Author: News Editor

We are delighted to announce that RTPS came first in the Surrey Advertiser Rosebowl competition with its ‘Seascapes’ panel.  We were up against some strong competition from 11 other clubs with subjects covering architecture, landscape, people, nature, sport and travel.

Second place went to Godalming PC with “Let off the Leash” (happy dogs), Third was Woking PS with “Misty Mornings” (local scenes).

Many thanks to Martin Hodgkinson for putting the selection together and organising the entry and to the photographers: Andrew Heaps, Deborah Highton, Amanda Day,  Wendy Akers (who received a Highly Commended) and Michael Petersen.

 

Many thanks to RTPS member Colette Hewitt for organising another of her popular night time photography walks around Richmond.

Night time can be one of the most beautiful and dynamic times to photograph in an urban environment, but it can be technically challenging, which is where Colette can offer her experience.

A particular feature of these evenings is capturing reflections, creating starbursts and using a long shutter speed to obtain the light trails of moving vehicles to give a more artistic interpretation of a scene.

A merry time was had by all at our Christmas social, with a delicious spread of food, wine, bubbly and a plethora of trophies and awards to recognise members’ successes and milestones.

Several members celebrated significant anniversaries with the club:  Margaret Gatter, 60 years as an active member, Terry Holland’s 50 years and Robert and Jay Charnock 40 years each – an incredible 190 years with RTPS.  Special trophies were presented to mark these milestones and all agreed with Margaret’s comments that the most important thing about the club is all the friendships that are made across the years

Many thanks to Emma Durnford, who organised the event, and Tony Drummond Murray for taking the photographs.

Awards in detail

Print Monthly Analysis winners

• Club Class – Colette Hewitt
• Advanced Class – Amanda Day

PDI Monthly Analysis winners

• Club Class – Lynda Bailey
• Advanced Class – Lorraine Clifton

Club Class Print Challenge winners

• Best Overall Print – Francis Peckham 
• Woodman Trophy for Monochrome
  • 1st Colette Hewitt
  • 2nd Simon Elsy
  • 3rd Lynda Bailey
• Seaton Cup for Landscape,  Urban and Seascape
  • 1st Simon Elsy
  • 2nd Lynda Bailey
  • 3rd Lynda Bailey
• Morris Cup for Pictorial Colour
  • 1st Francis Peckham
  • 2nd Lynda Bailey
  • 3rd Francis Peckham
• John Rosata Cup for Nature
  • 1st Francis Peckham
  • 2nd Francis Peckham
  • 3rd Penny Westmoreland
• Centenary Cup for a Set of Three Related Prints
  • 1st Lynda Bailey
  • 2nd Penny Westmoreland
  • 3rd Francis Peckham

Club Class PDI Challenge winners

• Best Overall PDI – Penny Westmoreland
• Ray Varney Trophy for Street/Documentary/Candid
  • 1st Simon Elsy
  • 2nd Laura Rollin
  • 3rd Laura Rollin
• Frith Cup for Pictorial
  • 1st Penny Westmoreland
  • 2nd Francis Peckham
  • 3rd Gill Schwab
• Clarke Cup for Creative/Altered Reality
  • 1st Gill Schwab
  • 2nd Lynda Bailey
  • 3rd Colette Hewitt
• Swaffield Cup for Nature
  • 1st Mike Eaton
  • 2nd Mike Eaton
  • 3rd Simon Elsy

Many congratulations to Lynda Bailey who was awarded a Gold Medal for Nature in the prestigious PAGB Masters of Print exhibition and Annie Healey who received a Silver Medal in the Judge’s Choice.

A total of 869 images from clubs all over the country were entered for the the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain’s exhibition with just 60 being selected, so it was a terrific result for Lynda and Annie.

The exhibition will be hung in St Martin in the Bull Ring, Birmingham from 8 February 2025 until 1 March 2025.  It will then go on tour to several other venues around the UK, including Liverpool, Carlisle and Tredegar. Some of the Masters of Print will also be exhibited in London at the Excel, during The Photography and Video Show from 8 to 11 March 2025.

Well done Lynda and Annie, what fabulous images and unusually both featuring a pelican.

RTPS member Lisa Edie enjoys the challenge of entering  International Salons under the auspices of The Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique (FIAP) which she says helps keep her motivated and engaged.

She was delighted to be awarded an EFIAP Silver distinction earlier this year and is now well on her way to achieving Gold. No mean feat when you consider that for Silver, you need to achieve 300 acceptances, with 100 different works in 10 different countries.  And, of course, there are a number of levels below silver where you first need to prove yourself.

The process of FIAP accreditations involves entering salons (a type of photographic competition) and gaining acceptances and awards.  Effectively these salons are a submission for exhibition, and a jury decides which images are chosen (or accepted) for exhibition. It is these acceptances that are key to the process. Typically, 10% of images submitted are accepted.

Well done Lisa, what a fabulous result. Below are a small selection of Lisa’s successful images (click on them to view full size).

Many congratulations to Lorraine Clifton who has achieved her BPE3 award after gaining 100 acceptances into national exhibitions.

What is BPE?

British Photographic Exhibitions (BPE) awards encourage photographers to enter exhibitions. Successful entrants receive Crown Awards photographic distinctions.  To be accepted for an exhibition, each image is marked by a panel of judges. The acceptance level is usually around 12 points out of a maximum of 15, so that requires an average of 4/5 points from each of the 3 judges.

First BPE exhibition

Lorraine entered her first exhibition as something to do during the 2020 lockdown and only dabbled with a few entries for the first couple of years. Lorraine has now been bitten by the exhibition bug. She is working towards her BPE4  award which requires 200 successful exhibition acceptances.

Most successful images

So far, Lorraine has 37 different images accepted, with the most awards achieved by ‘Fighting Stallions’, pictured below, along with Lorraine’s other successful images (click on the images to see full size).

Good luck with BP4 Lorraine!

Some stunning images were shown at our June Print Analysis evening last week. Many congratulations to the following members who scored 10s:

Andrew Heaps for ‘Mist at the Brook’

Andy Clifton for ‘Kamikawa-gun trees, Hokkaido’

Lorraine Clifton for ‘Fighting Stallions’

Colette Hewitt for ‘The Prince’s Head, Richmond’

Lynda Bailey for ‘Cafe Rose’