After many years of prevarication, I decided last year it was time to throw my hat in the ring and apply for the first rung of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain’s Distinction awards.
The Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society Disitinction (LRPS) is awarded to those who submit, and have accepted, a panel of 10 images (in my case mounted prints) to the RPS for assessment on awards days. A group of RPS experts act as a judging panel and scrutinise the prints against their published criteria, and if they are satisfied that the submission complies with their artistic and technical quality standards, they award the LRPS Distinction. At LRPS level, the focus is on the technical quality at the shooting, editing, and printing presentation stages, successful demonstration of a diverse range of photographic technique, attention to detail, and good visual awareness and presentation of a cohesive panel of images that work well together.
I couldn’t attend the awards day in person, but watching the live stream via zoom was tense. A significant proportion of the entries were not accepted for the award, and it was an immense relief when the Chair finally stood up and announced my submission had succeeded.
I get to use the letters “LRPS” after my name, I will receive a certificate and badge and can use official RPS logos and mastheads. I’m not sure the Distinction provides much practical benefit beyond bragging rights but – for me – the real value is in the process of putting together a panel of work and thinking more deeply about what photography means to me, the kind of work I want to pursue and thinking about my images as collections rather than individual images. I recommend it to anyone who thinks these issues might be valuable to their photographic development. It also provides a confidence boost – it is not always easy for photographers to be confident about the quality of their work and external validation from a respected institution does no harm at all!
Here’s a shot of the thumbnails of my panel and the hanging plan. In a later article, I’ll talk in more detail about my LRPS journey and what comes next.
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