As soon as I had been awarded my LRPS in 2018 I knew that there was a project in me that would work for an ARPS. I had discovered that my photography love is for the sea and the waves and so an idea was born.
I can happily spend hours on the foreshore looking out to sea and there is so much to attract the eye; amazing skies, lively seas and patterns on the sand and this formed the basis of my project and the statement of intent. It is an essential part of a successful submission and must accurately reflect the photographs in the panel:
I must go down to the sea again, the lonely sea and the sky.
I love standing on the sand looking out to sea and watching how it interacts with the shore. Sometimes the waves draw lines on the beach and at other times they create shapes which only last a few minutes. In my panel there is no human interaction or intervention. My photographs show what I see when standing on the strandline. It is always changing and never the same. The camera is able to reveal patterns and textures that are invisible to the naked eye adding new dimensions to my shoreline odyssey. I can capture the flow of the sea on the shore and the patterns and reflections it makes in the sand; huge waves make magical shapes and the skies are big and full of character.
It is my world.
It took me the best part of 2 years to finalise the photographs that would form part of my submission and I took the advice of RPS assessors as I went along. I made a conscious decision not to ask for lots of opinions as I reckoned there was less chance of me receiving conflicting advice and I would always be able to move forward. I had 4 contact points with the RPS along the way and they served me very well. However, at the end of the day it is up to you to make choices and keep control of the quality and content in your final presentation.
I took the original idea to an informal York RPS meeting as I was concerned that my concept was too diverse but I was assured that it worked with the sample of photos I displayed. I then prepared a selection of prints for an Advisory Day at Wakefield. The feedback was that the standard of prints was very good so that encouraged me onto the next step.
I sent my proposed panel to the RPS for a review. The feedback again was very encouraging but it was suggested that the weather conditions in the panel were too similar. In an attempt to get conformity in the shades and tones I hadn’t realised that I was presenting identical weather conditions. This resulted in quite a big upheaval in my panel, especially in the sky and sand sections, but I know there is no point asking advice if you don’t follow it. This was another reason for my decision only to ask RPS assessors for help.
The final stage of the process came courtesy of Covid-19. The RPS initiated 1 to 1 advisory sessions via zoom with a member of the genre panel. After my changes I was keen to check that I had actually improved my panel and so was extremely pleased to have the opportunity to consult with Peter Paterson FRPS . He was very encouraging and whilst a couple of small changes were suggested I did replace one of my sand pattern photographs with some rolling waves on rocks.
So it was finally down to me. I was furious with myself when I discovered small marks on three of the prints just at the point when I thought I was finished. They all had to be redone as I knew that anything less than perfection would be pounced on by the eagle eyes of the experts.
It was strange sending everything off to RPS for the actual assessment. I now know how my PHD students felt when submitting their theses after 3-4 years work. You do gradually develop an emotional attachment to the portfolio which you don’t notice until you pass it on.
The day of the assessment was torture as of course Covid-19 prevented anyone attending RPS house and I didn’t know when I would hear from Ben about the result. I spent the morning vacuuming my entire house and then I steam cleaned the bathroom walls and fittings. The timing of task completion was perfect as I received an email from Ben just as I slumped into a chair.
Was it worth it? Definitely. However, my advice is to find a theme that you are passionate about as there are an awful lot of frogs before you find enough princes for your panel. You also need to be prepared to make many visits to your locations in order to experience and capture different weather and lighting conditions.
There’s absolutely no room for sentiment in the composition of the final panel. As with the LRPS you have be prepared to sacrifice your favourites and insert new images to improve the presentation. I juggled 6x4 prints on my dining room table to see what worked or which images needed to be flipped to achieve better flow.
The process also gave me a wonderful reason to go to the coast whenever I felt the weather was promising. Or even when it wasn’t. Building a portfolio of photographs must never be a chore or you won’t be inspired to get out there and absorb yourself in the environment. You need to be able to access your locations easily or you won’t get enough opportunities to get a large enough photo portfolio and the process is definitely a marathon rather than a sprint. Most of my portfolio were taken within an hour of home with the remainder on holiday where I could still revisit promising locations during my stay.
What about all my other photographs? I am about to send a book to print, (more about this later), which contains many of my favourite photographs from the past 2 years. This will be my book so I can be as selective and emotional about it as I like.
The panel below is what was submitted to the RPS for assessment. Click on any image for a full size photograph. I’ve taken the liberty of realigning the panel for 3 rows of 5 images but they’re all in there somewhere and the actual panel plan is at the top of the page.
