Aiming for an 'A' - Part 4. Advice, Then More Advice

Back in April, I posted a rather forlorn note on the RPS Forum.  I was really struggling to get my 'bell pictures' to the necessary standard for a ARPS panel, due in no small part to the technical challenges of photographing bells.  I was perfectly prepared to accept if necessary that my panel might fail if I submitted it, but I wanted the submitted panel to be as good as I could make it, and that was proving very difficult indeed.

I therefore sent into the ARPS the 'advice form', duly completed, and with several sample images.  The results were rather discouraging.  Not because of the comments on the technical shortcomings - I had expected that sort of feedback and it was useful.  But because some comments were made in terms of suggesting some additional images which I just couldn't see how I could achieve, and I was concerned that the assessment panel would have an expectation of what they might see which it was not realistically possible to shoot safely.

Given that I was already struggling, I found the feedback a bit crushing initially.  And so my 'forlorn note' (link to the thread here!) was posted on the forum, asking for comments from others who had also hit a bit of a black spot in their ARPS journey.  There were a number of kindly comments!  As well as the forum responses, I received a message in response via my website, from two very kind people with much experience of RPS distinctions, offering to chat to me on the phone and see how they could help.

I snapped up the offer, and after speaking on the phone we arranged to meet up.  Looking at my still incomplete panel with people who didn't have the same emotional connection as I do, it was sadly obvious pretty quickly that my bells images were not going to be the right path for the 'A'.  I had taken some of my other work with me, and it was interesting to see how some pretty quick changes changed some of my images from 'ok' to 'possible ARPS candidates'.

A couple of sample images, after tweaks:

This is what they looked like before:

This was encouraging, as was the wider conversation about photography in general, and going for RPS distinctions in particular.  Unsurprisingly, looking through my work and talking about options meant that the old issue of which category to apply for came up again. These two images would suit a Visual Art panel, whereas my current slot is for Professional and Applied!

You often hear negative comments about the rift between professional and amateur photographers, but this experience certainly counters that view.  In all I took up a good couple of hours of the time of two busy professionals, and it was really valuable, and very much appreciated.  

So I am now starting again AGAIN! :)  This time I've started from a little further forward though.  I have a couple of ideas and am working with them both at this stage to see which progresses.  As previously, watch this space!

A Canon and a Clock Weight

Like many a photographer, I generally like to have a camera close to hand as much as possible.

Which means my Canon G11 is usually in the car, 'just in case'.  Tonight it came in useful again.

* * * * * * *

This is the (large and VERY heavy) clock weight which broke free from the clock at the top of the church tower in which I was ringing bells tonight.

It crashed through the base of the clock casing, broke three planks, fell two floors in between six ringing bells without hitting any of them (almost a miracle!), and then caught the rope of the five, which I happened to be ringing at the time.  A large length of rope was pulled through my hands, which meant the bell began to 'ring down', and I got smacked in the face with the extra rope!  Fortunately the rope was not pulled right out of my hands, and another quick reacting ringer caught the sally and we thus avoided breaking a stay, and the bell was rung down while the crashing from above subsided.

A lot happens very quickly in bell ringing when things go wrong.  Even while something was obviously breaking above us, and I was struggling to regain control of my bell, we were all trying to work out what on earth was happening.  

As I knew I hadn't done anything 'odd' or stupid, but also knew that the something which had gone wrong had clearly involved my bell, I thought something on the bell had failed.  My home tower has a bell which has twice lost it's counter weight so I thought that might have happened tonight.  It wasn't until someone went up to investigate that we discovered what had really happened.

We were very lucky indeed that no-one was injured, and none of the bells or their fixings were damaged. It was interesting (for me at least!) to be able to grab a record shot of the offending item.  It adds something to this latest addition to my personal collection of bellringing stories!

The Gift of Hope - The Path to Publication.

Here it is!  Drumroll!  The cover of my forthcoming book The Gift of Hope, which is due for release in August.  There will be more on it nearer the time, but I wanted to post a sneaky preview on my blog!

It is being published by TLM (The Leprosy Mission) who sell a range of products including some of their own books to raise money to support their work internationally.  I had two advantages with this book.  Firstly, I know Judith, the editor at TLM because I used to sell books to her!  Secondly, working for a publisher myself gave me some useful insights into what to do and what not to do when it came to creating a product.

The idea started at least 18 months ago, when Judith and I were chatting about photography, and she suggested that I might be interested in submitting some images for consideration for use on cards.  Somehow that moved along into talking about a book.  The theme of 'Hope' was Judith's idea, as it fitted alongside other products either already published, or in the pipeline.  Plus they had had some customer demand for such a title.  Always a good starting point!  So I went away, and started thinking about how to get started.  Shortly afterward I had a call from Judith: '...and would you be writing the text?'  'Umm, no problem.' I replied.  Mistakenly, as it turned out.

