ARPS success.

04/05/11

After just about two years of developing my photography, taking loads of very learned advice from mentors like Bob Moore FRPS, Leigh Preston FRPS, Andy Warton FRPS & Ray Spence FRPS, I finally got together an ARPS panel, which was successfully assessed on March 15th of this year.

I must admit that I was a long way from totally confident when I mailed the portfolio off to Fenton House, home of the RPS, about a fortnight before the assessment day. This was mainly because getting the final images for the panel was frankly a mad rush. Having attended a distinctions advisory session exactly a week before I knew the photos would have to be posted, it was clear that I had, in the words of the wise, about two thirds of a panel. The next few days were fraught to say the least: a couple of last minute snapping trips, fortunately I had a week off my day job, and several late night trawls through thousands of files in order to see if I could get that last half a panel together. The problem wasn't the quality of images I had produced in the last months prior to my submission, but the actual panelling of those images, i.e. the placing of 15 photographs into a cohesive and interesting display. In the end I had to reject some of, what I thought of as, my best images in favour of ones which simply suited the overall panel better. I'm comforted by the fact that apparently at this level it's one of the most common problems that photographers face.

In hind sight I should have got my backside together much sooner than I did - I kind of got lazy towards the end of last year - although to be fair I suppose becoming a father for the first time was a bit of a distraction (my absence on this blog is testament to that). Had I done this I would have had a wider selection of images together long before submission and would have had the assurance of positive feedback for more of my final panel. The last few images were a risk to be sure, but having said that I guess the advice I got at that last Distinctions Advisory Group meeting was in the end enough to enable me to get those final pics together and assemble them into a successful panel. The moral of the story is I guess - never put off to tomorrow what you can do today.

So how do I feel? Well quite chuffed to be sure, but I do now feel that I've really just completed another stage in a longer journey. The Fellowship is without doubt a long way away even though this my next logical target in terms recognition for what I do. But what I really feel is simply better at what I do. The passage to gaining an ARPS was about learning and improving - I guess the passage to a Fellowship will be the same - however long it takes!

The images in order: