ‘The project became a conversation about how we see
wilderness through the way we build it. There was very little planning because I never really knew what to expect from the locations. I just took my Canon 5D MkIII and a 35mm lens and looked out for bad weather because it meant fewer people were around, so the animals behaved differently and the landscape would transform. ‘After graduating I’ll be returning home to Memphis, Tennessee, where I’ll be working on another project that looks at my home territory. Then I’m heading back to Belfast as I’ve been selected by Belfast Exposed Gallery for a Belfast Futures Artist Award to receive mentorship to produce a solo exhibition of my work. ‘Looking further ahead, I’m passionate about nature and wildlife so the idea of working as a photographer on international nature and conservation projects would be a real dream.’ Visit abbeybratcher.com
482
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
RIGHT
Collapsed plastic, from the series Dark Matter BELOW
Rowing boat
Sarah Newton Falmouth University (online MA photography) Age: 65 ‘I’m a clinical psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist and worked for the NHS for 35 years. Since my first degree in anthropology, law and psychology, I’ve completed seven degrees and a postgraduate diploma, as well as many short courses. Drawing on my academic and clinical background, photography gives me a voice and opportunity to research, understand, experiment and narrate. My Falmouth flexible final major MA project Out-Sight-In brings together two series, Dark Matter and Event Horizons, the culmination of two years’ work collecting beach debris and in parallel investigating facilities for disposing of our waste. While I’m one of a number of photographers presenting images of our waste, I’m one of a few who’ve used flatbed scanning to do so. As an RPS member I’m involved with the Visual Art Group and this work is currently on show in their annual exhibition. ‘I’d like to see consistency across the UK in how we recycle and process our waste as every area seems to have differences such that when I visit friends and family I have to ask what I should put where. This should be second nature to us all. We can no longer think “out of sight, out of mind” – our mantra has to be “in sight and in mind”.’ Visit sarah-newton-77zw. squarespace.com VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 483
Hanan Buhari
TOP LEFT
Salima Bodo, Jahangal ABOVE LEFT
Danejum, Jahangal MAIN IMAGE
Endud’o, Mi Faddi 484
Ravensbourne University London (BA photography) Age: 20 ‘I come from a political family [Buhari’s father is the president of Nigeria]. Photography gives me freedom to express myself. I don’t have to live up to an image of who I’m supposed to be. ‘I enjoyed shooting my latest project, Mi Faddi, which means “I protect”. My first project involving my family, specifically my siblings, it was based on the
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
idea of me protecting the family from the exposed life we are living. I enjoyed seeing their different personalities come out while I was photographing them. ‘Another favourite project is Jahangal – ‘journey’ – about the preservation of my culture in northern Nigeria. That takes a more artistic, rather than documentary, approach. It was refreshing to go back to my hometown and other parts of northern Nigeria to see how my
tribe is still actively participating in the culture founded by my ancestors. ‘This autumn I’ll begin my MFA studies in photography. My future projects will be focused on cultural preservation and possibly I’ll mix in other mediums with my photography, such as painting. My dream would be to exhibit at Somerset House and the National Portrait Gallery.’ Visit hananmbuhari.com
THE GRADUATES LEFT
@its.me.rossi_photobook BELOW
@ethan_johnson_photobook
James Clive Richards Huddersfield University (BA photography) Age: 27 ‘In some form we’ve all been judged, ignored, blocked or refused online. My work forces the viewer to look at the way we view strangers online with minimal context and compels them to explore the idea that how we judge others says more about ourselves, our individual views and feelings, than it does about the person being judged. ‘I’m fascinated by this idea of who we authentically are as opposed to the version we choose to display to others online. My final-year project Hi ___, how are you? focuses on the online interactions of the
gay community as I’m an openly and proud gay man, and I’ve been on the receiving end of face-value assumptions and snap judgements. But the growing dehumanisation of society online is a universal issue everyone can relate to. ‘When I went to university I dreamed of using the skills I’d learn to become a photographic retoucher – retouching can elevate a beautiful photograph into a stunning photograph – but while undertaking my studies I fell in love with documentary, conceptual and art-based practices. This is the direction I want to go in.’ Visit jamescliverichards.com
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 485
THE GRADUATES RIGHT
I just want to know my daughter better
BELOW
I thought I would sit here and look out over the fjord for the last time
Samuel Fordham University of the West of England, Bristol (MA photography) Age: 31 ‘Photography’s claim to truth and its weakness on delivering such claims never cease to fascinate me – it’s a quality that can’t be found elsewhere and can be used in interesting ways. I’m permanently in a state of experimentation. I’m not a process artist, but the process of how the image is made plays a pivotal role in my work. ‘For the duration of my MA I’ve been working on a project, C-R92/BY, which investigates the impact of divisive family immigration policies in the UK. With the possibility of my own wife facing deportation, it’s been tough at times, although investing so much of myself into a body of work has had its therapeutic qualities. ‘Connecting with the charity Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and the campaign group Reunite Families UK has been incredibly uplifting. The strength and energy they have to end this issue is exemplary. ‘I’ve been really lucky to have been selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries this year, showing at Leeds Art Gallery from 14 September to 17 November, and then South London Gallery from 6 December to 23 February 2020. ‘I’m also working on a touring show of C-R92/BY that should start from late 2019.’ Visit samuelwjfordham.com 486
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
MATTHEW GENITEMPO, FROM THE SERIES JASPER
CALL FOR ENTRIES
International Photography Exhibition 162 • Open call with no categories • Submit single images or a series • Reduced entry fee for members
• Touring exhibition opens at RPS House, Bristol • Selectors include Magnum’s Shannon Ghannam • Enter your work online at rps.org/ipe162
Submission deadline: 29 July 2019 VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 487
BRETT ROGERS
DAYDREAM BELIEVER
A trailblazing promoter of British photography, Brett Rogers HonFRPS puts her success down to recognising the talent of others, finds Tom Seymour PHOTOGRAPHS: HARRY BORDEN HonFRPS
‘I
ALWAYS ENCOURAGE my employees to have babies,’ say Brett Rogers HonFRPS. ‘I imagine I’m not a typical head of an organisation in that sense.’ She is standing in her office, an airy yet book-filled space on the top floor of the Photographers’ Gallery, just off Oxford Street in London. The office reveals plenty about Rogers, the director of the gallery. On the wall, expertly hung, is a triptych of exquisite prints from the Kurt Tong series Chongqing, Yinpin, China. Against another wall is a ceiling-high bookstand, the shelves closely lined with photography monographs and brochures from exhibitions dating back decades. On the third, above Rogers’ computer screen, is a sight one might not expect – A4 sheets of paper are stuck the length and breadth of the wall, each overlapping and crowding on top of one another. Printed on the paper, perhaps via a photocopier, are mostly pictures of babies, children and teenagers – the children of her staff and colleagues across the photography world, I gather. Just outside, Rogers’ staff work away in an open-plan office. Rogers clearly has an open-door policy – indeed, there is no door to speak of. On the floor below, this year you’ll have been able to find exhibitions of work by those such as the Russian-born American photographer Roman Vishniac and the prodigious French-Sri Lankan photographer Vasantha Yogananthan, then a cafe teeming with
