The meeting of Bangor & North Down Camera Club on Friday, 2nd October, was a talk by three of the club’s own members, Gerry Coe, Hugh Rooney & John Miskelly. This meeting was again held as a Zoom based event as we are currently unable to use the clubrooms due to Coronavirus restrictions.
The subject for this evening was the production of photographic panels, these are groups of images usually on a theme which are presented together. The club runs a competition every year for smaller panels of 6 images, and many members produce panels in pursuit of accreditations from the main photographic bodies which are the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), the Irish Photographic Federation (IPF) and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB). The purpose of this evening was to give members some insight into how to produce successful panels of images.
Gerry started the evening by showing several sets of images, one set were all taken in Amsterdam of a variety of different subjects, the second panel was a group of architectural photographs. Gerry then discussed how to select the best images for a panel and demonstrated the importance of layout in maximising the appeal of the images when shown together as a whole.
Architectural Panel by Gerry Coe
In each of the three photographic bodies there are three different levels of accreditation requiring sets of 10, 15 or 20 images in the applicant’s panel. In the RPS and IPF the images are displayed to the judges together, therefore consistency, layout and balance are all important elements in a successful panel.
Hugh then described the approach use by the PAGB, here the images are judged independently by a group of six judges, the scores are added together, and the total must meet a pre-determined target which varies depending on the level of accreditation being sought.
Finally, John showed a number of panels which had been successful in the RPS. John showed different panels for the Licentiateship (LRPS), Associateship (ARPS) and the highest level of Fellowship (FRPS). John discussed the merits of each of the panels describing their strengths both in terms of the individual images, and the impact of the panel as a whole.
Our thanks to Gerry, Hugh and John for giving us an insight into the production of successful photographic panels. I am sure many members will be inspired to produce panels of their own work, and perhaps pursue the attainment of accreditations from one of the photographic bodies.
Next week we will have a talk by award winning landscape photographer Alex Nail. Alex is a full-time professional photographer who specialises in mountain and wilderness photography, from locations both at home and abroad. We look forward to seeing some fantastic imagery from Alex.