rps the decisive moment march 2016

THE DECISIVE MOMENTQuarterly journal from the Documentary Group March 2016 Edition 4

Photo: Justin Cliffe, ARPS

Meet the Documentary Group Team

Chairman : Mo Connelly LRPS Retired from the UN refugee agency after a career as a workaholic, frequently living in a tent on remote borders in troubled regions. Have now achieved my work-life balance by getting a life after work. What do I like? Photography, photographers, being at home, travelling and people who respect human rights. What do I dislike? The fact that I am becoming a grumpy old woman and actually enjoying it.

Treasurer : Justin Cliffe LRPS I have been interested in photography since my late teens however family and work commitments took then priority and I’ve really only got back to it over the past 5 years since retiring from a life in the City. I joined the RPS, and the DVJ group, about 4 years ago and was awarded my LRPS in 2013. I am also a member of Woking Photographic Society and the Street Photography London collective. My particular interest is ‘street photography’, something that I’m able to combine with my part time work for a charity in London.

Secretary : Wan Shun Fan A trainee solicitor, Wan has been the Secretary of the DVJ Group for almost four years. Wan is still amazed at the wealth of knowledge that committee and group members have to offer. Wan hopes to do his Licentiate in the near future.

Committee Member & Representative on the Advisory Board: Lionel Squire ARPS I was born in 1941. Took up photography in my teens and spent a lifetime in the motor industry. Fifty years involved with Volvo, the first twenty with the UK importers and the last thirty creating and building an independent retail motor group. I will have been married to Pamela for fifty three years in August and we have two sons. My other interests are golf and motorcycling. I am a former chair of the DVJ and gained my ARPS with a panel entitled Faces of Nepal.

And the rest of the team:DM Editor: VacantDM Publisher: Jhy Turley, LRPSDPOTY: David Cantor, LRPSFacebook: Jonathon TaylorFlickr: Chris Barbara, ARPSWebmasters: David Barnes, LRPS Forum Moderator: Alan GrahamNE Documentary Group: Gordon Bates,LRPS

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Contents

4. Note from the chair

6. Ken Lennox Hon FRPS

20. Documentary Group – North East

Member Images 26. Chris Jennings LRPS 34. Daniel Homewood 40. Daniela Sbrisny 44. Dorte Fjalland 42. Guy Needham 48. Jhy Turley LRPS 54. Maggie Jary LRPS

56. Help!

57. History Spot

Reviews: 60. Alec Soth – Gathered Leaves 61. Saul Leiter – Retrospective

62. Celine Marchbank

65. Documentary Photographer of the Year 2016

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Sadly, Keith – the Editor of DM for editions 2 and 3 – has had to resign due to ill-health. Thank you for helping us and get well soon Keith. Thanks to good friends resending stuff I can’t find and to Jhy Turley, our publisher, who will ensure that my editing looks better than it is.

In this month’s edition we have an article and images from Ken Lennox, Hon. FRPS – a reputed and experienced photojournalist. I’m hoping to continue either to interview Hon FRPS’s who specialise in documentary or to get them to write an article with images for us. It’s time we see and hear more from those who have been awarded Hon FRPS status, amongst whom are so many wonderful documentary photographers. But, we won’t be losing input from our members who are not Hons!

At last we have a Forum up and running. Our Moderator is Alan Graham, and you can contact him with any queries you may have via the Forum. It would be good if members could get into the habit of taking a look at the Forum regularly and contributing their thoughts and wisdom.

The DG AGM will take place in April. In London – apologies to members further north. This is the difficulty of having a countrywide group, with most of the members in London and the South. The notice will go out soon.

Now that Spring is approaching we’ve a number of activities planned – see our emails and website for details. But any member who’d like to organise a field visit/photoshoot will be welcomed with open arms (and admin support). Let me know.

A Word From Our Chair

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I notice from past events that many of the participants are not DG members nor even RPS members. So I’m now advertising events to DG members via email two weeks prior to putting them on the website as it’s the only way I can think of to give DG members priority for booking, but after that it has to be on a first come, first served basis.

The 2016 Documentary Photographer of the Year Competition will open in March, with David Cantor as manager, and with lots of new initiatives.