488
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
photography students and enthusiasts, drinking coffee or leafing through books in the shop. For anyone interested in the art scene in London, the Photographers’ Gallery is a staple, an obvious place to meet and socialise, or to go alone when there are a few hours to spare. It is almost difficult to imagine Soho without it. But, without the vision, dynamism and commitment of Brett Rogers, one imagines it would be a rather different place. Rogers, who was last year made an Honorary Fellow by the RPS when she was awarded its Outstanding Service medal, was born in Brisbane and moved with her parents to Sydney when she was two. Her mother was an interior designer, a profession perhaps reflected in Rogers’ own striking sense of style. On the day of the Journal’s visit, a dank and grey morning, she is wearing polkadot yellow tights and a yellow patch dress under a leather jacket. She wears a long fringe, as if the sixties were still in full swing, and her eyes peer from behind arched, thick-rimmed glasses. Rogers is careful to point out that she comes from a comfortable ‘uppermiddle class background’ in Australia. ‘But I didn’t come from a family that valued the visual arts,’ she adds. Her belief in museums, a belief that has become the core of her life’s work,
‘I didn’t come from a family that valued the visual arts. I was a young hippy girl with not much clue what to expect’
has largely come from a motivation beyond her family’s expectations of her. To when does she pinpoint the genesis of such a driving belief? She recalls, at the age of 14, being taken on holiday to Mexico – the first time she had left Australia. She describes herself as ‘a young, blonde, hippy girl in a short skirt, and with not much of a clue of what to expect’. It was 1968. ‘And Mexico,’ Rogers continues, ‘was in a fundamental period of transition.’ ‘We went around Mexico for a month, and I was overwhelmed,’ she says. ‘I didn’t know how to make sense of anything I had seen. I had never seen the suffering I saw there, the inequities between rich and poor, and it worried me. I was obviously developing some sort of social conscience. But I also, for the first time, experienced what it might be like to be “the other”. It was a confusing experience. ‘On the last day, we ended up back in Mexico City where the new National Museum of Anthropology was. When I walked in there, it felt like a flash-bulb moment. In that building lay many of the answers to the questions I’d been asking myself as I walked round Mexico with my mum. It allowed me to start to make sense of the culture around me. I felt the power of museums to transport my understanding of a place as a foreigner.’ The following year, as Rogers neared her 16th birthday, an AustralianHungarian patron called John Kaldor decided to funnel his wealth into bringing avant-garde artists to Sydney. First on the list were Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-
Brett Rogers, who discovered the ‘power of museums’ as a 14-year-old on a family holiday in Mexico
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 489
An image from Martin Parr HonFRPS’s series The Last Resort, 1985, which Brett Rogers fought to ensure was exhibited in Poland
Claude, a married couple who created environmental works of art. Using Little Bay, Sydney, as a living canvas, the duo created Wrapped Coast, an art installation that included one million square feet of fabric and 35 miles of rope shrouding a 1.5-mile long section of the Australian shoreline. The bay remained wrapped for 10 weeks, beginning on 28 October 1969. For the adolescent Rogers, it was awe inspiring. ‘They transformed a landscape, and made me think and feel very differently about a place that was familiar to me,’ she says. ‘The whole of Sydney was talking about it. It was my introduction to contemporary art. It helped me to think about new possibilities, about the future, and I became very sucked into it.’ By 18, Rogers had learned that a friend’s older brother was Alan Davies, curator of photography of the State Library of New South Wales. ‘He is the doyen of photography in Australia, then and today,’ she says. ‘He was a major 490
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
historian, and I was very lucky to have made friends with him.’ Rogers recalls being ‘taken down into the bowels of the library’, where Davies showed her the original albums of 19th-century Australian photographers, many of whom had created their work via wet-plate collodion techniques. ‘I was entranced,’ Rogers says. ‘I wanted to know why everyone out there didn’t know about this.’ Studying for a degree in fine arts at the University of Sydney, Rogers met Donald Brook, an experimental artist and ‘a very bold and innovative lecturer’. Brook, who hailed from Leeds, decided to convert derelict tin sheds, unused by the university, into studio
‘They were getting respect in Europe and the Eastern Bloc, but were barely known in their own country. It was bizarre’
spaces, and encouraged Rogers and her fellow students to use the spaces to create shows. ‘They were a terrible fire hazard,’ she says. ‘But he saw the potential for all of us to curate shows and make things, rather than just learn about art history.’ On graduating, Rogers saw a small ad in the local newspaper. The job title was trainee exhibition officer for the Australian Gallery Directors Council. She had never heard of it, but applied. The council was an initiative set up by the liberal new Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam, with the intent that the few galleries existent in Australia would share their exhibitions and support one another’s professional development. Spotting that ad in the paper was a pivotal moment, because it allowed Rogers to begin what she has spent much of her life doing – travelling the world to experience the most impressive art galleries of other societies. ‘There was only one other
BRETT ROGERS
HANNAH STARKEY / MACK
person at the organisation when I started,’ Rogers says. ‘I was 22. There was no one else to train me, so I had to set up my own traineeship. I could dream up anything I wanted to do.’ Rogers was able to spend six weeks at the Guggenheim in New York, working directly for the then director of the gallery, ‘digging around in the archive’ as they put on a solo show of Wassily Kandinsky. She then worked at the Hirshhorn National Museum of Modern Art, before completing an arts administration course at Harvard University. ‘I was far too young and inexperienced to do the course,’ she says. ‘It’s the kind of course you do when you have some experience under your belt, and some problems to solve. I was assaulted by all these very smart Americans who were working through these big issues to do with their own organisations or businesses. It meant I became aware of all the issues I would then have to deal with later on in my career.’
‘I was 22. There was no one to train me, so I set up my own traineeship. I could dream up anything I wanted to do’ Finally, Rogers made her way to Britain, where she began a secondment with the British Council. ‘We were about to receive shows in Australia from Henry Moore, Nigel Hall, Michael Craig-Martin and Bridget Riley,’ she says. After starting work on the shows in London she returned home and spent the next four years exhibiting displays of British and native Australian work across the country of her birth. It was here she got her first experience of curating photography shows for a paying audience. ‘It allowed me to get a handle on how the British Council worked, and it brought me up to a professional standard,’ she says.
After four years, Rogers was ready for another challenge. ‘I felt like I wasn’t paying enough attention to my academic interests,’ she says. She made the decision to move to the UK on a longer-term footing and, in 1980, she enrolled in a master’s at the Courtauld Institute of Art. The institute, at the time, did not recognise photography as a fine art, offering Rogers a course focusing on European art between the world wars. ‘I opted to take that course a little reluctantly, because I really believed in photography as a valid fine art,’ she says. Her thesis focused on how surrealists used exhibitions themselves as a work of art, ‘so I was able to use photographs in my thesis’. It was Valerie Lloyd, a key figure in the history of The Royal Photographic Society, who finally convinced the Courtauld a few years later of the value of the photograph via her research of Roger Fenton’s work, Rogers is careful to point out.