 

A loooooooooonnnnng time passed.....

 

I was stuck. Who'd've ever thought that putting together a small, gifty book, a mere 48 pages long, would be so hard?  More time passed.  Then I went on sabbatical for four weeks.  I spent a week of that time on the beautiful Channel Island of Sark, spending a lot of time thinking about my photographic plans for the future, including the book.  In November I returned to the island and it turned out that quite a few of the photographs I took during those two visits ended up being used in the book.  In fact even the cover image was taken on Sark. 

 

An inpirational giftbook is not all about pictures though.  Although I now had a reasonable pool of images to choose from, I still had to do some writing. 

 

I reviewed other books previously published in the same series to see how long they were, how text-heavy they were, how the images in them had been used, and what the series 'look and feel' was.  Then suddenly, after months of stops and starts, everything came together. I knew what I wanted to do, how to approach it, what level of text to picture I needed and what I wanted the end result to look like. 

 

Because the text and images were so symbiotic, I ended up creating the book in Powerpoint, so that I could add or change the relevant image as I was writing the text. Interestingly, my experience of putting together my LRPS Distinctions Panel for the Royal Photographic Society came in useful as it had taught me to look at a series of images as a whole, and this helped hugely with making sure there was a cohesion and flow to the book. It is not enough to have a series of pictures and comments, they must make sense as a whole, too.

 

I worked on the book in every spare minute - and in quite a few minutes which, strictly speaking, were not spare....  It was surprisingly personal, which I had not expected.  I went to a friend's funeral while I was writing, and that experience is referred to in the book, for example.

 

Finally, it was ready.  So I sent Judith a note to ask whether she had given up hope (pun entirely intended) of ever seeing a proposal from me, or if she was still interested.  I was relieved to receive an email back asking me to send in my manuscript. 

 

I sent the manuscript and disc of images off on a Monday.  On Tuesday I had an email to say it had arrived and that Judith liked it, and that the selection meeting was on the Wednesday!  Wow, talk about miraculous timing.  If I had finished 24 hours later I would have missed this vital meeting.

 

Working for a publisher I know all too well that a product one person likes very much may still fall down at a selection meeting, so I was by no means certain of hearing back positively even now.  The email telling me the book had been selected for publication was probably one of the most exciting messages I've ever received!

 

Now, at the start of May, the editorial changes and checks are complete, the cover is finalised, and the project is signed off.  When the first proofs came through for me to see I almost cried.  Judith's editorial input, and the design team's beautiful work on the layout have resulted in a finished book of which I am really proud.  And one which I hope will indeed be inspirational, even to just one reader.

 

I can hardly wait to see an actual, physical copy!

Price: £5

ISBN: 978-1-909092-05-1
UK Publication Date: August 13
Published by: TLM
(More about TLM's work.)

 

Aiming For an 'A' - Part 3. Statement of Intent

When you are submitting an 'A' panel it must be accompanied by a Statement of Intent.

When I started working on my bell ringing panel I took notice of some advice I'd been given, which was to write my SOI early in the process because it helps to give planning structure and order to producing the panel. That made sense to me, so I tried it.

First of all I read the ARPS handbook, so I knew that it needed to be no more than 150 words. That doesn't sound like a lot, and in fact it isn't. However, when I attended an ARPS assessment day and listened to SOIs being read out ahead of the panels I quickly realised that 150 words are more than enough to lose the listener's attention.   Which is pretty key if your SOI is to do it's job and position your panel for the assessors. 

 

The SOI should give clear direction to the assessors as to the purpose and proposed end use of the photographs.  In my chosen category (Professional and Applied) the panel must 'illustrate, record, promote or inform on a specific subject or project'^, and so this must in some way be factored into the SOI.

 

After listening to several SOIs being read out on my visited Assessment Day I went home and re-wrote my SOI.  Then I had some feedback from the RPS.  I rewrote it again...  and sent it off for some 'official' feedback from the RPS. Hmmm.

I'm now on version four, and I'm keeping five elements right in front of me:

• Keep the SOI as brief, informative and interesting as possible.
• Make sure the SOI reflects exactly what the panel does!  (So don't include elements in the SOI which will be impossible to support in the panel.)
• Make sure the final version clearly outlines the purpose and the proposed end use of the photographs - ie. publication, exhibition and so on.
• Avoid references to technical matters or problems (these were included in SOIs at the Assessment Day I sat in on, but are given as a 'no no' in the ARPS Handbook, at least in my category).
• Avoid too many uses of 'hope', 'feel' or other words open to various interpretation.

