Distinctions Advisory Day

Saturday 3 September 2011 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Bridge of Allan Church Hall  Keir Street  Bridge of Allan FK9 4NW
Categories: LRPS, ARPS (Visual Art, Nature, Contemporary)
Douglas May FRPS, Contemporary Panel Chair will advise on Contemporary submissions.
Full details and booking from the Scottish Regional Organiser
Dr James Frost ARPS   james.frost11@btinternet.com

THE POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY

After the success of the ‘Spirit of the Age’ weekend at Birmingham in May 2010, the Contemporary Group are pleased to announce the next forthcoming weekend event, ‘The Power of Photography’. It will be held at Birmingham City University North Campus at Parry Barr, Birmingham on the 1st and 2nd October 2011. Facilities include a tiered seating lecture theatre, meeting and display hall and refectory. There is ample free car parking.

Saturday: 10.00am – 5.00pm, with extension for socialising, discussion of attendees work plus a sales table for speaker and attendee books until 7.30 pm. Sunday 09.30am – 3.30pm. Booking form pdf at bottom of item.
The following have accepted our invitation to speak on this occasion.

Saturday

Zed Nelson www.zednelson.com

Having gained recognition and major awards as a documentary photographer working in some of the most trouble areas of the world, Zed Nelson has increasingly turned his focus on Western society, adopting an increasingly conceptual approach to reflect on contemporary social issues. Gun Nation was Nelson’s seminal first book. A disturbing reflection on America’s deadly love affair with the gun it is regarded by many as the definitive body of work on the subject. Love Me is his recently published second book, it reflects on the cultural and commercial forces that drive a global obsession with youth and beauty.

Susannah Brown

Susanna joined the V&A in 2008 after working for several years in the Photographs Collection at London’s National Portrait Gallery. She studied Art History at Bristol University before completing an MA in the History and Theory of the Art Museum at the Courtauld Institute. Susannah is a curator at the museum and her particular interests include 20th-century and contemporary portraiture and fashion photography.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen www.amber-online.com

Finnish photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen came to Newcastle in 1969, a founder member of Amber, a film and photography collective committed to an engagement with the working class communities of North East England. The group established Side Photographic Gallery in the late seventies. Through Amber’s integrated approach to its work, all of Sirkka’s long-term projects have evolved into exhibitions, books and films.
Books:- Byker, Step by Step, Writing in the Sand, Coastline and recently published – Byker Revisited.

Tim Smith www.timsmithphotos.com

Tim is a freelance photographer who combines editorial and commercial work with exhibition, educational and publishing projects. For the past twenty five years he has lived and worked as a photographer in the north of England the area and its diverse communities have also provided inspiration and acted as a springboard for many national and international projects. His long term projects have resulted in dozens of exhibitions toured in this country and abroad. His main interests as a photographer and writer have been showcased in ten books. Much of this work explores the links between Britain and people in other parts of the world.

Coal, Frankincense and Myrrh – Yemen and British Yemenis is his latest book.

Sunday

Brijesh Patel www.brijesh-patel.com

Brijesh came to photography slowly but, growing up in London and seeing himself as British-Indian, his relationship with India was tenuous. Through college and university his interest in the visual medium grew and in time he decided to become a photographer and that his subject would be India. He completed a Masters in photography at London College of Communication and awards from The Guardian followed and the Winston Churchill foundation supported his earlier work in the UK and in India. This time allowed him to understand and distil his relationship with the medium and India. So, through self-initiated projects, he has begun to explore his ‘idea of India’.

Mitra Tabrizian

Mitra is an Iranian-British photographer and film director whose work combines documentary and film techniques to make elaborate photographic tableaux. Her work focuses on the rise of corporate culture, themes of nomadism and migration and notions of home land . The stark alienation of contemporary society has long been the overarching theme of the photographer’s work all of which are concerned with the way people are essentially alone in the present day.

Dana Popa www.danapopa.com

Born in Romania, Dana is currently based in the UK. She completed the MA Documentary Photography and Photojournalism at London College of Communication. Her interests lie within contemporary social issues, with a particular emphasis on human rights. She has been working mainly in Eastern Europe and the UK. Recently there was an article and picture spread of her work in the Telegraph Magazine.

John Davies www.johndavies.uk.com

‘A fundamental aspect of my approach to landscape is the sense of power it can symbolise and evoke. Images of land, water and sky can become metaphors, which reflect our emotional and spiritual states. But the landscape can also represent power in terms of land ownership and material wealth. It is this dual and often ambiguous representation of the metaphysical and the material in the landscape that underlies my photographic work. I believe in the beauty of truth rather than the truth of beauty even through the meaning of visual truth can be challenging and often fluid. My work attempts to raise questions about our collective responsibility in shaping the environments in which we live’ … John Davies 2010.

This unique event should be of major interest to photographers with a wide range of interests, and will be open to all, whether or not they are RPS members. You are invited to express your interest in attending and to reserve a place as numbers are expected to be limited. A booking form is with this programme, is available on request or can be downloaded from the Contemporary Group section on the RPS website

Local accommodation is available if required, convenient hotels being the Holiday Inn, Great Barr (tel 0871 4234931) and the Premier Inn, Great Barr (tel 0870 1112952), both close to exit 7 of the M6, approximately 4 miles north of the University Campus on the A34. A bus service runs between Great Barr and the campus at Perry Barr. The college campus is within short walking distance from Perry Barr rail station, served by frequent trains from Birmingham New Street.

Contact – Avril Harris, Group events organiser,

92 Old Park Ridings, Grange Park, London, N21 2ES

(email avrilrharris@blueyonder.co.uk )

BOOKING FORM: click here for booking form pdf