Untitled, June 2007, by Hannah Starkey, who featured in the groundbreaking Look at Me exhibition
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 491
Rogers stayed in London and, two years later, landed again at the British Council, for which she worked from 1982 to 2005 in the visual arts department, responsible for establishing its photography programme and policy. The exhibitions she curated over this period now read like a who’s who of Britain’s biggest artistic names – such as Homer Sykes, and Honorary Fellows Martin Parr and Paul Graham. But there was a snag: the British Council was funded by the Foreign Office, and Rogers would show the work abroad, rather than in Britain. ‘People have talked of me as a trailblazer, because I was making more impact with British photography abroad than in Britain itself,’ Rogers says. ‘Some of the best young photographers Britain was producing were getting a huge amount of respect and recognition in Europe, or in the Eastern Bloc, but they were barely known in their own country. It was rather bizarre.’ Yet the Foreign Office was occasionally willing to stick its oar in and Rogers would be chided for showing work abroad that didn’t necessarily show Britain in the light the official class considered favourable. ‘I remember how hard I had to fight to get Martin Parr’s The Last Resort shown in Poland,’ she says. ‘I had to explain to the powers-that-be in the consulate that we weren’t there to promote the UK as such but the arts. Photography is able to present other perspectives. That’s why it’s such a powerful medium.’ Rogers recalls with particular fondness the Look at Me exhibition, which focused on the relationship between fashion and photography on the British scene between 1960 and 1997. She spins in her chair, runs her fingers along the spines of books and pulls out a glossy photobook that was made in conjunction with the exhibition. ‘This was a pioneering show,’ she says, pointing out images by photographers such as Saul Leiter, Brian Duffy, and an emergent Hannah Starkey and Wolfgang Tillmans HonFRPS. ‘It showed in seven venues across Europe, and we did manage to get it back to the UK. But it ended up being shown in Milton Keynes, of all places.’ Rogers was appointed director of the Photographers’ Gallery in 2005, five years before the gallery opened on Ramillies Street in Soho following an 18-month, £9.2m redevelopment project. The gallery is home to the 492
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
‘People have talked of me as a trailblazer, because I was making more impact with British photography abroad than in Britain’ Deutsche Börse prize and, over the last year, has shown major new shows by the likes of Gregory Crewdson and Alex Prager, as well as under-recognised British artists such as Shirley Baker and Tish Murtha. The gallery has an extensive outreach and educational programme, including – remarkably – Folio Friday, in which emerging photographers can gain portfolio reviews free of charge. But Rogers sounds a warning, pointing to how her new director of development comes with a business background. ‘Let’s be honest here. With the Arts
Council cuts, and with post-Brexit, we’ve already been forewarned there will be more cuts. There will be more and more need for us to look at our income-generation means. Our focus has to be on raising income in other ways – through partnerships, mainly. We have to maintain some kind of free access, that’s important to me.’ At a parting mention of a friend’s mother, who is retiring from a small organisation that runs residencies in the rural Northumberland moors, Rogers, instead of politely nodding along, is careful to write down the name of the organisation, promising she will look it up. ‘I’m a culture vulture,’ she says. ‘I need it on offer all of the time, and I need to be constantly stimulated. That’s the only way to be, no?’ Visit thephotographersgallery.org.uk
HARRY BORDEN HonFRPS
BRETT ROGERS
Take your inspiration from these stories of recent successes
ON THE MOVE
Tracey Lund LRPS and Kathryn Phillips ARPS relish adventures in contrasting genres – wildlife and travel
494
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
START YOUR JOURNEY What are RPS Distinctions? Distinctions offer a fantastic opportunity for photographers to improve their own skills and develop an understanding of photography by applying for one of the three levels available
Licentiate (LRPS) Applicants must show photographic competence in approach and techniques
Associate (ARPS) Requires a body of work of a high standard and a written statement of intent
Fellowship (FRPS) Requires a body of work of distinguished ability and excellence, and a written statement of intent
JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 495
DISTINCTIONS
LRPS
TRACEY LUND
PREVIOUS PAGES
Untitled, from the series Ospreys RIGHT
The three macaques BELOW
Untitled, from the series British Birds
496
BEGINNINGS ‘I started taking photography more seriously after my first trip to Africa in 2004. I’ve always loved wildlife and can remember from childhood carrying a camera around with me, so this trip let me combine both my passions. ‘There is no better feeling than to be with wildlife in their environment. The experiences you have will last a lifetime. Photographing wildlife is a privilege and a bonus. ‘Applying for an accreditation with the RPS has been on my to do list since I joined [the RPS] a few years ago but, as most photographers do, I doubted whether I was good enough. Over the years I have gained
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
confidence in my photography and I gave myself a challenge to enter bigger competitions and to go for qualifications. ‘For my Licentiate submission I decided to go for British wildlife. I set about putting my portfolio together ensuring I chose the right images that fitted my chosen layout. I made sure the images on the outside were facing inwards so as to lead you into the centre of the submission.’ CONSTRUCTIVE ADVICE ‘Due to my shift work as an engineer I was unable to attend an Advisory day so I opted for an online, one-to-one critique. ‘The response I received was very constructive. Every image came with comments and
suggestions, and there were recommendations on the submission as a whole. I found the information helpful and learned a lot about what was expected. I did have to rethink my portfolio as a lot of my images were of static birds and the idea of the panel is to show variety – birds nesting, feeding, flying, multiple birds etc. ‘To enable me to get the variety I needed I changed my submission to show images from my trips around the world. I kept the best-rated images of static birds from my one-to-one but added new images which showed them flying/fishing – for example, my osprey and Steller’s sea eagle images. I enjoyed the process of choosing the images, ensuring they worked together while showing a variety of techniques. ‘The next step was to get my images mounted and printed. Until recently I had never seen my images in print. I was amazed when they arrived and to see them laid out together was a proud moment.
THE VERDICT ‘As I was unable to attend the judging day my prints where packed and sent off, and it was a case of waiting for the verdict. ‘To receive the email stating I had been successful was a special moment and I’m looking forward to going through the whole process again for my Associate Distinction. ‘I have many more trips
booked as my bucket list is long. I have recently become a judge of natural history images for Yorkshire Photographic Union, and have been asked to give talks to a local college and camera clubs around the UK. I have also been asked to be part of some upcoming exhibitions. It’s all very exciting. Of course, my next big thing is to achieve my Associate.’
ABOVE
On the run
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 497
498
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
DISTINCTIONS
ARPS travel
KATHRYN PHILLIPS
ABOVE
Procession LEFT
Wall overview RIGHT
Quran in the souk
BEGINNINGS ‘I remember playing with my father’s camera when I was very young – usually when we were visiting family in South Wales – and I first had my own camera when I was eight or nine: it was a Brownie 127. ‘I was attracted to travel photography because it’s about sharing experiences, I think. I vividly remember seeing photographs my uncle brought home from India in the 1950s and 60s. They made me curious about distant lands and their cultures. In 1977 I was awarded a Goldsmiths’ Company travelling grant in order to visit India and Israel to learn about their religions. I was away from home for six months – no internet, no speedy communication. As I shot a reel of slides I asked people I met to take the film home for me and post it in the UK so that the slides were sent to my mother: she saw everything before I did and I wrote the occasional postcard with a bit of explanation but
kept detailed notes to describe the experiences when I returned. It never crossed my mind that the people who took the films home for me might forget, or lose or even steal them. Fortunately they didn’t, and we had a slide fest at the end of the trip. ‘I lived in Thailand for 14 years and that provided a base for travel in the east so I have been fortunate: a few visits to India (but, sadly, never to the area
where my uncle lived), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Laos, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, a number of visits to Australia and one to New Zealand, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Antarctica, the Falklands, South America and the USA. ‘For my Distinctions submission I had wanted to do something different from the norm. I had wondered about Thailand, which I know well,
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 499
ABOVE
Monks outside the sepulchre FACING PAGE, TOP
Intent on prayer at the wall FACING PAGE, BOTTOM
Greeting
500
but having used it for my Licentiate I had limited my options. During my first visit to Jerusalem in 1978 I had been very moved by the ‘feel’ of the Old City: there is a sense of the historic and of living faith, and I had seen very few images anywhere representing this. Invited to visit friends living in Israel, I realised there would be an opportunity to spend some time in Jerusalem so that’s what I did, visiting again later in the summer to fill some gaps in the shots I had.’
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
SILENT WITNESS ‘I was determined that no act of worship – whether individual or organised – would be disturbed by my presence. My camera has a silent mode and deals reasonably well with high ISO, so it was relatively easy to be unobtrusive. A group of Muslim men reading the Quran, and another man reading the Quran at his shop in the souk, were aware of being photographed, and they readily gave their permission for me to take their pictures.
