Competitions
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IMAGE Smethwick International chairman Roger Parry with just a few of the entries.
This year if you count all the prints andPDIs we’ve just over 11,000 entries fromover 1100 individuals
Awordwith the chairman, Roger Parry “The Smethwick International started 39 years ago as a colour slide only exhibition. My wife Judith has been involved for the whole 39 years. “Prints were introduced at the third exhibition when Judith took the job as print chairman. In 1998 I became chairman and have done it ever since. “The chairman starts off the exhibition process six or seven months before the closing date by applying for the patronage of the international bodies, the main ones being the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and FIAP (International Federation of Photographic Art). We also have patronage from the RPS and UPI (United Photographers International). We have to do this every year and send off the rules of the exhibition for approval too. In the case of the PSA we have to apply to each of their divisions separately so if we have a print section we apply to the print division; if we have a nature section we apply to the nature division and so on. With FIAP it’s one application through the FIAP representative, which is Dave Coates in this country. “We get medals from all those organisations, which we have to pay for, and these are highly coveted as major awards. We also give medals from Smethwick. “Then I get a teamof international judges together
If you want to see the results of the 39th Smethwick International, the exhibition takes place 4-12 January 2014 at Smethwick’s club room at The Old School House, Churchbridge, Oldbury, West Midlands. π To find out more, go to www.smethwickphotographic.co.uk, email info@spsinternationalexhibition.com or phone 0121 427 4224. “We open the exhibition for ten days to the public; we are probably the largest exhibition of its type in terms of what’s on show in the UK. All the prints that are accepted are shown in three rooms in the building. All the accepted PDIs are put together in the form of an audiovisual presentation with music so it’s more like entertainment. Over the weekend we get people from all round the UK to see the complete programme – it takes them nearly all day.” Diarydate recording the scores, emailing out the results and producing the text and pictures in the catalogue. “I don’t think we could handle the sort of numbers we get now with the old manual method we used with slides.
and we start calling for entries. “People who wish to participate enter via our website. Unusually, not only do they upload their digital images here, the titles for their print entries are added here too. The prints are then posted to us. Towards the closing date, prints are unpacked, we call their names up on the computer and see what prints they’ve entered and their titles and get labels printed out, so we get some order to a massive pile of prints. “This year if you count all the prints and PDIs we’ve just over 11,000 entries from over 1100 individual photographers, half from the UK, half from the rest of the world. We have entries from around 66 countries. Smethwick is very popular abroad and we are getting an increasing number of entries from mainland China. “Of the entry we have about 3250 prints and that includes the nature section, so we have around twice as many PDI entries. Interestingly, this year we’ve had the highest print entry we’ve ever had which is surprising given the cost of postage, but it’s probably because FIAP has said that 10% of acceptances must be prints. “Across the weekend of judging we will have around 25 club members working. Judging prints takes longer simply because they have to be physically handled. With PDIs, it’s driven by the computer. Our software enables online entry,
TOP LEFT The nature print judging in progress LEFT (2nd from top, work: Jean-Claude Menneron, Peter Paterson and Simon Allen LEFT (3rd from top, l to r) The nature judges deciding the award winners BOTTOM LEFT (l to r) David Osborn, Roger Parry, Barbara Lawton (chair, nature section), John Bebbington and Mike Lane l to r) The Open judging panel at
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Issue 3 | Photography News
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