We’ve recently set up a DG Southern sub-group, working with the RPS Southern Region, based in Chandlers Ford, near Winchester. There seems to be a keen interest in members getting together to discuss documentary photography, photographs and their plans with like minded people and we will continue to follow up interest in DG sub-groups throughout the country. I’m in discussion with two other regions and if you would be interested in a Documentary sub-group where you are let me know. An article from the Chair of the DG North East group appears in this month’s journal.

Last week a group of DG, and other RPS members, had the opportunity to listen to an IWM talk with humanitarian photographer Nick Danziger, followed by an excellent curator’s tour of the Lee Miller exhibition. Thank you Hilary Roberts. For those of you outside London why don’t you organise group visits to interesting exhibitions. If you make the arrangements I’ll send out the emails.

Enjoy the Spring, and the wonderful photographic weather we get at this time of the year,

Best wishes,

Mo Connelly, Chair, DG

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I was a Daily Mirror photographer in Saudi Arabia covering the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. A coalition of armies, including Britain were gathering to take on Saddam Hussein’ s occupying army. During the next three months I had minor successes photographing the build-up, including finding a secret POW camp and taking shots of a Patriot Missile shooting down a Scud missile aimed at Dhahran Airport.

Ken LennoxHon FRPS

Interview – Ken Lennox Hon FRPS

“ The first 25 hours of the war saw me zipped up in a Warrior armoured troop carrier wearing a full chemical suit and respirator”

Arriving at Basra inside Iraq

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Interview

“Photography is not just about equipment but about your life experience.”

Iraq Sunset British armour

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The British army in the form of the Military police made life difficult. After lots of warnings about travelling on closed military roads it came to a head when they stopped me. “We are putting an end to your games sir,” they said, removing all four wheels and taking them away, stranding me in the middle of the desert. It was done very correctly - no violence, no rudeness. They even lowered the truck to the ground without damage, called me sir and offered me water and chocolate before giving me a‘ Bye’ and not laughing before they were out of sight. I was sitting in the shade of my grounded truck in 45C sipping my water wondering what the hell I was going to do, when the American Military Police pulled in beside me. “Do you have a problem sir?” they asked.

I explained that I had just had an encounter with their British allies. They looked at each other with me thinking they were planning to take out my engine and gearbox. Instead they said they would try to get help. Within the hour the US army guys from a motor pool arrived in a truck with the correct sized wheels and tyres. Their military police had described the truck in detail and they had drawn the wheels from their store to rescue me. Within the hour was driving again. God Bless America!!!

Road to Bagdad

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In January I was back in the town of Khafji to do a story on the UAE troops defending the border. After evening prayers I was with the soldiers manning an anti-tank bunker when it all went mad! Iraq sent 300 tanks and infantry over the border to capture Khafji to give the Gulf allies a bloody nose. There were whizz bangs going off all over the place and after launching a couple of anti-tank missiles we retreated to the town. We took shelter in Woolworths. The Iraqis were taking a lot of casualties. US pilots flying Warthogs were shooting them like fish in a barrel with Hellfire missiles. The tankbusters were unopposed in the air and they picked off dozens of helpless Russian battle tanks in the dark. After dawn US and Saudi armour finished the job.

The wreckage made good news photos and the war on the ground was a stage nearer.

A week later I was invited to embed –the British army had never embedded before. I signed up, had 16 injections in 24 hours, was issued with a respirator and a Chemical Biological suit and trained in giving myself injections in the event of a biological attack. I arrived at the forward base in time for a briefing where the top Brass told us we were in the spearhead against the Iraqi Republican Guard Tank army and we were expecting to win but also expected to take 30% casualties, including embedded Press. Then we were given the chance to pull out.

