Newsletter

December

2015

Paul Gilmour LRPS

Regional Organiser

Welcome to our first newsletter to celebrate a new and exciting era in

the Southern Region.

Since I was appointed your regional organiser, I have experienced a steep learning curve in order to be able to undertake the role effectively. Despite the challenges, the journey so far has certainly been a rewarding and enjoyable one. One of my first tasks was to understand the demographic spread of members and understand what your interests and needs are. You may remember the member’s survey sent out in late August 2015. This returned a response with over 200 members completing the short questionnaire. Although there are nearly 1000 members in total, this I’m told was an excellent response. Thank you. My overall aim is to ensure we remain a very active region with inclusion for all who wish to participate, no matter where your interest in photography lies. I am acutely aware that you may never have attended an organised RPS event before, so I would like to reach out to those members who may have felt disillusioned with the lack of regional activity in the past. I also accept that not everyone can attend meet ups, perhaps due to work or family comitments and that is fine too. As a member of our region, with this added responsibility, I hope to be able to offer guidance and support in helping you achieve the very best from your RPS membership. Thanks again for your support and I look forward to meeting you. Paul Gilmour LRPS

Contents

01 Welcome

02 The Southern

Region

03 Member’s

Survey

04 Meet Your

Team

05 Regional News

06 Event Report

07 Dates For Your

Diary

08 Distinction

Successes

09 Close

2

We are proud to be part of one of the largest regions by area

size, boasting one of the greater regional membership counts,

standing at almost 1000 RPS subscribers. Our area is vast, covering Hampshire, Dorset, and parts of West Sussex, Berkshire, Wiltshire, on the mainland. We then extend out southward to the Isle of Wight, to as far south as the Channel Islands. We are neighbours with the South-East Region, Thames Valley and the South-West Region. As Regional Organiser, it is my intention that the whole region benefits from regular events.

02 THE SOUTHERN REGION. Defining your

area.

When you join The Royal Photographic Society,

you are designated a geographical region within

the RPS. Your designated RPS Region is determined by your postal code, however, you can always opt to change this if you wish. For example, if you spend the majority of your time at a second home, or work away most of the time, it may be more convenient to be associated with another Region.

03 SOUTHERN REGION MEMBER’S SURVEY – So what did our survey tell us? Thank you to all of you who completed the Southern Region member survey. There was an excellent response to this. Your input will greatly help me to strive to form a Regional community we can all be proud of. It was great to see such a wide range of interest in photography, in particular nature and wildlife. There also appears to be a strong following of digital imaging and landscape photography. Many of you expressed that you would rather be kept informed via email and valued regional newsletters along with the RPS Journal. In terms of where to hold events, it is clear that this really depends on the event itself, although many of you prefer not to travel too far which is understandable. I am confident that the appointment of local event organisers will mean that more events are held in

your area. The full report of the member’s survey can be viewed online at http://www.rps.org/regions-and-chapters/regions/southern/blogs/2015/october/southern-region-member-survey-results

The most popular events are of an educational nature, including workshops & talks with guest speakers. Advisory Days, field trips, & joint meetings with special interest groups scored high in our survey. Roughly half of the members over 50 are also over 65, meaning that about 40% of our members has access to subsidised public transport, indicating that our venues should be easily accessible with good transport links. Thank you for your input.

3

05 NEWS – What’s been happening in the region? It has been an extremely busy and productive time across the region. Within the RPS website, our Southern Region has its own micro site, with information, interesting blogs, along with event dates for your diary. Please visit so that you stay regularly updated between newsletters. We also have a new Facebook page. We have some exciting events and field trips provisionally proposed and are outlined below (subject to change). Please register your interest by emailing southern@rps.org so we can know if there is sufficient interest to proceed.

www.facebook.com/rpssouthern

Lee Filters Workshop & Factory Tour. Lee Filters are based in Andover.

Nikon School – Wildlife Photography Workshop

Andy Finney – Copyright Talk, Newbury ©

Tyneham Village Ghost Town Dorset

Athlehampton House & Garden, Dorset

‘Urbex’, Forgotten Heritage

Portsmouth Historic Naval

Sites

Proposed Field Trips

04 A REGIONAL COMMITTEE HAS NOW BEEN APPOINTED - Meet your new team.

Simon Wardle ARPS

Regional Treasurer

Vacant Committee

Member

David Ashcoft LRPS Northern Area Representative

dashcroft9@me.com

David Peckham

Western Area Representative

davepeckham@mac.com

Martin Silman Eastern Area

Representative martin@silman.net

Kate Lomax LRPS Newsletter Editor

katelomax@me.com

Lilian Hobbs

Committee Member

Paul Gilmour LRPS

Regional Organiser southern@rps.org

06 EVENT REPORT – ‘How To Produce A Good Photobook’. Led by Brian Steptoe FRPS

This event, held at Winchester Discovery Centre, sold out! This was our first event since

regrouping the Region. The day, which included an interactive workshop, was led by Brian

Steptoe FRPS, to a packed house of approximately 50

attendees. Photo books are becoming increasingly popular, and are now accepted as a way of presenting your work when submitting for your Distinctions. The November issue of ‘Journal’, carries a 20% discount voucher for RPS members, for all of us who left the day all fired up to produce our next or even first photobook! It was great to see so many people turn up including non-members as well! The ticket sales of the event, bore testament to Brian’s excellent work. Brian opened the morning session with an educational talk on the history of photo books, discussing considerations on how they should be designed, demonstrating with page turning examples. There was ample opportunities to view the books on display, to absorb the many styles of variety on offer, giving us all food for thought for our own creations.

After lunch there was time to gather around tables for the afternoon workshop session to have a go yourself at sequencing and editing individual photographs to a short brief given to each team by Brian. The day ended just before 3pm, not before council and regional member, Vanessa Slawson FRPS offered our thanks to Brian for his valuable insight. A very enjoyable day shared by many! If you missed the day, you can find a video blog, presented by Brian, on the RPS website here: http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/contemporary/blogs/2014/may/brian-steptoe-frps-talks-about-the-selection-criteria-for-photobooks

07 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – Future events & Advisory Days

Greyfriars Community Centre Ringwood, BH24 1DW- Book Online

An opportunity to see and examine a

range of recent successful RPS

Licentiateship, Associateship and

Fellowship Distinctions print Panels. We hope some of the award winners will

share with us how their work was conceived and produced.

This is NOT an Advisory Workshop Bring a packed lunch.

Tea and Coffee will be available Opening times

6th December 2015 - 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

10.00 – 16.00 Kinson Community Centre, Millhams Road, Bournemouth, BH10 7LH

Southern Region Distinctions Advisory Day

This event ‘not to be missed’, will be invaluable for providing guidance to RPS Members and non-

members who are considering applying for

Licentiateship & Associateship in the categories of

Applied or Pictorial. Applied Panel assessors are to

be, RPS President Walter Benzie HonFRPS & council

member, Vanessa Slawson FRPS.

24th January

2016

27th

February 2016

Are you preparing for a RPS distinction, but not sure how to

mount your work? Longridge Mount Cutting Systems, will be at

Kinson to give you an insight into their products.

RPS members benefit from a 10% discount on all Longridge products. The incentives at Kinson will be even more attractive.

Jaonneuse Bay, Guernsey © Jayne Priaulx LRPS

Southern Region Distinctions Advisory Day

We will travel to Guernsey, to give you another

opportunity to prepare for a distinction. LRPS, ARPS, FRPS and Creative & Travel will be covered.

Panel members will be Nick Despres FRPS & Steven

Le Provost FRPS.

“Guernsey has a rich source of subject matter. We have our wonderful coastline, which has a range of rocky coves and long sandy beaches which offer changing views due the weather through the year. Guernsey also has a very picturesque harbour in St. Peter Port, together with several old jetties and ports around the island, and on top of all that we have a large number of German fortifications from the WWII and Martello towers and forts from the

Napoleonic era”- Jayne Priaulx LRPS

The Harry Bound Room

Les Cotils

St. Peter Port

Guernsey

Channel Islands

GY1 1UU

Regional Organiser Paul Gilmour

email: southern@rps.com

08 CELEBRATING SUCCESSES! Distinctions are so very

important. They motivate you to be creative, to plan your shoot and

your project. Those of you who have recently gained your award, be

very proud, of your work, your determination, and of course, your

distinction! Below is the stunning, Natural History panel of

Peter Orr ARPS.

LRPS Hilary Barton Mark Lanigan Iona Mckenzie Nick Townley Sue Nash Louise Brown Christine Campbell Chris Gillard Graham Ireland Wendy Spencer Carol Paes Barbara Jayne Priaulx Roland Crook Lucy Victoria Sharpe Luke Parkinson Kate Lomax Debbie Smith ARPS

Roger Dixey Roger Clark Peter Orr Christopher Bamber Andrew Beeson

Below, is the work of Mark Lanigan LRPS

Visit your Southern Events

pages at www.rps.org to book your place on an Advisory

Day.

Ensure you book early as places

fill up fast!

09 AND FINALLY ...... Thank you for bearing with us through all of the changes. 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for the region. Become part of it and work towards your first or next distinction. We welcome you to attend the activities we have planned, including the day in Guernsey. We hope to have more planned in all corners of the region in future. Please stay in touch with us if you have any news or inclusions we may be interested in, we will be happy to hear from you. We wish you all a very merry Christmas, followed by a happy and healthy New Year. All the very best from your dedicated team at RPS Southern. See you in 2016!