Following the success of last year’s Judges’ training day, June 2010 saw the Coventry Hilton Hotel again playing host to a panel of MPA Fellows eager to hone the skills of members ‘rising through the ranks’ and assist the qualifications and awards processes. Introduced once again by Eric Jenkins, compared to the inaugural event the programme was very focused on refining the process of judging and the criteria on which images are assessed.

With a much faster introduction, few changes have been made to this year’s requirements for Awards, and only minor changes to the Qualifications – excellence is excellence, after all – and the Qualifications process was addressed in detail by Kevin Wilson prior to the Awards process. At the second training day members were able to give a little more feedback, both on their own qualifications experiences and on the process in general.

Dennis Hylander delivers one of his famous critiques

For MPA members looking to submit panels or images, the crucial thing is as ever to consider the entire panel as a whole. Mentors and judges alike are looking for very similar things, with many years of accumulated experience throughout the MPA’s history contributing to a detailed, consistent and fair assessment. Your mentor’s advice is valuable and combines with content such as this in the magazine to hopefully guide you to success; coming straight from the Judging committee you ignore this sort of information at your peril!

Most importantly, your panel as a whole can be affected by one or two flawed images as Kevin demonstrated with a rejected submission – later revealed to be from one of the judges who successfully qualified with a different panel. Even at this stage, the feedback and comments about the images were consistent, and agreement was reached very quickly.

Using your mentor is key to improving your scores in this process. Submit raw images (not raw files, but uncropped, unretouched prints) to give them a true impression of your capabilities as a photographer and remember, the advice you get about post-production will benefit from this. You’re not being judged at this stage, you’re being assessed for the best information and advice to go forwards.

Kevin Wilson engages an attentive Ewen Forsyth

This year the submissions process for Qualifications has been slightly revised, with profiles and portfolios being sent directly to the MPA and the workbooks being forwarded to the judges in advance. Working on your print quality requires at the very least attention to the finished results as much as the final image; Lisa Visser’s Fellowship panel went through several stages before she was happy, as she explained to the delegates.

“When I decided to do the Fellowship, my mentor told me I was ready to do it – I thought I was really rubbish, I wasn’t well in the awards. Being told that one picture was Fellowship standard was encouragement to just go with it, I felt I could run with it and focused on doing that.

“To create the panel, I had about four images that matched the requirements – the rest were produced between April and July; the images were reprinted, testing different papers, nothing was going to go that wasn’t perfect”.

The standards for assessing the images remain with lighting measured with an exposure meter to be 1 second @ ISO 100 and f/16.

Nikon, Adobe Systems, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Nik Software, Wacom and X-Rite have joined forces for a unique, nine-city Creative Alliance Tour. The tour has been set up to provide creative professionals with a comprehensive insight into a complete digital workflow. A full-day seminar will take place at each city stop, hosted by photo professionals and evangelists Keith Thompson, Kevin Dopson, Robin Preston, and Guy Gowan among others. These influential master photographers will demonstrate live shoots, and talk about why colour profile and calibration is key to getting the best end product.

From image capture to printing and marketing, delegates of the Creative Alliance Tour will learn how to achieve optimum results (high resolution in, high resolution out) using the most innovative techniques available to photographic professionals. The seminars will consist of inspirational presentations and in-depth technical workshops, with the opportunity to share questions and experiences with the experts.

“The long-established professional photographic community has seen dramatic changes to photographic technology in the past few years, with the transition from silver halide to digital, and from traditional SLR to digital SLR. Combining the resources and expertise of the seven companies, this tour will provide a unique platform for the photographic community to learn about the latest technological innovations and take advantage of a complete digital workflow within their existing production process,” said photographer and digital artist, Robin Preston.

Photographers should not miss this opportunity to gain valuable insight into the latest workflow tools that could help their business maintain its competitive edge.

Registration and dates

The Creative Alliance Tour has started in Ede on the 24th June 2009, in the Netherlands. The tour will resume the 15th September 2009 in Manchester and 17th September 2009 in London.

Spain, Germany, Italy and France will follow in October and November 2009. For the exact dates and registration information please visit: www.thecreativealliancetour.com

Lighting on-location – free admission – no booking required!
Presented by : Uzair Kharawala
Apple Store Regent Street, London
15 June 2009 7.00 to 8.30pm
More info visit www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet

Business & Beyond
Presented by : Uzair Kharawala
Manchester
23 July 2009 10.00 to 16.30 hrs
More info visit www.nikon.co.uk/training
Price £85.00 including refreshments and lunch

Portraits for Profit
Presented by : Uzair Kharawala
Manchester
22 July 2009 14.00 to 20.00 hrs
More info visit www.nikon.co.uk/training
Price £200.00 including refreshments and lunch. Limited to 8 delegates.

Oz is an expert teacher, as well as being the creator of the FotoSF software package for studio management. He is an experienced event photographer, and Nikon started using him as a teacher after learning about his use of their wireless flash system for weddings, location portraits and events work. He is an Associate of the MPA

Mark now stands among the leading UK portrait photographers. With two books published and three major exhibitions to his credit, his most recent had a three-month show in London’s West End. His multiple awards include membership of the Kodak Gold Circle, and has twice held Kodak’s UK Family Portrait Photographer of the Year
It is not only his creative style that separated him out. He marketed his studio and business in a way never previously seen in the island. The studio is totally client led, he believes firmly that the client is the very most important part of his business, without them he simply would have no business.
He is in much demand on the lecture circuit and coaching fellow photographers. He holds diplomas in life coaching and performance coaching and has shared his marketing and business philosophies throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. For many his seminars have been a turning point.

Back To Basics – SE Region Seminar June 15th

A one-day seminar for professional photographers who are serious about their business and even more serious about moving their business forward.
Professional photography has never before seen such large numbers of people setting themselves up as photographers. The vast majority are non-professional with little or no experience. It can feel at times as though our profession is being hijacked. They are lowering both the standard and perception of professional photography and the public are having difficulty recognising the difference. Never before has the need to separate ourselves, to stand above and apart been more urgent. For many the survival of their studios will depend on it.
Back to basics will completely re look at the way we approach and run our studios. It will explore our attitudes and thinking. It will uncover dozens of ways to separate ourselves out and be noticeably different. Doing nothing is no longer an option.
WILL YOU DARE TO TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE?
Why are we in business?
Where is our business going?
Where would you like it to be going?
How are you going to take it there?
What is it that is stopping us?
Looking to the past in order to move into the future
Become a market leader
Marketing, what is it and how to do it?
Sales and the Sales room
Targeting
What is the most important part of your business?
…and much more
Mark will be starting at 9.30am and finishing at 5pm with lunch and refreshments throughout the day.
Dennis Hylander Hon FMPA judges and critiques the SE Region Annual Print Competition starting at 6.30pm. The lessons that can be learned from listening to Dennis could change the way you shoot, process, crop and present your images – so valuable if you are thinking of entering the national awards or even if you just want to raise your game.
The venue is Rowfant House, Wallage Lane, Rowfant, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 4NG. Tel: 01342 714869.
Costs: £65 for members and affiliates gets you the Mark Leightley Seminar, refreshments and lunch and also the Dennis Hylander judging and critique. £85 non members. Couples from the same studio £100 together.
Evening only – 6.30pm onwards is £10 or FREE if you enter 4 prints or
more. (coompetition print entry is £5 each or 5 for £20).Payment in advance.
Contact: ave Cosens dave@photogenicimages.com