Gulf war prisoners

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Shoot and scoot first shots of Gulf ground war

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Mutla Ridge British armour and armoured engineers

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“ The wreckage made good news photos and the war on the ground was a stage nearer”

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Jolly Roger battle for Kuwait

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Letter from home

Gulf war prayers

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Ten days to go I got a ride on a tank to go on a shoot and scoot raid involving 300 tanks, self-propelled heavy guns and rocket launchers. When we arrived at the Border we opened fire at plotted Iraqi targets for about 50 ear-busting minutes. We packed up and drove back to base arriving at dawn. The photos were dramatic the ground war was nearer. The first 25 hours of the war saw me zipped up in a Warrior armoured troop carrier wearing a full chemical suit and respirator, bathed in sweat and my face aching with the tight mask. Four days of the massive allied armies attack on three fronts and the war was over. The Iraq army was soundly defeated. I had watched British tanks destroy 300 armoured vehicles and capture thousands of Iraqis. I had walked through the highway of death with Kate Adie recording the scene where thousands of fleeing Iraq tanks and personnel were blitzed by the US airforce on a six-lane motorway. I ended up in Basra sitting atop a British tank. I had a minor wound when the tank I was sitting on was hit during the charge across Iraq. The figures for the Iraqi dead were shocking and that is why George Bush called a halt. The British army suffered low losses but I knew three young squaddies in their teens - I had photographed them and shared some food with them only two days before. A friendly fire incident destroyed their Warrior killing or wounding them. Josef Stalin said during the WW11 that one death is a tragedy a thousand is a statistic.

Being embedded enabled me to photograph a lot of the action. There was next to no censorship. I had trouble with one shot because a British tank in action was flying the Jolly Roger flag. (Bad taste making war trivial). The only rules were about identifying where we were and no pictures of British dead to be published before the families were informed. I have done it both ways and think each is a valid way to cover a conflict. The tankies, squaddies and gunners were very accepting of my presence and were a positive help to me in getting the shots. The top brass got on with their jobs and let me alone to shoot the war. I have been left with enormous admiration for the British soldier he is a decent brave individual. I still today feel a sting when I hear one has lost his life on duty.

Ken Lennox Hon FRPS


“ I had trouble with one shot because a British tank in action was flying the Jolly Roger flag”

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Documentary Group – North East

The Darker Sideof Protest

Gordon Bates LRPS

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As part of a long term project on protest, I made these pictures during an English Defence League rally and march in Stockton. Although the mood of the group was fairly relaxed at their meeting point before the march, I still made sure that I wasn’t very far away from the police, who were out in strength. Initially, those who had gathered seemed quite happy to be photographed although their mood changed as they were fuelled by alcohol and the rabble-rousing language of the group’s leaders.


I have tried to capture the change in mood of the rally, and the darker side of what the group stands for. The numbers tattooed on the back of the head of the final picture do have a meaning but I’d rather not repeat it here. I’ll leave it to you to look it up. I had to.

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Burmese NightsChris Jennings LRPS

Members Images

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I find the heavy warmth of tropical nights intoxicating after the sharp heat of the days. The closeness of the atmosphere seems to amplify the sounds and smells. The lights throw the world into a relief off light and dark, the contrasts emphasised by candles or bare light bulbs, complimenting the intensity of the other stimulants.

I am seduced by the tropical streets where the senses are assaulted by the smell of spices, steaming pots of food and burning charcoal. I can’t help but join the turmoil of people going about their routines: shopping; eating or drinking; just strolling through the night.

Fortuitously we came across street fairs in both Yangon and Mandalay. I hadn’t expected them; they sprung up, almost like magic in the early evenings to celebrate the full moon, filling the streets round our hotels with the night life that enthrals me. First to appear were the food stalls, woks sizzling, providing sustenance as other activities got under way. The tattoo artists set up shop with their needles or, for those in search of less permanence, wooden blocks and dyes; the sugar cane machine whirred; vendors sold jewellery, mirrors and umbrellas; gambling games appeared, plastic sheets with dragons on them, men with beans hidden beneath upturned pots, girls with dice. Most impressive of all, big wheels appeared, operated manually. I remember watching the first one I came across. The cages were filled with teenagers, the wheel being manhandled round to bring each in turn to the lowest point and then, when all the cages were full, half a dozen youths who had been waiting, swarmed to the apex of the wheel. One youth moved to one side, hanging onto the cage just off centre; the wheel began to rotate. Then another moved, and another; the wheel accelerated. Each youth jumped off as the cage they hung on to reached its low point. The teenagers squealed; this was as good as a big wheel anywhere. They laughed as they spilled off and joined the throng in the street.

I want to show the people. I want to make environmental portraits to show something of the atmosphere. I want to share the heady feel of those Burmese nights through their inhabitants.

