The Royal Photographic Society Northern Region recently hosted a Distinctions workshop at Backworth Hall near Newcastle, organised by Jane Black who was recently at the club, attended by a large gathering of enthusiasts, including a contingent from Durham PS, either putting forward panels of pictures for comment or simply to observe. The workshop was led by a dream team of Fellows, Leo Palmer FRPS, Rikki O’Neill FRPS, Sandy Cleland FRPS with Associate Karen Berry ARPS.
The format was that successful Licenticeship and Associateship panels were shown and explained, followed by putative LRPS panels of 10 and ARPS panels of 15 being put forward for comment by the distinguished judges. The acuity and perspicacity of their insights and advice was breathtaking and extremely helpful to both the individuals going for their distinctions and the observers seeking to learn for their own attempts.
Our own Neil Maughan DPAGB, LRPS writes:
"The last RPS distinctions advisory day I went to was over 20 years ago, when I first looked into the possibility of going for a Licenticeship Distinction. Spookily that was also in Backworth in the very same room. Where does the time go? No matter how experienced at showing your pictures to different audiences, I must admit, I did feel a little nervous when my name was called to step forward and place my 15 prints onto the print stand. Fortunately I had plenty or morale support from VP Tony, Stephen Bell, Ian Stafford, Lilian Bolt and John Shotton. After a look at the prints by the assembled RPS Fellows, Rikki O'Neill gave an assessment of my pictures and fortunately, the comments were mostly favourable. Of the 15 prints, he felt 10 met the Associateship standard and he suggested that 5 needed to be replaced with something stronger. I'd brought along some additional prints and slotted them into the panel and he felt the changes really made the panel much better, so in summary, he felt I was "almost there". Apart from needing to change some prints around, I will also re-print all the images so they are 100% pristine and re-mount them onto white card (they are currently in black mounts) as this seems to be the current trend, as I want to give myself every chance of passing the actual assessment at RPS HQ in Bath in June. I'll let you know how I get on".
The Royal Photographic Society's Distinctions are recognised as measures of achievement throughout the world. Everything you need to know about the three levels (LRPS, ARPS and FRPS) and how to achieve them is on line starting here: http://www.rps.org/distinctions-introduction
It is important to read the Distinctions Handbook which you can download here: http://www.rps.org/resources/downloads/Distinctions_Handbook_Issue_4_Sep2010.pdf
There are over 70 volunteer panel members who will assess your portfolio, including Leo Palmer FRPS, Tony Potter ARPS and Malcolm Kus ARPS from our region. The next distinctions advisory workshop in the northern region will be in May 2012. Several members of DPS can also give informal advice.
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