We Wish You a Merry Christmas

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

PAGB Masters of Print

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.

‘Textures’ won a Gold medal for Lynda Bailey in the PAGB Masters of Print 2024
Annie Healey’s image ‘Dalmation Pelican Preening’ won a Judge’s Choice Silver Medal

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.

EFIAP SILVER FOR LISA EDIE

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).

Remembering Tigers – 24 October 2024

 

Please join us on 24 October for a very special evening with Margot Raggett, MBE, the driving force behind the ‘Remembering Wildlife’ charity.
 
Margot will be talking about her latest book “Remembering Tigers” – just two weeks after its national launch at London’s Royal Geographic Society.
 
Margot created a ‘live aid’ moment for photographers. Photographers come together to raise funds through wildlife book launches, which, so far, have distributed more than £1.15 million to conservation projects.
 

Tickets cost £6 for visitors and can be reserved by emailing info@rtps.org.uk. 

Upstairs at St Luke’s Community Hall, The Avenue, Kew from 8pm to 10pm.

Book cover photo credit: Sarah Skinner

Congratulations Lorraine!

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!

This month’s top scorers

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’

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’

Massive congratulations to Jocelyn Horsfall

Huge round of applause for Jocelyn Horsfall who received no less than 5 awards at the recent International Garden Photographer of The Year competition.

3rd place  – ‘Dappled Dreams’ captured at Kew
Finalist – ‘Fire and Rain Abstract Views’
Finalist – ‘Leaf Artistry’ captured at Kew
Highly Commended – ‘Textural Foliage ‘ captured at Kew
Commended – ‘Cool Fairy-Tale Foliage’ captured at Kew

‘Dappled Dreams’, ‘Fire and Rain’ and ‘Leaf Artistry’ are all currently on display at Kew.

Congratulations Jocelyn

Winners have been announced for this year’s International Garden Photographer of the Year competition and RTPS member Jocelyn Horsfall is once more on the roll call of honours.

Jocelyn, https://www.jocelynhorsfall.com/ a fine art photographer, was a Finalist in the Captured at Kew category with her image Magnolia Whispers and received a Highly Commended with Glasshouse Window Leaf Patterns.

Jocelyn also received a Highly Commended for her Rye Salt Marsh image in the Abstract Views category. Many congratulations Jocelyn.

The IGPOTY competition celebrates the genres of garden, plant, flower and botanical photography and is run in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The competition attracts up to 20,000 individual entries submitted from photographers all over the world. You can see all the winning images at https://igpoty.com/garden-photography-winners/and the outdoor exhibition is at Kew Gardens until 5th March.

Jocelyn will be giving a demonstration at our annual photography exhibition at the Landmark Arts Centre on 8 April showing how you can create startling designs and patterns using the cyanotype printing process (or sun printing as it is often known).  The charge is £5 but this then gives you free entry to the exhibition. Book here:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/487995727357

Dick Hawkes scoops top awards

Grey Wagtail Capturing Insects by Dick Hawkes

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.

Old Eel Traps by Dick Hawkes

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