I am beginning to think that ringing 21,363 changes of Stedman Caters (the longest peal ever rung by one band, taking a mere 12 1/2 hours - a VERY long time to be ringing a bell!) might be less stressful to attempt...

Meanwhile, it is no longer 'early in the process'.   Unless I end up deferring again, which at the moment looks increasingly likely.  Argh! 

I have exactly a week to fine tune my SOI.  After which I will post it with any relevant comments!

Any feedback or 'clues' from anyone who has actually written an SOI for a successful P&A ARPS panel would be gratefully received!

Watch this space...

* * * * * * *

^Associateship and Fellowship Distinction Handbook, Issue 6, January 2013. A4.4.

Book Review: International Garden Photographer of the Year

There have been individual books resulting from the International Garden Photographer of the Year, but this is a collection of images from five years of the competition, and it is simply stunning.  In fact, I can honestly say that this is one of the most gorgeous photography books I have ever seen.

If you enjoy gardens then you will love this book.  If you appreciate photographing them it is a fantastic source of inspiration.

The book itself is beautifully produced with weighty paper which showcases the photos to their fullest.

There are images here ranging from macro views of seeds and single plant heads, to wide vistas across huge gardens.  Pictures taken by professionals and amateurs, on top of the range digital DSLRs, on camera phones, and on lots of things in between.

The Walled Kitchen Garden at Claydon (Nigel Burkitt) on pages 108 & 109 is a beautiful image which just shouts 'English garden'.  The detail, colours and lighting of this photo blend to give a timeless quality and made me want to take a walk there!

Water Lillies (Nigel Symington) on page 90 is a simple composition with few colours and limited details.  It looks like a Chinese silk painting!

Kenrokuen (Claire Takacs) on pages 8 & 9

This was the winner in 2008, and I can see why.  Taken in Japan during the cherry blossom season, the photographer visited the gardens as snow was falling.  Other visitors carrying umbrellas were crossing the bridge in the middle of Claire's frame.  One had a pink umbrella.  If you cover this small pink splash of colour with your hand the whole picture loses a little impact - though still remaining mystical and soft.  To me it is an utterly magical photograph.

Ancient Coppice in the Grip of a Deep Freeze on pages 234 & 235

I love trees, and in winter their structure is often striking.  The lighting, colour and detail in this picture are all beautiful.  It manages to look cold yet not repelling and you can see every twig!

Throughout this sizeable volume there is enough detail about the cameras and post processing used for each picture to satisfy the photographer, and enough detail generally about the picture to satisfy those less interested in the technical details.  

I have a decent collection of photography books, and this will definitely be one to which I will return for enjoyment and inspiration.  Well worth buying.

Aiming for an 'A' - Part 2. People Problems.

My 'A' is bearing down on me, and I am feeling the pressure.  Although the Assessment day is in May, I have rather a lot of things happening between now and then, and I still have a lot of work to do before I have a panel I'm satisfied with.

Photographing bells was never going to be easy, but it IS interesting.  I now have pictures of bells being produced, bells in towers (from above, alongside and below), churches, ropes and ringing chambers.  But I am struggling to get across the 'people' aspect.  It's a part of the panel of critical importance, because bells have been rung by hand in this country for over 400 years, and they still are.  There are some challenges for me in getting people shots, some of which are:

I am not a regular 'people' photographer...

Ringing chambers usually have horrible lighting and flash is not exactly welcome when a band is ringing.

Bells create movement in towers.  Not the obvious movement - ie. the bells swinging - but movement of the entire tower!  Yes, lots of towers move as several hundredweight of bells are rung inside them.  This makes long exposures tricky...

Ringers are moving quickly as they ring, and hands or ropes frequently cover faces at the key shutter-pressing moments.

Access and angle for your shot is frequently difficult with limited options as to where you can safely be messing about with a camera.

Oh, and ringers often look extremely focused, which doesn't translate brilliantly in a photo.

A previous set of pictures of ringers got the comment 'they're all a bit blurred...' from our Tower Captain.  My carefully chosen slower shutter speed, specifically picked in order to blur the ringers' arms and thus show the movement clearly didn't achieve the desire objective.  This is part of the reason why I changed my approach, and set out to try to get some less obvious pictures of people ringing bells.

Here is an example:

This picture was taken in Devon.  The ringing chamber has a glass wall between it and the church. The glass reflected the stained glass behind me, the clear glass windows of the church can be seen beyond, and in between the band of eight ringers can just be seen.  I rather like this image - taken quite unplanned with a compact camera (Canon G11) when I heard the bells being rung while out for the day - but I am not sure it is ARPS material.

