Received word this morning that my panel for the Royal Photographic Society Fellowship award is to be featured during an online discussion of the awards. They have even used the Sausages picture on the information page. Well nice.
The Distinction discussion is to take place on the 8th of May 2021. Over 400 people have registered to watch. There doesn’t seem to be any indication that the event is to be recorded so I may just pop in myself to see exactly what they have to say about the panel!
I received some rather pleasing news yesterday afternoon. My Washing Line series of images, coalesced into a uniform panel, fell under the strict scrutiny of a highly talented and exacting group of RPS accessors. They concluded that the images were worthy of a Fellowship in the RPS, their highest level of distinctions, which was a highly welcome piece of news in these trying times. I am now a fellow of the RPS.
The hanging plan submitted is below. It has been modified somewhat over the weeks before it submission following feedback from the one-to-one advisory session, which if anyone is tempted to apply for an RPS distinction, is a highly recommended course of action.
The hanging plan is shown above. Several of the images haven’t appeared on my social media channels, so I will release them over the coming days.
I have been working towards a panel for the RPS over the last few months, with the intention of applying for a Fellowship distinction. Like many, I imagine, having ones work subjected to the highest level of photographic scrutiny is daunting. For me, social media comments also raised doubts and a crises of confidence that led me to put off taking the project further for several months.
Today, however, I had a most instructive zoom video meeting with one of the RPS assessors, Paul Mitchell. His critical comments on the panel below were enlightening, instructive and very positive. He reinforced my issues with some of the images, raised ‘concerns’ with some others but overall was entirely positive and supportive of the concept and execution.
One area to address is ensuring that the food used is recognisable. So the fish fingers need to look like day-glow, square fish fingers and the gammon should look like a typical cheap round of gammon and not the artisanal, rare breeds slice I used.
This was the second panel I have presented for appraisal. Last year a visit to RPS HQ in Bristol with a panel made up of wine door images left me feeling a bit lost. I put this down to trying to adapt an existing body of work to the RPS criteria and it just didn’t fit. At least to me.
The washing line project was designed purposely for the RPS. And it works. Well, according to Paul at least.
Overall I left the session feeling inspired, creative and positive. There are 5 images that need replacing (one of which I already have) and interestingly not all the ones I felt were weak. Three images also need looking at again, where either the processing is off or the subject isn’t immediately obvious. The next couple of weeks are going to be busy.
What began as a light-hearted take on photographing food has turned into an on-going project, something I never contemplated doing.. Images posted to various Facebook Groups and Instagram have garnered many positive comments; to which I am amazed. I certainly didn’t think the images would be so popular. The comments are always positive, picking up on the humour and the whimsicality, which is both encouraging and surprising. One Facebook group I belong to, an RPS closed group, even picked one as their banner image. Which is quite an honour.
I’ve also received questions on how they are constructed.
Each image is a composite, combining the food hung on a washing line (or rather a piece of string) in my little studio. The food is always real and 90% of the time is later eaten, or is just the leftovers of that day’s dinner.
Despite appearances, the most difficult food, so far, was not the fried egg. That, just held in place on the mini frying pan like magic. Macarons was the most frustrating and difficult to shoot. The mess was unreal as the little blighters refused to hold together in the peg. I almost gave up and threw the whole lot in the bin…
They are photographed against an off white wall. In photoshop these are combined with images I have taken of clouds, sometimes one, sometimes two or three overlaying each other. A further l layer is added - one or more textures to give a painterly feel using the Adobe Texture Pro panel. I have accumulated a large library of textures some I’ve taken others from various free internet sources such as CoffeeShop.
(Talking of textures - I am tempted by the Infinite Texture Panel but it is priced outside my comfort zone at nearly £200. Also, the panel doesn’t allow you to add your own textures.)
Further work adds vignetting, colour changes via LUT profiles in Camera Raw, and little details perhaps not noticed (such as a drop shadow on the brick wall in Crisps shown below. Incidentally, the wall is taken from the image of my Three Word Gallery that I had running for a couple of weeks…. (a great idea that didn’t seem to get much traction, sadly, even from the originator).
The full line up of images can be seen in the gallery. Not all have been posted to Facebook or Instagram.
Washing Line Project - Crisps
The Washingline Project Gallery has just been updated with three more images. I’m rather amazed at the positive reactions to these; “innovative and unusual” was one comment. Such comments spur one on to continue. The actual aim is to put these forward as a distinctions panel for the RPS; although this means I am only halfway through producing the required number of images with a few spares.
I rather enjoy the whimsey in producing these - the butterfly on the pastry, the lighter than light macarons requiring the line to be propped up by a stick, and the pappardelle pasta blowing in the wind. Both the stick and a butterfly will be used in future images I think.
But it’s not just an alternative way to display and photograph food. The Fish Fingers and Chip is a take on the isolation we are currently enduring for example. (Although, if I am honest, this is the only one with an intentional ‘message’, whatever people read into the others).
The three latest additions are Prawn Toasts, Pork and Lemon Pelpettine with Pappardelle Pasta and Macarons.
