Author: Wendy Akers

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’

Two RTPS members, Dick Hawkes and Wendy Akers have been recognised in the International Garden Photographer of the Year, the world’s premier competition specialising in garden, plant, flower and botanical photography.

Dick won the National Trust Riverlands category with his beautiful image ‘Grey Wagtail Capturing Insects.’  Dick said: “Several times I came to stand, watching, fascinated by the skill of the grey wagtail catching insects in mid-flight at a hatchpool on the River Avon in Woodford Valley, Wiltshire. The recently cut weed was a haven for a variety of insects. It took several trips to capture this exact moment, showing insect in beak combined with swirling water in the background.”

Dick’s image of some old eel traps also secured third place – a remarkable achievement in a competition which is so hotly contested.  “The old eel traps preserved on the River Test at Leckford are of historic significance, as they illustrate how the once prolific migration of eels was harvested – providing an important contribution to the local economy. The eel traps are visible from a public road bridge from where this photograph was taken; a polarising filter was essential, to reduce glare and show the lush green of the plant life,” explained Dick.

Wendy achieved a Highly Commended in the Still Life category for her image ‘Cabbage & Pears.’

 

 

It was great to be back at the club on Thursday evening after the summer break and wonderful to see such a big crowd to welcome our guest speaker Mike Curry, whose talk “Fleeting Reflections,” is likely to see many of us heading off to Canary Wharf to see if we can emulate some of his watery magic.

It was also an opportunity for President Lorraine Clifton to present competition trophies to members who were not able to attend the Summer Social awards ceremony.

John Phillips came suitably armed with an ‘elephant’ sized carrier bag to take away his horde of trophies: the Dunn Rose Bowl for Pictorial Monochrome,  John Morris Salver for Best Print in any Class, John Bardsley Cup for Portrait/Theatrical/Figure Study/Dance; Randell Webb Trophy for Documentary/Candid/Street plus a number of certificates.

Nick Tsinonis was presented with the Reynolds Trophy for Nature while  certificates went to Diana Loch, Colin Clarke and Phil Mundy.  Well done everybody.

It was good to be back at the Fulwell Golf Club last Thursday for our Summer Awards Dinner. Good food, great conversation and lots of well deserved competition winners. Many thanks to Eddie Hyde for coming along to present all the trophies and certificates, to Emma Durnford for organising such a great event and to Robert Charnock for officiating. Congratulations to all.

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