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.

It is free for all to read.

It features Gill Shaw’s best selling book project, ‘The Hero Inside’; Ian Cartwright’s 2010 charity calendar giving a new level of professionalism to the ‘naked locals’ theme; the 2009 Mario Acerboni Awards regional winners; the complete Kodak MPA Wedding and Portrait Awards; and more.

This edition is free to all readers.

There is no charge for admission to the exhibition and trade show, which runs through to 4.30pm. There are also four afternoon seminars taking place, between 2.00pm and 4.30pm, which are limited to free admission by MPA members and Affiliates. The tickets have been allocated by pre-registration. To check whether any places remain, call MPA on 01325 356555.

The Hilton hotel is located on the south bank of the Tyne immediately next to the high and low level bridges, with pedestrian access to the heart of Newcastle’s historic old castle district and the many riverbank attractions. It is close to the Sage Centre, galleries, museums, shops, bars and restaurants making the location perfect for a family day out. Family or friends not interested in the photographic show can find plenty to do within minutes of the Hilton, which makes a great base for activities. This is also one of the most photogenic spots at any time of day or night with great city and river views directly from the Hilton’s terraces.

All entries must be received at MPA – Jubilee House, 1 Chancery Lane, Darlington DL1 5QP – by close of business on Wednesday August 12th. Each entry should consist of an unmounted print (10 x 8 or A4) which either shows the image area only of a final print, to be mounted and sized appropriately on a 20 x 16 mount; or shows a 1/4 size reproduction of the finished 20 x 16 exhibition print. This must be made from the same image file to be used for the final print, on the same materials, with the same finish (but not mounted).

Each print entered has an entry fee of £8.50 including VAT, which should be made payable to MPA and enclosed with the entries. Entry prints will not be returned. Entrants whose work is selected for exhibition will be informed by September 1st, and must provide a finished 20 x 16 mounted exhibition print by September 19th.

A print entry form must be attached to each print.

Click the small image of the entry label above, to open or download a full size 300dpi version for printing.

There are three categories open to all photographers – the Mario Acerboni 3-from-1 wedding award, the David Facey Award (Open Category) for the most original image, and the Fuji Silver Imaging Award for a photograph taken using film and printed using silver-halide based (colour or mono) materials. Intermediate scanning is accepted as long as the original is on film, and the final print is on photographic paper.

To enter the Mario Acerboni 3-from-1 award no fee is required. Three images from one wedding (one before, one during and one after the ceremony) must be presented as a set of 10 x 8 unmounted originals. A separate entry form applies and can be downloaded from the MPA website (download the overall entry form which contains this).

Remaining categories open to MPA members (UK) are:

• Bride&Groom – Cosmopolitan Bride sponsored, B&G only in shot
• Bride’s Choice – You & Your Wedding sponsored, layout of ten 5 x 4″ images to fill a 20 x 16″ board (reduce to 10 x 8 for entry)
• Parent and Child Portrait
• Family Portrait (minimum 2 generations)
• Under 5s
• Pets
• Commercial/Advertising
• Landscapes/Pictorial/Illustrative
• Industrial & Architectural
• Travel
• Press/PR/Stock
• Fashion & Beauty
• Events – Equestrian, Sports and Social
• Two awards are open to Licentiate Members only – the David Mathias Portrait Award, and the Dennis Hylander Wedding Award

The original deadline for entries of July 31st has been extended as a result of requests from members.

MPD May 09

The link above will open the latest edition in digital Flash Reader form that you can read on-line, print off, or download.

This website welcomes new photographers to the magazine, which can already be read on-line through our free public Flash Reader editions (see PUBLICATIONS in the right-hand column). MPA also welcomes all aspiring professional photographers to join as Affiliates, a grade below full membership open to those who itend to go full time within 3 years.

The MPA itself is restricted to full time, professional, qualified photographers and new members must pass the Diploma in Professional Photographic Practice before reaching the next stage, submission of a panel of 20 images for Licentiate qualification. Only after both these stages – normally completed in six months to a year – can they remain in membership and use the MPA logo and designated qualification.

The Catch-22 situation is that in order to qualify, you may require skills and information hard to find unless you are already a member. This is why the Affiliate membership category was established, to welcome photographers into the Association with the ability to attend regional meetings, receive the magazine, and have access to all the information full members require.

This website is in the early stages of development (May 2009) and will change substantially over the coming months. Please bookmark it, and make a return visit occasionally to see what’s new.

- David Kilpatrick Hon FMPA FBIPP
Publisher and Editor, Master Photo>Digital