Photography News 11

14

Competitions

INTERVIEW

© Gareth Jenkins

© Adrian Lines

© Ross McKelvey

Acelebration of print Dianne Owen is one of the founding members of the SRGB Photo Group’s Print Celebration, now in its second year. It’s part of a new breed of exhibitions that celebrates photography in its broadest terms. Here she shares her experiences

How challenging is it to establish a new competition and exhibition? The decision to set up the exhibition was easy; the actual setting upwasn’t as easy. Firstlywe had to apply to the BPE to become part of the BPE family, without that it would have been so much more difficult. Once we obtained this we also applied for PAGB Patronage as we use PAGB judges for the exhibition and it creates a standard in the photography. The PAGB medals are used for the three judges’ awards and the highly prized SRGB members’ award. We started to apply for sponsorship fromWilkinson Cameras, PermaJet and Fotospeed; these companies helped us in our first year and the sponsorship has continued to grow this year. The gallery space was difficult to find but one day over a coffee in our local garden centre we spotted their greenhouse and were allowed to use the room for three weeks in September, including a two-week exhibition – we had 600 visitors last year. Once all this was in place we needed the most important part of the exhibition, the entries. I think personally this was the most stressful part of the experience, it was an unknown. Would we even have enough entries for the judges? They gradually started to come in but it wasn’t until the last two weeks leading up to close of entry that we knew there would

photographer. It’s a stepping stone in your personal journey of photography.

Interview by Megan Croft

What is your photographic background? I’ve always takenphotographs; I startedat a youngage taking photographs with my uncle and being shown how to use a darkroom to develop monochrome images. I look at photography with a creative eye, making images my own. I achieved Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) in March 2008 and became a Fellow in October 2008, both in Visual Art. I’m an active member of Chorley Photographic Society and the chair of the SRGB Photo Group and one of the family of PermaJet lecturers. What’s your involvement with the exhibition? I’m one of the founder members, along with Bernard Longley and Gordon Jenkins and I’m the chair of the exhibition. All SRGB members are included in the exhibition to a greater or lesser part, we all have a role to play. Many members of the group have had experience in running competitions and exhibitions at national level so I have a great team behind me. My role is to coordinate the jobs and members. SRGB’s clubhouse is at my home so this helps with the day-to-day running of the exhibition. The exhibition wouldn’t work without the team working together.

This is only the second year that the exhibition has been held, howdid it all come about? The SRGB Photo Group started as a small group of like-minded people who wanted to add something extra to their camera club. At the end of the second year of the SRGB group we decided we wanted to do more as a group. Holding a print that you’ve produced is in my opinion the final step for any image. The exhibition was created to join people with the same philosophy, encouraging more people to print and exhibit their work. When trends and convenience dictate a preference for digital exhibitions, why did you decide on print? A finished mounted print is what you see. And it’s what you want your audience, whoever that is, to see. It’s your small piece of individuality. No one can change it, there’s no reliance on projection and calibration. Celebrating the print was our aim and we want to encourage more people to print their work. To see a print on the wall of an exhibition for the first time is something special especially when it’s besides work by someone you look up to as a great

ABOVE TOP Penguin Slide, Gareth Jenkins – Top Score Award Highest Aggregate Score ABOVE RIGHT Death Grip, Adrian Lines – Best Image by an SRGB Member, PAGB Gold Medal BELOWBody Sock, Ross McKelvey – Gold Award Winner, Believable Reality

Photography News | Issue 11

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