‘Most of the other images were taken from a distance on a 24-105 zoom at the longer end. All of the photographs of the men at the Western Wall were taken from a position balanced somewhat precariously on a ‘shelf’ where the female family members stand to watch the bar mitzvah ceremonies.. ‘What’s next in my photographic journey? I’ve just become involved in the RPS Travel Group committee so maybe inspiration will come from that.’
DISTINCTIONS
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 501
Find details of Society activities over the next three months SPACE DOGS #26 The Kennedy family pet, Charlie, left, on the White House lawn in 1961 with Pushinka, whose mother Strelka was one of the first Soviet dogs to fly into space and return alive
SOCIETY CELEBRATES THE APOLLO 11 ANNIVERSARY Keith Wright – Apollo science, a personal retrospective Thu 11 Jul, 6.30-7.30pm Hasselblad and the moon landings Sun 14 Jul, 2.30-5pm Historical view of the moon Thu 18 Jul, 6.30-8am The story of Apollo 11 Sat 20 Jul, 11-11.45am
CORBIS / CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
‘Soviet space dog memorabilia’ with Martin Parr HonFRPS Wed 24 Jul, 6.30-7.30pm Women in the space race Thu 8 Aug, 6.30-7.30pm These events are at RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR. For details contact Liz Williams, 0117 3164480, learning@rps. org or visit rps.org/learning/ space-steps-events
We have lift-off
GO TO RPS.ORG/ EVENTS
FOR THE LATEST UPDATES
RPS events mark 50 years since the moon landing
MARTIN PARR celebrates canine contributions to the space race as part of a series of events marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The Honorary Fellow will talk on 24 July about his
latest publication, Space Dogs, based on items from his personal collection of Soviet memorabilia. The first event in the series at RPS House is on 11 July, when Keith M Wright – of the British Interplanetary Society – shares his role in
scientific experiments carried out by the Apollo 11 to 17 missions. Deborah Ireland’s lecture on the many women who made vital contributions to space exploration will conclude the series on 8 August. For more details see rps.org
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 503
EVENTS Meet photographers and view work in your area CENTRAL
Michael O’Sullivan
mikes.sharples@virgin.net
info@mosullivanphoto.com
Plant and garden photography Fri 23 Aug, 10am-4pm, £130/£97 Society members
International Photography Exhibition 161 – Dublin Fri 5 Jul – Wed 4 Sep, see website for opening times
EAST ANGLIA Jonathan Vaines LRPS, 01234 360339 eastanglia@rps.org
Stowe Gardens Fri 5 Jul, 10am-4pm
A day in an 18th-century landscape garden Stowe Gardens, near Stowe School, Buckingham MK18 5EQ Jonathan Vaines LRPS, as above
Documentary East Anglia meeting Sat 13 Jul, 11.30-4.30pm
See Documentary Group for details
Field trip, Houghton Hall and gardens Sun 14 Jul, 11.15am-5pm See Creative Eye Group for details
Sharpenhoe Clappers (National Trust) Sun 28 Jul, 10am-4pm
See Nature Group for details
DIG Eastern: Janet Haines ARPS – ‘Inside my head’ Sun 8 Sep, 11am-4pm
See Digitial Imaging Group for details
An introduction to video Sun 15 Sep, 10am-5pm
See Nature Group for details
Nature Group 2019 exhibition Sat 28 Sep – Sun 6 Oct (closed Mondays and Tuesdays), 11am-4pm
See Nature Group for details EAST MIDLANDS Stewart Wall ARPS, 07955 124000 stewartwall01@gmail.com
Shooting modern architecture Fri 13 Sep, 10am-4.30pm
Newton Arkwright Building, 504
Wander the Wandle with London, Naturally Sun 28 Jul, 10.30am-4pm Details to be confirmed London Naturally, london-naturally@rps.org
EIRE
Mike Sharples arps, 07884 657535
Stockton Bury Gardens, Leominster, Kimbolton, Hereford HR6 0HB Emma Delves-Broughton, 0117 3164480, emma@rps.org
London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
Nottingham Trent University, Goldsmith Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU Emma Delves-Broughton, 0117 3164480, emma@rps.org
London, Street walk Sat 10 Aug, 9.45am-2pm Details to be confirmed London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
See Exhibitions for details
Exhibition of RPS London, Street photography Mon 12 Aug – Thu 12 Sep, 8am-5pm
LONDON Judy Hicks, 07768 923620 londonro2@rps.org
Hanbury Hall Cafe, 22 Hanbury Street, E1 6QR London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
How to print and colour manage your workflow Fri 5 Jul, 10am-1pm
The Hellenic Centre, 16-19 Paddington Street, W1U 5AS Judy Hicks, as above
North London Group meeting Mon 12 Aug, 7-9pm
North London Group meeting Mon 8 Jul, 7-9pm
London Canonbury Tavern, 21 Canonbury Place, N1 2NS Judy Hicks, as above
London Canonbury Tavern, 21 Canonbury Place, N1 2NS Judy Hicks, as above
SW London Group meeting Tue 13 Aug, 7-9pm
SW London Group meeting Tue 9 Jul, 7-9pm
The Prince of Wales, 138 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, SW15 2SP London RO2, Judy Hicks, as above
The Prince of Wales, 138 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, SW15 2SP London RO2, londonro2@rps.org
London, Midweek Explorers Wed 21 Aug, 11am-3.30pm
London, Street walk Sat 13 Jul, 9.45am-2pm We will be exploring the Barbican area London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
London, Midweek Explorers Tue 16 Jul, 11am-3.30pm We will be exploring the Millennium Dome, Victoria Dock and Thames Barrier Park Judy Hicks, as above
Northern pintail taking off by Koshy Johnson FRPS. See more of the Nature Group’s work at their exhibition, starting on 28 September. See page 508
To be confirmed London W1H 7DX Judy Hicks, as above
SW London exhibition at St George’s Hospital, Tooting Fri 23 Aug – Mon 30 Sep, See RPS London web pages for opening times
London SE meeting Tue 27 Aug, 7-9pm
Greenwich Gallery, Peyton
Place, SE10 8RS London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
SW London exhibition at St George’s Hospital, Tooting Fri 6 Sep, 6.30-8.30pm Open evening See RPS London web pages for opening times
Advisory day – LRPS and ARPS Sat 7 Sep, 10.30am-4.30pm For participants and spectators Canada Water Library, Room 1&2, 21 Surrey Quays Road, SE16 7AR London Distinctions, LondonDist1@rps.org
North London Group meeting Mon 9 Sep, 7-9pm
London Canonbury Tavern, 21 Canonbury Place, N1 2NS Judy Hicks, as above
SW London Group meeting Tue 10 Sep, 7-9pm
The Prince of Wales, 138 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, SW15 2SP London RO2, londonro2@rps.org
London, Street walk Sat 14 Sep, 9.45am-2pm Details to be confirmed London BA2 3AH London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
London, Midweek Explorers Mon 16 Sep, 11am-3.30pm Details to be confirmed London W1H 7DX Judy Hicks,as above
