How to prepare for your LRPS

Two A Year With My Camera graduates, Will and Hilary Dickson, were recently awarded their LRPS (Licenciate of the Royal Photographic Society). They have kindly agreed to be interviewed for AYWMC.

How long did you spend preparing for your LRPS?

W: I picked an LRPS submission as my “big project” in January 2019 and eventually completed it in early March 2020.

H: After Will committed to making the LRPS his camera club Big Project for the year in January 2019, I didn’t want to be left behind (not that we are, in any way, competitive!), so also took the plunge. We had been intending to go for an earlier assessment in October, but we had to postpone due to family bereavements. Looking back though, I realise that I certainly wouldn’t have been at all ready, even if everything had gone to plan.

W: I maybe could have submitted my panel in October 2019 if life hadn’t got in the way – but the delay wasn’t really a big deal. Going through the process together, as well as with other EDPS Camera Club members, definitely helped us to stay motivated through the more difficult parts.

Were there any unexpected expenses?

H: I'm not sure I'd fully thought through quite how costly it would be, and perhaps if I had I would have reconsidered, especially as all the costs had to be doubled as we were both working for the distinction.

As well as having to join the RPS to be eligible to claim the distinction (and stay members to retain it), we also had to pay for:

Having our images printed (we used Loxley who were just brilliant and I’d recommend them to anyone in the UK looking to get their distinction images printed). It’s worth remembering that this is an iterative process and so you end printing far more images than you actually end up using.
A new monitor for me as my old monitor was very small and its colour gamut was hopeless.
A Spyder calibration device.
Mounts (the RPS require you to mount your images for the assessment) and mounting tape.
Postage to send the panels to the RPS by Special Delivery.
Travel to and from Bristol (including celebratory lunch!).

W: Perhaps the more unexpected expenses were a reasonable monitor and the monitor calibration device/colorimeter. These are good things to have anyway but we didn’t really know how much we were missing without them.

Did you have to learn anything completely new?

W: Yes – printing and colour management were both new and colour management is a challenge to get your head around.

H: For me, the biggest learning curve of the distinction journey was understanding how to print photos. This involved learning and understanding paper profiles, how to soft proof images, how to calibrate my monitor, trying to understand colour spaces and gamuts and deciding which paper to use.

For one of my photos, I also had to teach myself how to focus stack in Photoshop.

What proportion of existing/new photos did you use?

H: About half my panel was made up of existing photos. After our advisory day, I had to retake one of my still lifes as the depth of field wasn’t up to standard (no. 5, the tomatoes) and I had to tweak the white balance on image no. 1 of the hen.

W: For the final panel I submitted, I used one existing photo and assembled a sequence of existing photos for another. Most of the other photos were taken in the first few months of 2019 – though my last one was taken only a couple of weeks before submitting!

What was the process of assembling your panel like?

W: I found it quite difficult – it felt like shoehorning a load of disparate photos into a consistent whole and I really struggled to judge what would fit in and what wouldn’t. The advisory process was really good at taking out unsuitable photos and at giving me a usable sequence – I changed very little after the advisory day.

H: A very angst ridden one! The hardest thing was getting started. After the advisory day, when about a third of my photos were rejected for various reasons, it was easier to fill the holes and I found my confidence improved once I knew which technical pitfalls to look out for, and I had a better awareness of the overall standard required for an image. I found that deliberately making photos to fill particular gaps was a very satisfying part of the process.

Tell us something about a couple of your images - how did you capture them, was it straightforward, what were you trying to achieve?

H: No 7 of the ferry deck was one of my favourites. We were travelling to France on the cross-channel ferry, and I was very struck by all the gorgeous tones of blue that day. I spent a while walking round the boat trying to find compositions and this one really captivated me. I then spent a good half hour taking and re-taking the shot while the light changed, trying to get perfect alignment of the deck rail and the horizon, all the while praying that no one came and sat on the chairs and that other boats didn’t stray into the scene. It was a satisfying moment when I knew I had the shot in the bag!

No 5, the tomatoes, was one that had been initially rejected because my star tomato at the front wasn’t pin sharp from front to back. I had to set the shot up again and then, due to the very shallow depth of field I had chosen for the shot, take a series of images with a range of focus points and then focus stack them in Photoshop. It was quite a learning curve but I was glad I was able to deliver a new photo that met the brief.

