Talk - Ria Mishaal 06/01/21

Our first meeting in 2021 proved to be a real treat. The first half followed a format which we had used before, namely a video of an interview of a noted photographer with examples of their work. That sounds quite a dry approach but interviewer Sue Brown FRPS didn’t have to work too hard to encourage Ria Mishaal FRPS to expand on the inspirations behind her work and the undoubted creativity of this highly accomplished professional photographer. In an engaging presentation Ria showed us her Royal Photographic Society award winning panels from Licentiate (LRPS) through Associate (ARPS) to Fellowship (FRPS) of that august body, explaining the intention behind each body of work and the technical and artistic approaches she used. Anyone who is successful at becoming a Fellow at a relatively young age must be driven by a strong desire for success and belief in their abilities backed up by formidable photographic skill. To combine this with creating a successful photographic business able to charge premium figures for single portraits is quite an achievement.

Ria’s LRPS portfolio in 1998 was a panel of 10 prints many of which had been taken on her travels with her father, an early photographic influence. Ten years later her ARPS panel of 15 prints displayed a more pared down and cohesive set of images of everyday architectural features of buildings showing distress from many years of use and pointedly having no human element. Subtle browns and blues in otherwise mainly monochrome images linked the whole together.

By 2018, Ria Mishaal had achieved the ultimate accolade of gaining Fellowship with an entirely different portfolio using a unique approach. Her FRPS panel of 21, 10 inch by 7 inch, prints was a series of portraits of children portrayed with their favourite animals using composite techniques. What came over was a patient and sympathetic approach to capturing studio poses, a disciplined approach to ensure consistent lighting across each element of the composites and a creative vision of how to create ha`rmonious images with a strong story line. A screenshot from this part of the presentation is attached.

Ria's FRPS panel hanging plan

After the break James Gibson showed each of the FRPS images again so that members could discuss them and point out which ones were there particular favourites and why.

To read and see more about Ria’s Animalia project take a look at the page about her print submission on the RPS website.

Interclub Colour Group Competition 2020/21 Season 01/01/21

As with many other club competitions that had been cancelled this year, we

were pleased that this competition still went ahead this year via Zoom,

being the 63 rd season.

With winning the Trophy in the previous season, we hoped to get off to a

good start.

The first round was hosted by Bradford Photographic Society, in October

the judge being Erica Oram DPAGB, EFIAP, BPE3*. The set subject –

Humour, set theme – Creativity.

All images submitted by the 10 clubs were judged on the night and we were

pleased that at the end of the evening came away with winning the first

round with 90 points.

A good score and we were awarded the certificate for the first round.

Currently after the second round we are overall first with 182 points.

We look forward to round 3 and 4 which will be held in March and April

2021.

Certificate for winning the first round of the 2020/21 season

Christmas Social 23/12/20

Last week Sue and James Gibson worked together to treat a further 22 members to an inventive Christmas Social, rising to the challenge of developing entertaining activities that pitted 6 teams against one another in competition remotely via Zoom.

Everyone was assigned a team and the club experimented with the use of 'breakout rooms' for the first time. These were used to great effect alongside the more traditional group assembly over a number of rounds, including general knowledge and sports quiz rounds, a film music identification round, video observation and even a scavenger hunt!

Although it was a departure from our traditional Christmas meeting in that members had to supply their own food and drink, many people dressed up for the occasion in their finest Christmas-themed attire and a great time was had by all. I think it fair to say that perhaps because of, rather than in spite of the logistical challenges, the resourcefulness of the hosts made for an even more entertaining evening than usual and one that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

2020 has been challenging for everyone in many ways and for HPIC it has been no different. However, both the committee and the club itself have risen to the challenge at every step and carried on operating almost as normal, even down to this social evening. This meeting was the last scheduled event on the 2020 programme, so we sincerely hope you'll continue to join us in 2021 for an exciting new programme of events.