Author: Wendy Akers

The Open Evenings of our Annual Exhibition are always rather special but last night was particularly so given our forced two year absence.  It was good to be back in the magnificent setting of the Landmark Arts Centre last night which was a wonderful backdrop for our images which spanned so many different genres.Read More >

Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 9NN

14-24 April 2022  (including weekends & Bank holidays)
Daily: 10am – 5pm

Admission £2.50 (Children free)

If you are interested in finding out more about the club and our work, then come along to our Annual Exhibition which will be returning to the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington, from 14 to 24 April 2022. Once again the RPS’s Visual Art Group will be joining the event with a display of its 2022 Print Exhibition.

 There will be hundreds of images on display with a range of genres and creative techniques from a society which is one of the oldest and largest in the country. Images from pupils at St. Catherine’s School for Girls in Twickenham will also be on show.

Most of the prints will be available to buy, with a selection of greetings cards and second hand photographic books and equipment and tea and coffee will be available in the Landmark café where visitors can watch an additional display of digital images.

The Society has around 100 members from beginners to professionals.  Some members will be displaying panels of images which recently gained them distinctions from the RPS and PAGB and there will also be displays from the club’s Special Interest Groups including Post Processing, Infra red, Nature, Monochrome, Pictorial, Studio and Creative Eyes.

The club meets every Thursday at 8 p.m. at St. Luke’s Kew Community Centre, the Avenue, Kew, TW9 2AJ plus mid week meetings for the special interest groups. There is a two month summer break in July and August. www.rtps.org.uk.  New members are warmly welcomed.

Many congratulations to Mike Woodman who won the George Morris Salver for the Overall Best Print in the club’s Open Print Challenge, which took place last Thursday (11 November).  Well done Mike.

We were just half a point away from winning the Surrey Photographic Association’s inter-club Concorde Trophy 2021 competition last week (25 October).  Many congratulations to Woking Photographic Society who took the trophy with a score of 54, against our 53 ½.

Many thanks to the RTPS team, Peter Jones, Colin Clarke ARPS, Susi Petherick LRPS, ARPS, Lisa Edie AFIAP, James Kirkland LRPS and John Phillips BPE3* whose images received consistently high scores with a 10 to John’s ‘My Chair.’ All credit to Woking who managed three of the six 10s awarded on the evening.

Here are the rest of the results:

Dorking Camera Club 52 ½

Guildford Photographic Society 51 ½

Molesey Photographic Club 48 ½

Epsom Camera Club 48

Malden Camera Club 45 ½

Cheam Camera Club 45

Kingston Camera Club 44 ½

We are delighted to announce that we intend to return to St Luke’s on 2 Sept and run a physical meeting programme, backed up by a Zoom feed until at least the end of 2021. We look forward to seeing as many of you as are comfortable attending in person.

Below we describe our plans to keep everyone as safe, and having as good an experience, as possible – recognising that, for many members it will be a big step to come back into an enclosed space with others.

Things will undoubtedly change at short notice during that period: we already know that the speakers planned for 16 and 23 Sept are unable to attend and the (excellent) replacements we have found will present via Zoom only. In addition, we will, of course, react to any changes in Government advice. We will do our best to keep the programme on the website and forum up to date

Please see the guidance document for information on how things will run and the things you should consider. The main issues are that we require everyone who is not doubly vaccinated to take a lateral flow test no more than 48hours before the meeting, and that we recommend that even those who are vaccinated also do so for added safety (and certainly if you have any symptoms at all).

We look forward to seeing some of you at St Luke’s and have our fingers firmly crossed that our attempt at dual running with Zoom will be successful.

It was so lovely to see everyone face to face again at our summer picnic and to catch up on what everyone’s been doing.   Many thanks to Emma Durnford for organising such an excellent event and to James Kirkland for the creative framing. Looking forward to getting back to St. Luke’s on 2 September.

Back in the summer of 2014 the RTPS studio group moved their monthly meetings from a church hall in Kew to Peter Beardow’s new studio in West Molesey, at the suggestion of our group leader Martin Pearson.

For us it was a trip into the unknown to a just built and as yet incomplete space, it was also full of possibilities as we brushed copious amounts of dust off the floor, eager to use an incredible set of  lights, props and backdrops. Over the following months Peter outlined his plans for the building, green area, kitchen, a changing and make up room and bathroom facilities for the models, separate facilities for the photographers and well organised storage space. All of those plans came to fruition.

Peter was imaginative, clear thinking, almost frighteningly intelligent, he could be sharp in the way that clever people can be and he was ambitious. He was also incredibly generous, following his clear instructions he then trusted us with the equipment that we honed our skills with, clearly delighted that his studio was fulfilling our ambitions too.

We were aware of course that Peter was becoming less mobile, we were also amazed at some of the innovative solutions that he came up with to counteract this, and we’d help him with the maintenance and organisation of the lighting and props. That was the least we could do in return for his generosity.

Peter would show us his own work, his photography was precise and technically flawless, his lighting of dancers revealed their sculptural beauty and his ideas and imaginative composition. He had a rapport with his models and a marvellously dry sense of humour in the shots he could create with them, clear visual stories that grabbed the viewers’ attention, one poster advertising Hampton Hill Photographic Club’s annual exhibition readily comes to mind.

We will all miss him, the last seven years have been quite a journey, we’ve learned a lot and had great times working together.

John Phillips, Studio Portraiture Group Leader, Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society

Many congratulations to former RTPS secretary and long term member Ann Healey who has been accepted as a Fellow into The Royal Photographic Society, the highest distinction which can be achieved with the RPS.

Ann tells us below of her fascinating distinctions journey with the RPS – an insightful and informative story which will be a real inspiration to many of us.Read More >