The Bookworm Club Wed 18 Sep, 6.30pm-9pm
The Harrow, 22 Whitefriars Street, EC4Y 8JJ London Bookworms, LondonBookworms@rps.org
The Bookworm Club Wed 17 Jul, 6.30-9pm
Details to be confirmed London Bookworms, LondonBookworms@rps.org
Exhibition of RPS London street photography: phase 2 – selection Sat 20 Jul, 10.30am-12.30pm Canada Water Library, 21 Surrey Quays Road, SE16 7AR London RO David, London@rps.org
London SE meeting Tue 23 Jul, 7-9pm
Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, SE10 8RS
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
KOSHY JOHNSON FRPS
REGIONS
FOR MORE DETAILS SEE RPS.ORG/EVENTS
EVENTS THE GUIDE SE London meeting Tue 24 Sep, 7-9pm
Greenwich Gallery, Peyton Place, SE10 8RS London Cave, londoncave@rps.org
Thames Barrier to Tripcock Ness Walk with London, Naturally Sun 29 Sep, 10.30am-1pm London Naturally, london-naturally@rps.org NORTH WALES Rolf Kraehenbuehl, 07748 295307 northwales@rps.org
Mynydd Parys photowalk Sun 7 Jul, 10am-2pm
Mynydd Parys, on the B5111, Amlwch, Anglesey LL68 9RE Simon Cotter LRPS, 07824 384639, northwalestreasurer@rps.org
‘Gandolfi – family business’ Thu 18 Jul, 7.30-10pm A film by Ken and David Griffiths Theatr Colwyn, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay LL29 7RU Rolf Kraehenbuehl, as above NORTH WEST Brian Smethurst, 01942 719766 bsmethurst@hotmail.co.uk
Peter Aitchison – travel and street photography Sun 7 Jul, 10.30am-4pm, £15/£10 Society members
The Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Chorlton, Manchester M21 7SX Brian Smethurst, as above
Advisory day – LRPS and ARPS Sun 1 Sep, 10.30am-4pm
Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Chorlton, Manchester M21 7SX Brian Smethurst, as above NORTHERN Carol Palmer ARPS northern@rps.org
Creative photography workshop Sun 8 Sep, 10.30am-4pm See workshops for details NORTHERN IRELAND Richard Corbett, 07805 381429 richard@richardcorbettphotography.com
SCOTLAND James Frost FRPS, 01578 730466/07881 856294, james.frost11@btinternet.com
AGNES CLARK
Scotland Region members’ print exhibition 2019/20 – Falkirk Thu 1 – Thu 29 Aug Falkirk Town Hall, Westbridge Street, Falkirk FK1 5RS Bob Black, blackbrci@gmail.com
Photoforum North East Sun 4 Aug, 10.30am-4pm, £12/£10 Society members
Brechin Mechanics’ Institute, 10 St Mary Street, Brechin DD9 6JG James Frost FRPS, as above
Photoforum South West Sun 18 Aug, 10.30am-4.30pm, £12/£10 Society members Shambellie House, New Abbey, Dumfries DG2 8HQ James Frost FRPS, as above
Advisory day – LRPS and ARPS Sat 7 Sep, 10.30am-4pm
Distinctions advice from panel members. See website for prices Bridge of Allan Church Hall, Keir Street, Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW James Frost FRPS, as above SOUTH EAST Bruce Broughton-Tompkins LRPS southeast@rps.org
LRPS advisory day Sun 7 Jul, 10am-4pm, £25/£15/£10 spectators Barham Villiage Hall, Valley Road, Barham, Canterbury CT4 6NX John Gough, 07515 103997, rps.kentarearep@gmail.com
A just green by Agnes Clark is on display at the 2019/20 Scotland Region exhibition
Street photography at the Hastings Pirate Day with David Mason Sun 14 Jul, 10am-4pm, £55/£50 Society members
David Paskin
A day with Antony Penrose, curator of the Lee Miller Archives Sun 21 Jul, 10.30am-4pm, £18/£12 Society members
Talbot Green Community Centre, 93 Clos Springfield, Pontyclun CF72 8FE Rhys Jones, 07531 196435, southwalessecretary@rps.org
SOUTHERN Paul Cox ARPS, 07748 115057 southern@rps.org
Show us your prints Mon 8 Jul, 7-10pm
LRPS and ARPS advisory day Sat 14 Sep, 10am-4pm, £20, £15 Society members, £10 spectators
southwest@rps.org
Coastal landscapes Thu 5 Sep, 8-10pm, £5
The Copper Rooms, Heartlands, Robinson Shaft, Pool, Redruth TR15 3QY Vivien Howse ARPS, 01326 221939, vivien.k.howse@gmail.com
southwales@rps.org
Tim Sanders LRPS, 01237 422450
Somerset Speedway field trip Wed 31 Jul, 5.45-10pm, £18
The Copper Rooms, Heartlands, Robinson Shaft, Pool, Redruth TR15 3QY Vivien Howse ARPS, 01326 221939, vivien.k.howse@gmail.com
Meeting of the West Cornwall Group Wed 18 Sep, 7-9pm
SOUTH WALES
SOUTH WEST
Advisory day, LRPS and ARPS – Southampton Sun 14 Jul, 10am-4pm
Somerset Speedway, Oak Tree Arena, Bristol Road, Highbridge TA9 4HA Tim Sanders LRPS, as above
Battle Memorial Hall, 81 High Street, Battle TN33 0AQ Roger Crocombe, rmcrocombe@gmail.com
Cynon Valley Museum and Gallery Aberdare, Depot Road, Aberdare CF44 8DL Trevor James, 07792 827972, trevjjames@gmail.com
Meeting of the West Cornwall Group Wed 17 Jul, 7-9pm
Viables Craft Centre, The Harrow Way, Basingstoke RG22 4BJ David Ashcroft LRPS, 07710 302684, southernsecretary@rps.org
GO TO
rps.org/events for event contact details and updates
Photowalk at Newbury Canal Fri 12 Jul, 10am-1pm
The Wharf, Newbury RG14 5AU Bhupinder Ghatahora, 07798 913218, ghatahora@hotmail.com
Spectators’ places remaining Otterbourne Village Hall, Cranbourne Drive, Otterbourne, Eastleigh SO21 2ET Paul Cox ARPS, as above
Illustrated talk by Tony Worobiec FRPS Castel Douzaine Room, Les Beaucamps, Castel, Guernsey GY5 7PE Eric Ferbrache ARPS, rpsciorganiser@gmx.com
Photographing landscape whatever the weather Fri 6 Sep, 10am-4pm, £60/£50
A classroom and locationbased workshop led by Tony Worobiec FRPS Castel Douzaine Room, Les Beaucamps, Castel, Guernsey GY5 7PE Eric Ferbrache ARPS, rpsciorganiser@gmx.com
The intimate landscape Sat 7 Sep, 10am-4pm, £60/£50
A classroom and locationbased workshop led by Tony Worobiec FRPS Castel Douzaine Room, Les Beaucamps, Castel, Guernsey GY5 7PE Eric Ferbrache ARPS, rpsciorganiser@gmx.com
Foto Fest 2019 Sun 8 Sep, noon
Join RPS Southern Region at
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 505
EVENTS
FOR MORE DETAILS SEE RPS.ORG/EVENTS
the Foto Fest South 2019 event at Bath University University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY David Ashcroft LRPS, southernsecretary@rps.org
Advisory day, LRPS and ARPS – Guernsey Sun 8 Sep, 10am-4pm, £23/£18/£12 spectators
Castel Douzaine Room, Les Beaucamps, Castel, Guernsey GY5 7PE Eric Ferbrache ARPS, rpsciorganiser@gmx.com
Photowalk at Portland Bill Sun 8 Sep, 4-6pm
Celebration of photography – Winchester Sun 15 Sep, 10.30am-4pm, see rps.org for prices Littleton Village Hall, The Hall Way, Littleton, Winchester SO22 6QL Ben Fox, 0117 3164470, ben@rps.org THAMES VALLEY
Society, Unit 13 Montpelier Central, Station Road, Bristol BS6 5EE John Law, western@rps.org
Fellowship advisory day Sat 28 Sep, 10am-5pm
RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Bath Road,Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR Michelle Whitmore, michelle@michellewhitmore. co.uk YORKSHIRE
Mark Buckley-Sharp ARPS, 020 8907 5874
Mary Crowther ARPS, 07921 237962
thamessecretary@rps.org