Members Images

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News

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News

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News

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News

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News

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Since 1800’s, the word ‘tramp’ has been used to describe those shunned to a life of wandering and vagrancy. Over the past year documenting the homeless, the recurring theme that has stayed with me is the tendency for people to move from place to place. Most often, those I’ve come to know are travelling on an intangible thread of hearsay that the next town will bring the accessibility and change in fortune that is lacking in their current location. What is becoming sickeningly clear is the reality that this is a nationwide situation and their hopes will forever remain in the next place, tantalisingly close, but always a finger length out of reach.

One of the main reasons for this is due to a lack of support because they have no fixed address and are classed as outsiders by local organisations; some of which are designed to provide assistance to those in this very situation. The resulting condition finds many people institutionalised in no man’s land, fighting against themselves and their comfort in a failing support system.

Members Images

TrampDaniel Homewood

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Members Images

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Passing MomentsDaniela Sbrisny

Members Images

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Passing Moments is the result of time spent traveling and photographing that passing. I discovered that I could use my iPhone to condense space and time within one photographic file. I create panoramic files and extract square crops out of these files, which I find most interesting. They can be taken in just a few seconds or take as long as a few minutes depending on speed and context.

I travel for work and also pleasure and love looking out of the window and seeing the landscape pass by me. It usually is quite an engrossing period; a timeless period within which I sit still and the landscape drags past me. It’s an opportunity to see the world just for myself and by myself. It can be nostalgic, dreary but also exhilarating.

I could be traveling through a city or nature; by plane, by train, car or gondola or anything else really, by day or night; I often find something interesting to look at which I then record.

Members Images

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I am based in the Málaga province in Andalusia, Spain. I am originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, but have lived in Spain for about 8 years now.

There are quite a lot of RPS members in my area, and some have formed groups that meet up on a regular basis, have monthly challenges or go out photographing together.

The photos I am showing here are from a morning out with one of my photography friends. We went to the town Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol. Torremolinos is only 7 km west of Málaga airport and was the first holiday resort to be developed back in the sixties when it was just a sleepy village. These photos are from the centre of the town where most of the buildings are from the seventies. Not much or rather nothing has been done to maintain the buildings and the area.

This year my plan is to concentrate more on black and white photography, learn what makes good ones, developing/processing techniques, etc., so here is a black&white selection from our morning in Torremolinos.

Torremolinos Dorte Fjalland

Members Images

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Guy has been working on a three year personal project called Shades of Otara, a black & white tribute to the workers of the Otara markets, in South Auckland.

Just off exit 444 is an Auckland institution, a place where for four decades now people have come to buy, sell, laugh and sing. In 2012 Guy Needham began Shades of Otara, a three-year personal project to pay tribute to the workers of the Otara Markets. His approach was to strip out the colour and the noise, to reveal the humanity below. Seen through monochromatic eyes the work balances quiet moments of contemplation next to homegrown entrepreneurialism, aiming to present the intersection between the everyday and the special. A key part of the creative process was the Maori concept of koha - “giving back” printed photographs to the workers as a thank you for leaving an impression.”

Shades of Otara Guy Needham

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Members ImagesMembers Images

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Members Images

I am currently working on a project to document working artists and designer makers. These are people that use well practiced and carefully executed craft skills to realise their designs, whether it’s a piece of jewellery or a coffee table.

These images are of textile artist Michelle House. Michelle creates striking, bold and colourful wall hangings. Each meticulously created by hand.

One of the reasons I started this project was because of my own experiences at art college and how I had dabbled with all manors of process and techniques for creating art. Observing Michelle as she built the designs up, I was taken back to my college days remembering that satisfying feeling as an idea slowly emerged into a fully realised piece of art, very loosely speaking when referring to my college attempts of course!

My aim for the project is to visit and explore the work of many different people to show the diverse and beautiful work being created in this country today. To date O have visited four people with plenty more visits planned, I’m excited to see where this project will take me.