W: My set of garage doors was taken at a local AYMWC meetup, at Brooklands Motor Museum, on New Year’s Day 2019. I had a tripod, so taking a consistent set of photos was relatively straightforward, though editing and arranging them proved a little bit fiddly. I loved the result but thought it too risky to include; however I was really happy when it was picked out of my spares at the advisory day, to replace one of my “boring sunsets”.

One of my other favourites is Bembridge lifeboat station, also taken at a meetup. It involved getting up at 4am (on my birthday) and driving halfway across the Isle of Wight to catch the light before the sun came up. I was really captivated by this composition as soon as I arrived and was pleased with the in-camera results. It took quite a few iterations in Lightroom and in printing to get it completely right, but by then I was too emotionally invested in the photo to give up!

How long did the judges spend discussing your panel? What feedback was given?

W: I was up first on the assessment day and was almost disappointed not to get any significant constructive feedback. I was relieved however that they did recommend my panel and it was nice to get some mouthed “well dones” from members of the audience.

One of the judges spoke about the garage doors, saying he was initially uncertain but on closer inspection really liked the story-telling about the decline of motorcycle use. I was happy that he liked the photos and that he could see a story there, even if it wasn’t one I had intended! There were positive comments on the arrangement of having serene, more softly-lit compositions on the top with more graphic images on the bottom. The chairperson also commented positively on the two “calm but detailed” mono pictures book-ending the top row. Worryingly, one of the judges thought he had spotted a cloning error on number 10, but that it was “acceptable at this level”. I checked later and it turned out it was a distraction I should have removed, rather than clumsy cloning. Oops!

H: I had to wait through several other submissions, some successful and some not, before mine was laid out on the display rails. Time seemed to stand still and it felt as though each judge took an eternity to examine every single image in great detail. The longer they took, the more resigned I was to not being recommended.

The judge that was asked to speak first about my panel thought he could see a blown highlight on the petals in image no 10 but decided that he’d deem it acceptable; he then turned his attention to image 5, commenting at length that the (deliberate!) highlights on the background tomatoes were a distraction – at which point I decided that there was no way now that I was going to pass. Fortunately, one of the other judges spoke against him, saying that the highlights were an important part of the composition and led the eye through the image. To my huge relief, the remaining judges spoke in turn to back the second judge up and so I began to hope after all that I might be successful.

On a more positive note the first judge commented on the clarity of intent in image 7, realising that I had deliberately lined up the deck rail and horizon. He also remarked favourably on the tones of blue and the shadows in the image.

It was clear that all the judges took their roles very seriously and were very experienced in judging each photo to the criteria specified which was reassuring, even if they did have some disagreements on the finer points.

W: The judges rightly spent considerably more time on the panels that needed work than on the successful ones, both in constructively reviewing the photos and in writing detailed feedback afterwards.

What’s one thing you wished you knew before you started?

H: Quite how much learning is involved in the printing and mounting process. Turning out a panel of 10 images to a high standard is one thing, but to also get them printed and mounted also to a high standard was an unexpected extra challenge.

W: Something one of the judges said at the advisory day – “if it could be a mistake then it will be interpreted as a mistake” – was both helpful and a hindrance: it helped me to eliminate some unsuitable pictures but it also made me feel very wary of taking “artistic risks” in my photos. The latter ended up making me slightly resentful of the overall process, though in hindsight that may have been down to my anxiety about the quality of my submission.

What difference will it make being an LRPS?

W: Eeyore answer… I’m hoping it will remind me that I have, at least once, been deemed to be a basically competent photographer, by people who know their photography. On the days when I churn out a load of uninspiring photos, it will remind me that not all days are like that and give me the motivation to keep trying.

H: I too suffer very badly from imposter syndrome and having the external validation of the distinction has given me more confidence in myself as a photographer. Perhaps even the confidence to tackle the next stage?

How do you feel now it’s over? Was it worth it?

H: Hugely relieved to have seen the process through, but at the same time I’m aware that I am now only on the first rung of the RPS ladder and still have a long way to go. That said, it’s the journey that’s enjoyable and challenging, not the destination although that’s satisfying too. I’m not in a rush to start my A(RPS) but I’m definitely thinking about it!

W: My original aim was to learn how to create a set of high-quality photos – from capture through editing to printing and presenting. From that point of view, it has been worthwhile, has taught me some new skills and given me a foundation I can use when trying new things (and taking more of those “artistic risks”).

I am glad it’s over, though!

Hilary and Will are on Instagram as @hilsdickson and @willdpix respectively.

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