yorkshirechair@rps.org Facebook: bit.ly/RPSYorkshire
WESTERN
RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Bath Road, Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR Michelle Whitmore, michelle@ michellewhitmore.co.uk
Studio portraiture workshop Sat 20 – Sun 21 Jul, 10am-5pm
See workshops for details
Creative Eye Group – Bristol photo walk Sat 27 Jul, 10.30am-4.30pm See Creative Eye Group for details
Region annual trip Sun 11 Aug, 8am-11pm
Details to be confirmed RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol BS4 3AR John Law, western@rps.org
How to make a good porfolio Sun 8 Sep, 2.30-5pm
David Bathard FRPS will present a workshop on assembling a good portfolio Bristol Photographic 506
Contemporary North meeting Sat 20 Jul, 1.30-5pm, £5
Bring images and projects – old, new or in progress. Books too, whether yours or ones that have inspired you. There will also be digital projection Meeting Room, Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York YO23 1BW Patricia A Ruddle ARPS, 01904 783850/07572 124290, patriciaruddle@btinternet. com CREATIVE EYE Moira Ellice ARPS, 01473 720928 creativechair@rps.org
western@rps.org
Advisory day – LRPS and ARPS Sat 13 Jul, 10am-5pm, £20/£15/£10 spectators
Ross McKelvey and the DIG Southern group advise on developing cutting-edge Photoshop skills in September
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
Explore more aspects of photography and digital imaging ANALOGUE Richard Williams analoguesecretary@rps.org
Field trip – Houghton Hall and gardens Sun 14 Jul, 11.15am-5pm Houghton Hall, Bircham Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6TY Jeremy Rodwell ARPS, 07799 043432, jrmailbox@gmail.com
Creative Eye Group – Bristol photo walk Sat 27 Jul, 10.30am-4.30pm
Millennium Square, Explorer Lane, Bristol BS1 5SZ Steve Varman LRPS, 07847 334437, creative.publications@rps.org
heritagesec@rps.org
Visit to Weald and Downland Living Museum Thu 12 Sep, 10.30am-6pm
Weald and Downland Living Museum, Singleton, Chichester PO18 0EU Rodney Thring, rodney.thring@btinternet.com AUDIO VISUAL Howard Bagshaw ARPS, 01889 881503 howard.bagshaw@ntlworld.com
CONTEMPORARY Peter Ellis LRPS, 07770 837977 wordsnpicsltd@gmail.com
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
Academy, Hubbards Lane, Linton, Maidstone ME17 4HZ Avril Christensen, 07718 537993, digse@rps.org
DI Group Western – creative macro photography by Victoria Hillman Sun 1 Sep, 10.30am-4pm, £10/£8/£6 group members Merryfield Village Hall, Ilton TA9 9HG Sheila Haycox, 01392 468859, sah2@live.co.uk
DIG Eastern: Janet Haines ARPS – ‘Inside my head’ Sun 8 Sep, 11am-4pm, £10/£5 RPS/group members Foxton Village Hall and Sports Pavilion, Hardman Road, Foxton CB22 6RN Mark Gillett, 07984 518959, digeastern@rps.org
DIG Thames Valley: Guy Edwardes – ‘Seeing the light – 25 years of landscape and nature photography’ Sun 15 Sep, 10am-3.30pm, £15/£12/£8 group members
digchair@rps.org
Woosehill Community Hall, Emmview Close, Woosehill, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 3DA Alan Bousfield ARPS, digthamesvalley@rps.org
DIG Eastern: Peter Warne – close-up and macro photography Sat 10 Aug, 9am-4pm, £50/£45/£42 group members
DIG Southern: Photoshop hints and tips with Ross McKelvey Sat 28 Sep, 10.30am-4pm, £15/£12/£10 group members
DIG South East: Joan Blease with ‘Bad start – great finish’ Sun 1 Sep, 10am-3.30pm,
DIG Southern workshop: ‘Photoshop the McKelvey
ARCHAEOLOGY AND HERITAGE George Backshall LRPS
£13/£10/£5 group members
DIGITAL IMAGING Janet Haines
Copped Hall, Crown Hill, Epping CM16 5HR Mark Gillett, 07984 518959, digeastern@rps.org
Greyfriars Community Centre, 44 Christchurch Road, Ringwood BH24 1DW Barry Senior HonFRPS, 01425 471489, digsouthern@rps.org
CHRIS BURFOOT
Portland Bill, Portland, Dorset DT5 2JT, 07805671853, paulrigg@ outlook.com
way’ with Ross Mckelvey Sun 29 Sep, 10.30am4pm, £50/£45/£40 group members Greyfriars Community Centre, 44 Christchurch Road, Ringwood BH24 1DW Barry Senior HonFRPS, 01425 471489, digsouthern@rps.org DOCUMENTARY Mark A Phillips ARPS, 07792 134007 doc@rps.org
Documentary Northern Group bi-monthly meeting Thu 18 Jul , 10.30am-3pm Bring a book or images (prints or PDIs) for discussion Kibblesworth Village Millennium Centre, Grange Terrace, Kibblesworth, Gateshead NE11 0XN Peter Dixon ARPS, docnorthern@rps.org
RPS Documentary Photographer of the Year 2019 Until Tue 30 Jul
Open to all RPS members. Enter online at rpsdpoty.com Mark A Phillips ARPS, as above
York Documentary Group meeting Fri 12 Jul, 1.30-4.30pm
Lidgett Methodist Church, Wheatlands Grove, York YO26 5NH Graham A Evans LRPS, docyork@rps.org
Documentary East Anglia meeting Sat 13 Jul, 11.30-4.30pm
Antreos Art Foundation, 11-15 Fye Bridge Street, Norwich MR3 1LJ David Collins, 01502 564658, docea@rps.org
GO TO
rps.org/events for event contact details and updates
York Documentary Group meeting Fri 13 Sep, 1.30-4.30pm
With speaker Peter Mudd ARPS Lidgett Methodist Church, Wheatlands Grove, York YO26 5NH Graham A Evans LRPS, docyork@rps.org
Focus on the next level Fri 20 Sep – Sun 22 Sep, 10am-4pm (fully booked) Heaton Mount, Keighley Road, Bradford BD9 4JU Mo Connelly, m.connelly@gmail.com
SE Documentary Group meeting Sun 29 Sep, 10am-1pm Tangmere Village Hall, Malcolm Road, Tangmere PO20 2HS Jeff Owen, docse@rps.org HISTORICAL Gilly Read FRPS historical@rps.org
The great French inventions expedition: Lyon and Chalon-sur Sâone Tue 10 – Thu 12 Sep,
OBITUARY
JOYCE MOLLET ARPS
JOYCE MOLLET ARPS
Llanelli Photographic Society is extremely sad to announce the passing of Joyce Mollet on 3 May after a long illness. Although her family live thousands of miles away, her son Matthew and daughter Sarah were there. Joyce was well known for her portraits of Indian people and their environment, and made numerous trips to less visited areas of the country, where she was able to observe the lifestyle and day-to-day living of the villagers. A selection of these images gained her several Distinctions with LRPS, ARPS and AWPF. She was a longstanding member of the
10am-5pm, £20
Lyon and Chalon-sur Sâone, Musée Lumière, 25 Rue du Premier-Film, Lyon David Bruce, david@bruce150.me.uk IMAGING SCIENCE Gary Evans gary@garysevans.com
LANDSCAPE See rps.org/special-interest-groups/ landscape/events
Adobe Lightroom for landscape photographers Sun 7 Jul, 9.30am-4.30pm, £81/£65/£35 group members Smethwick PS, The Old School House, Churchbridge, Oldbury, West Midlands B69 2AS Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
Historical Society, assisting the club with its 125th anniversary celebrations in 2016. She will be sadly missed and remembered with respect. Arthur Mallett, treasurer, Llanelli Photographic Society
Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre, Rakewood Road, Littleborough OL15 0AZ Roger Styles, rkstyles@btinternet.com
Heather moorland and big vistas II Fri 6 Sep, 11am-8pm (fully booked)
North York Moors, Sutton Bank Visitor Centre car park, Sutton Bank YO7 2EH Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
Lighthouses of Anglesey Sat 7 Sep, 11am-9pm, £55/£44/£14 group members
Portfolio review day Sat 20 Jul, 9.30am-6pm
The mountains and qaterfalls of North Wales Sun 8 Sep, 10am-6pm (fully booked)
The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddinton Street, London W1U 5AS Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
A chance to have your portfolio reviewed by professional landscape photographer Mark Banks Joe Cornish Gallery, Register House, Zetland Street, Northallerton DL6 1NA Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
Outside Devil’s Dyke pub, Devil’s Dyke Road, Brighton, West Sussex BN1 8YJ Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
A book of Joyce Mollet’s India photographs
South Pennines moorland Fri 6 Sep, 9.30am-4.30pm (fully booked)
How to be a ‘road warrior’ with Lightroom Wed 10 Jul, 10am-1pm, £81/£65/£35
Devil’s Dyke and the Fulking Escarpment Thu 29 Aug, 2-9pm, £52/£42/£12 group members (fully booked)
club and won more club trophies than anyone else to date. The membership will miss her contribution to competitions and the day-to-day running of the club. She was also a major force in the Llanelli
Eastfield Way, Inverness Retail Park, IV2 7GD Morton Gillespie, 07580 735409, mortong31@gmail.com
Heather moorland and big vista Fri 30 Aug, 11am-8pm, £58/£47/£17 group members
Sutton Bank visitor centre car park, Sutton Bank, North York moors, YO7 2EH Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
The Cabrach and Dufftown Sun 1 Sep, 8am-5pm
Vue Cinema car park,
Castle coach and car park, Beaumaris, Anglesey LL58 8RA Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
Llyn Padarn car park on A4086 near, Market Street, Llanberis, North Wales LL55 4EY Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
Dawn shoot in the South Downs Fri 20 Sep, 5am-2pm
Lockitt Way, Kingston, Lewes, Sussex BN7 3LG Mark Reeves, 07968 616551, rps.landscape.events@gmail. com
Eskdale and Wasdale Sat 28 Sep, 8am-6pm, £5/£4/free for RPS members
A field trip to the South Western part of the Lake District Birker Fell, 2.5 miles SE of King George IV Inn, grid ref. GR SD 1707 9770 (lat. 54.368038; long. -3.2779368), small rough parking area at a crossroads, near Ulpha, Copeland CA19 1TJ Ade Gidney LRPS, 07748 193649, adegidney@aol.com MEDICAL Dr Afzal Ansary ASIS FRPS, 07970 403672, afzalansary@aol.com
VOL 159 / JULY 2019 / THE RPS JOURNAL / 507
EVENTS NATURE Kevin Elsby FRPS
FOR MORE DETAILS SEE RPS.ORG/EVENTS
Moira Ellice ARPS, 01473 720928, creative.chair@rps.org
wildlife@greenbee.net
Sharpenhoe Clappers (National Trust) Sun 28 Jul, 10am-4pm, £5/ free for RPS members
TRAVEL John Riley LRPS, travel@rps.org Kath Phillips ARPS, travelweb@rps.org
VISUAL ART
A joint event with the Nature Group and East Anglia Region. A wonderful site for butterflies, especially chalkhill blues Sharpenhoe Clappers Car Park, Sharpenhoe Road, Streatley MK45 4SH Ann Miles, 07710 383586, annmiles70@gmail.com
The Dolphin Hotel, Station Road, Bovey Tracey TQ13 9AL Linda Wevill FRPS, linda.wevill@btinternet.com
Tim Flach HonFRPS Sun 28 Jul, 2.30-4pm, £6/£5 for RPS members
Rollright Visual Art Group – summer meeting Sat 31 Aug, 10am-4pm
Nature Group residential field meeting Fri 2 – Mon 5 Aug, see website for times, £200/ £210 single occupancy
Visual Art Group autumn weekend meeting Fri 27 – Mon 30 Sep, 9am-9pm
RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Bath Road, Bristol BS4 3AR Michael Pritchard FRPS, michael@rps.org
Slapton Ley Field Centre, Slapton, Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7 2QP James Foad LRPS, 07834 810430, jamesfoadlrps@inbox.com
An introduction to video Sun 15 Sep, 10am-5pm, £100 group members
Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge CB22 6RN Thomas Hanahoe FRPS, info@hanahoephotography. com
Nature Group 2019 exhibition Sat 28 Sep – Sun 6 Oct (closed Mondays and Tuesdays), 11am-4pm Wingfield Barns, Church Road, Wingfield IP21 5RA
Andreas Klatt ARPS, 07973 217707 visualart@rps.org
SW Visual Art Group members’ day Sat 13 Jul, 10.30am-4pm
Village Hall, High Street, Long Compton, Shipston-onStour CV36 5JS Andreas Klatt ARPS, as above
Mercure Liverpool Atlantic Tower Hotel, Chapel Street, Liverpool L3 9RE Andreas Klatt ARPS, as above WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY Thérèse Barry
Elaine Herbert ARPS, eherbert@alphalink.com.au
BENELUX
Janet Haines ARPS, Richard Sylvester LRPS, Benelux@rps.org
CANADA
John Riddick, johnmriddick@yahoo.ca
EXHIBITIONS Sally Smart ARPS,
exhibitions manager 01225 325724, sally@rps.org
International Photography Exhibition IPE 161 – Dublin Fri 5 Jul – Wed 4 Sep, noon The RPS IPE is a celebration of photography today Municipal Gallery, dlr LexIcon, Haigh Terrace, Moran Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
CHINA BEIJING
Yan Li, yanli88@yahoo.com
CHINA CHONGQING CHINA WESTERN
508
CHINA SHANGTUF
Guo Jing, shangtuf@yahoo.com.cn
CHINA QUANZHOU
HONG KONG
Shan Sang Wan FRPS, shansangwan@yahoo. com.hk
INDIA
Xiaoling Wang, hgudsh@163.com
Mohammed Arfan Asif ARPS, dubai@rps.org
Agatha Bunanta ARPS, agathabunanta@ gmail.com
Chris Renk germany@rps.org
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
Members will select the images which will make up the final exhibition Canada Water Library, Room 3, Canada Water Library, 21 Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 7AR
Scotland Region members’ print exhibition 2019/20 – Falkirk Thu 1 – Thu 29 Aug, 10am-5pm Falkirk Town Hall, Westbridge Street, Falkirk FK1 5RS
Rajen Nandwana, rajennandwana@ gmail.com
GERMANY
Exhibition of photographs taken as part of the Celebrating London project Hanbury Hall Cafe, Hanbury Street, London E1 6QR
Exhibition of RPS London street photography Mon 12 Aug – Thu 12 Sep, 8am-5pm Hanbury Hall Cafe, 22 Hanbury Street, London E1 6QR
SW London exhibition at St George’s Hospital, Tooting Fri 23 Aug – Mon 30 Sep, see RPS London web pages for opening times St George’s Hospital, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London SW17 0QT
SW London exhibition at St George’s Hospital, Tooting Fri 6 Sep, 6.30-8.30pm Open evening of this exhibition of work St George’s Hospital, Blackshaw Road, Tooting, London SW17 0QT
ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY MEMBERS AROUND THE WORLD
Wei Han (Richard), oolongcha@hotmail.com
DUBAI
Celebrating London project exhibition Until Thu 11 Jul, 8am-5pm