One noticeable change between preparing for my LRPS and my APRS panels is that for my 'L' I built the panel from pictures I shot as a regular part of my photography.  I photographed the things I liked and found interesting, and each time I caught an image I liked especially I would 'park' it in my LRPS folder on my computer, ready for review as part of my panel.  This approach resulted in a panel which I felt was a good reflection of 'my kind' of photography at the time of submission.  Three years on, I find my photography has changed, and so I think for me the advice to wait after the 'L' (& take time to enjoy it!) was wise.

For the ARPS I have had to be far more structured in my approach to producing the panel.  My statement of intent (SOI) has helped with this (blog post to follow!), and I have had to go out with much more specific photographic goals in mind.

I went on a ringing tour recently.  Ringing tours are common as bell-ringers like visiting new towers and ringing the bells they contain.  On this tour, twenty-two of us spent the day travelling from tower to tower and ringing, and I took my camera along with the specific aim of shooting people for my 'A'.

As the biggest 'ring' on this tour was eight bells, this meant that after a while the other ringers got used to me clambering around with a camera, and I ended up with some interesting shots.

At the moment, my shortlist includes just one of the resulting images, and I am still unsure that I have sufficient 'people involvement' in my shortlisted images folder - but at least I now have some to choose from.  I am about to send off some pictures for comment using the RPS's 'advice and guidance service' and I will post about the results in due course.

Aiming for an 'A' - Part 1. Warning Flags.

As I wrote a series of posts about my path to obtaining my 'L' (or more properly my 'LRPS', meaning Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society) it seems to make sense to do the same again, now that I am aiming for my 'A'.  The 'A' in this case stands for Associateship, and is the next step up from the L.  When I say next step, I don't mean a tidy little couple-of-inches-high step, I mean a whacking great giant sized step.  The RPS says that the A is a big step up from the L, and they really mean it.  I suppose the up side is that this means that obtaining it will be some achievement.  The down side is that it is a jolly sight tougher than the L was, and THAT was not exactly a walkover.  However, I passed my L in 2010 - nearly three years ago, yikes - so now feels like the time to aim for the next level.  

So, last autumn I duly filled out the ARPS application form, and promptly ran into my first difficulty.  I didn't know which category my chosen subject matter fitted in.  So after quite a bit of um-ing and ah-ing, and several emailed conversations with Ben at RPS (who has the patience of a saint), I decided that I would be applying within the Professional and Applied rather than the Visual Arts category.  But I should've taken heed of the uncertainty I felt in trying to decide, as it was a big warning flag.  It showed I didn't know how I was going to approach the actual photographing of my topic as far as the finished style was concerned.

I had decided to submit a panel of images of doors and windows, as I have enjoyed photographing these for a long time.  I started working on this, but a niggly voice in my head was muttering that this was not the right decision.  I should've listened to that, too.  Another warning flag.  It showed I wasn't confident of my subject.

When I worked for my L I was very nervous, but I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, how I wanted it to look, and what my end objective was.  I was discovering that for my A, I was increasingly unsure of what I wanted to do, was confused about how I wanted it to look, and had no real idea of where I was going in terms of the final panel.  

And most discouraging of all, I didn't feel that the panel I was working on reflected who I am becoming as a photographer.  This was probably the biggest warning flag of all.  It showed I wasn't brave enough to reach forward out of my 'comfort zone'.

I finally took notice.  I booked to attend an Advisory Day.  

I attended an Advisory Day for my L too, and it was extremely useful.  So I was hopeful of some helpful insights this time.  As I walked from my car to the RPS HQ in Bath, I felt even more strongly that the panel I was working on wasn't the right one, and I already had an idea of what I wanted to do.  Before it even got to the point in the day when my prints were put up for comment, I knew for sure that my earlier uncertainties were well founded.  It was obvious that my partial panel was nowhere near strong enough.  The comments just confirmed it.

I came away knowing I needed to start again from scratch.  Although it meant discarding all the work I'd already done I was excited about my new idea.  If the advisory day had gone well I would probably have carried on with the same project, but the fact that it hadn't gone well gave me the chance to change my mind and start again.   It meant postponing my assessment date, but it also meant I was now working on a project I am passionate about, which I think is a bit unusual for a Distinctions panel, and which I have a clear objective for.

At last.

So now, here I am moving away from a panel of doors and windows (though I still enjoy photographing them), and I am busily putting together an offering on church bells instead.  Ah yes, church bells.  An obvious choice for a Distinctions panel...  This is going to be an even bigger challenge, but this time I'm loving it!  I KNOW this is the panel I want to present, and it will reflect who I am as a person as well as a photographer. 

The moral of this particular chapter of the story is:  If you're going to aim for an A, you need to know exactly what you are going to shoot, why you want to shoot it, and how you are going to approach it.

And you need a clear 'Statement of Intent'.  At the beginning.  More on that to come...