Yesterday evening's presentation to the Society was made by Dave and Malcolm, both Society members, both accomplished photographers and both describing their panels that achieved them ARPS distinctions from the RPS.

Malcolm began the evening by talking about his fine art 'landscape' panel. The use of quotation marks here is intentional because all of Malcolm's shots were taken one meter away from the subject! The Statement of Intent for his panel showed that this was his motivation, to take images close to the subject and transform them into what would appear as long distance shots. We also learned that nearly all of his pictures were taken within the bounds of his house. The result was a collection of inventive images worthy of an ARPS.

There were some good technical tips here too, pointing the camera downwards tended to make half the picture slightly out of focus which gave the impression of distance and depth, gain an LRPS first and make sure that prints are technically correct and properly mounted.

Dave followed with a description of his ARPS panel. He said that one of the most difficult steps was inspiration and it took some time for him to reach the conclusion that patterns would be the answer for him, in fact that idea germinated when he took a picture of the roof of Newcastle railway station! Once under way he made a collection of 2,000 source pictures to work on. Again there were some good tips, the judges are not interested in your camera kit but do make sure that there are no technical faults in the prints!

Dave explained the assessment procedure, the red and green cards, the first and second vote and he even showed the room where the assessment is made. He produced some figures to demonstrate that all the RPS awards were not so easy to gain and how seeking advice and help is essential.

He went on to talk of other awards and qualifications that members could consider attempting.

An enormous thank you to Malcolm and Dave for a great evening and a collection of outstanding photographs. Inspiration is in the air .