Exhibition of RPS London street photography: phase 2 – selection Sat 20 Jul, 10.30am-12.30pm
wipchair@rps.org
OVERSEAS CHAPTERS AUSTRALIA
This image by Wara Bullôt is one of the works on display at IPE 161, in Dublin from 5 July to 4 September
INDONESIA
ITALY
Olivio Argenti FRPS, cirps@olivioargenti.it
JAPAN TOKYO
peacock@sandvengroup. com
MALAYSIA
Romesh de Silva, romesh@access.lk
Yoshio Miyake, yoshio-raps@nifty.com Michael Chong ARPS, michaelcsc1985@ gmail.com
MALTA
Ruben Buhagiar, info@rubenbuhagiar.com
NEW ZEALAND
Mark Berger, rps@moothall.co.nz
SINGAPORE
Steven Yee Pui Chung FRPS,
SRI LANKA
SWITZERLAND
Rob Kershaw ARPS Rob.Kershaw@bluewin.ch
TAIWAN
Joanie Fan Hui Ling ARPS, djpassionfoto@ gmail.com
USA ATLANTIC USA PACIFIC
Jeff Barton, rps@vadis.net
SOCIETY WORKSHOPS
HONE YOUR SKILLS, WITH 25% OFF FOR MEMBERS. BOOK BY EMAIL AT LEARNING@RPS.ORG OR CALL 0117 316 4480
£95/£71 Society members Bristol
Beginners’ guide to Photoshop composites with Clinton Lofthouse Thu 4 Jul, 10am-4.30pm £123/£92 Society members Amersham
Street photography with Simon Ellingworth Fri 5 Jul, 10am-4.30pm £126/£94 Society members London
With Paul Hill MBE, Nick Lockett MA, and Maria Falconer FRPS Ashbourne
Introduction to Photoshop with John Roe ARPS Sun 14 Jul, 10am-5pm £104/£78 Society members Bristol
Studio portraiture with Chris Burfoot ARPS (two days) Sat 20 – Sun 21 Jul, 10am-5pm £187/£140 Society members Wiltshire
Introduction to your digital camera, with John Roe ARPS Sun 28 Jul, 10am-5pm £85/£63 Society members Bristol
Introduction to creative flower photography with Polina Plotnikova ARPS Thu 15 Aug, 10am-4.30pm £115/£86 Society members (fully booked) Amersham
Plant and garden photography with Philip Smith
Fri 23 Aug, 10am-4pm
£126/£94 Society members Buckinghamshire
Night-sky photograph Sat 31 Aug, 11am-1pm
Introduction to creative flower photography with Polina Plotnikova ARPS Fri 13 Sep, 10am-4.30pm
£130/£97 Society members Hereford
£6/£4.50/free volunteers Bristol
Hollywood lighting (intensive) Sat 7 Sep, 10am-5pm
£165/£123 Society members Kent
Portraiture photography and getting the most from your subject Thu 12 Sep, 9.30am-5pm
Introduction to Lightroom with Tim Daly Sat 6 Jul, 10am-4.30pm
Slow-mo mojo with Ben Brain ARPS Fri 13 Sep, 10.30am-5pm £75/£56 Society members Lyme Regis
Shooting modern architecture Fri 13 Sep, 10am-4.30pm £99/£74 Society members Nottingham
Introduction to Lightroom Sat 14 Sep, 10am-4.30pm
£104/£78 Society members Bristol
£104/£78 Society members Bristol
Printing with Lightroom, with Tim Daly Sun 7 Jul, 10am-4pm
Printing with Lightroom Sun 15 Sep, 10am-4pm
£104/£78 Society members Bristol
£104/£78 Society members Bristol
Introduction to creative flower photography with Polina Plotnikova ARPS Fri 12 Jul, 10am-4.30pm
Introduction to creative flower photography with Polina Plotnikova ARPS Tue 17 Sep, 10am-4.30pm
£115/£86 Society members (fully booked) Amersham
£115/£86 Society members (fully booked) Amersham
Cosplay intensive, with Jon Gray Sat 13 Jul, 10am-5pm
Photoshop (two days) Sat 21 – Sun 22 Sep, 10am-5pm
£165/£123 Society members Limited to six participants Kent
£181/£135 Society members Bristol
Portrait photography with Simon Ellingworth Sat 13 Jul, 9.30am-5pm
Space fashion, design and culture Thu 26 Sep, 6.30-7.30pm
Different perspectives Sat 13 Jul, 9am-5pm
Design and develop a photobook Sat 28 Sep, 10am-4.30pm
£126/£94 Society members Buckinghamshire
£132/£99 Society members
510
£120/£90 Society members Amersham
£4/£3.50/free volunteers Bristol
Join the respected photographers Paul Hill MBE, Nick Lockett MA and Maria Falconer FRPS at the ‘Different perspectives’ workshop in Ashbourne on 13 July
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
£95/£71 Society members Bristol
PAUL HILL MBE
De-stress with photography, with John Humphrey FRPS Tue 2 Jul, 10am-4.30pm
THE COLLECTION
Wynne’s Infallible exposure meter of 1897
VISIT
An exposure meter with claims of infallibility intrigues Dr RM Callender FRPS IN 1927 THE SCIENCE Museum in London exhibited 79 photographic instruments which had, by then, earned a historical status. Among the objects for measuring exposure, Mr Alfred Watkins had loaned more than 20 items, with emphasis on his famous ‘Bee’ and other meters. The Royal
Photographic Society had contributed a specimen of Wynne’s Infallible exposure meter from its museum, which was to evolve, over time, into the Collection. The watch-shaped device, designed and manufactured in around 1897 by the Infallible Exposure Meter Company – in Wrexham, North Wales – was claimed to be ‘Made in
IN THIS YEAR 1897
Gay-rights pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld
512
/ THE RPS JOURNAL / JULY 2019 / VOL 159
England’. Over the years the company made modifications – with slight name changes – but it was more expensive than the Watkins meters and failed to achieve the same popularity, in spite of being similar in shape and size. The calculation of exposure was based on the length of time taken to fog a piece of sensitive paper, carefully
The first ever LGBT rights organisation, the ScientificHumanitarian Committee, is founded in Berlin by physician and gay-rights advocate Magnus Hirschfeld on 15 May. Frank Capra, 2 the ItalianAmerican film director of It’s a Wonderful Life, is born in Bisacquino, Italy, on 18 May.
1
The National
3 Gallery of
British Art opens in London on 21 July. In 1932 it is renamed the Tate Gallery after Henry Tate, an industrialist, art collector and philanthropist. Joseph John 4 Thomson reveals his discovery of the electron at a Royal Institution lecture on 30 April. He is awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906.
positioned behind a small aperture within the meter. When the meter was not in use this paper could be protected by an orange glass cover slip. Instructions came in a small manual: ‘A patch of sensitive paper is exposed in the window … it darkens on exposure … the photographer measures the time taken for the paper to darken and match a reference tone’. To determine exposure the time was applied to the speed of the photographic plate and the preferred lens aperture. For precision, the back of the meter was engraved with adjustments for ‘exceptional subjects’, such as to double the exposure for ‘dark subjects near the camera’ or reduce it by one quarter for subjects such as the ‘sea and sky with ships, snow scenes and white statuary’. It is fair to assume that Watkins did not have an Infallible in his collection, hence the loan by the RPS to the Science Museum display.
INTERFOTO / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
A calculated gamble
The RPS Collection is at the V&A Photography Centre, London. Visit vam.ac.uk