Designer MakersJhy Turley LRPS

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Members Images

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Members Images

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Members Images

Maggie Jary LRPS

After retiring from a career in food styling (at the other end of the camera!) I gradually became more interested in taking my own images. In the beginning, and perhaps still now but to a lesser degree, I would capture anything and everything that caught my eye. Being largely self taught this was a great way to learn photography and to help me realise what I really enjoy most about taking photographs. Now I still challenge myself with different styles but mostly I love being in an urban situation, or travelling to other countries, with the unpredictability of what might present itself. I joined the RPS in January 2015 and in May I was successful in gaining my Licentiateship.

‘Temptation’ - When I took this I was actually looking for interesting alleyways to photograph. I was just about to take it when I saw the man arrive. I could see that he was tempted to enter the shop but was looking indecisive. At that moment the policeman arrived to complete the scene.

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History Spot

We need two new Committee members that will be elected at the next AGM in April.

The first is a Secretary to replace Wan Fan, who after four years as Secretary (and student) is moving on with his career. The positions requires you: To organise three or four Committee meetings a year plus the AGM. To welcome new members, communicate with members who don’t have access to the internet and to maintain our membership records. Not too much work, but needs a well organised person.

A Committee member to replace Lionel Squire who is leaving after five years on the Committee (including as Chair). Tasks include deputising for the Chair.

Just to let you know that without these two posts being filled we will not have a Committee. Any member is of course free to stand for any post on the four-person Committee who manage the DG.

The DG group is run and administered by its members, we have three vital positions that need filling and we are looking for enthusiastic members to help us keep developing the group and Decisive Moment.

We also need a new Editor for Decisive Moment.

Sadly our present Editor, who did a sterling job on editions 2 & 3 has resigned due to ill health. We need someone to take on all responsibility for pulling together DM every three months and passing it in good order to our publisher. This is a vital role as DM is proving very popular, and would suit someone with a flair for organisation and drafting (journalist? media person? media savvy photographer?) with the time to grow and improve it.

The Documentary GroupNeeds Your Help

If you are interested in joing the team in any of these positions, please email Mo Connelly at [email protected]

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In September 1968 I went to the Farnborough Air Show. I still remember the risks which were taken by pilots in those days, risks which are no longer allowed.

During the show I was watching a Rolls Royce Tyne (turbo-prop) powered French Breguet Atlantic 1150. The pilot gave us a great display, flying up and down on one engine just to show how clever he (or the aircraft) was. The port engine did not restart. The aircraft then turned sharply left onto its final approach. A pretty crazy manoeuvre at any time but this time fate was against them. A gust of wind caught the port wing as the port engine failed to pick up, and the aircraft dropped like a stone.

I repeatedly photographed the scene with a telephoto lens. Then quickly jumped over the fence for more photos. And then I ran and ran in a straight line towards the disaster as if pulled by a magnet.

I had photographed the aircraft as it did its single engine display. I photographed it as it dropped on that final fatal dive and as the smoke rose up, but now I was facing a barrage of MOD Police who strangely did not wish me to proceed any further. So I retraced my steps, jumped over the spectator fence back into the crowd, and ran out of the airfield onto the main road (the A325) by another route.

From outside the perimeter fence the spectacle of the disaster was really quite nasty. Still I framed and focused and photographed, almost automatically, until I had recorded as much as I could of the situation without losing valuable time.

History Spot

Breguet Atlantic

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History Spot

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Then once again, for the second time in only five months I was in the situation of having some hot news pictures which would be of value if I moved quickly. I ran to my car which was parked away from the field, almost as if I was prepared for this unplanned situation. Time was of the essence. I didn’t have a helicopter or even a wire machine for that matter, just my old faithful Mk1 Cortina, so off we went!

For the second time in five months I took a national news story to The Daily Express, and this time they recognised me. They used my pictures on the front page and as a bonus this time there was also a story about me on the inside. This caused quite a stir in news circles because Douglas Cameron of the BBC rang up and said he would like to do an interview for the radio, and “Maybe you will be on Radio Four or World Service or both,” he added. Well I think that interview made Pick-of-the-Week as well!

At this time things were easier in the press world. There were offers of jobs, and some were tempting. But maybe because my father had been out of work for six years when I was a child, I knew there was nobody in this world on whom I could rely apart from myself. I was reluctant to jump into deep water, or jump in any direction for that matter, when the risks involved were not fully understood. We talked money and it wasn’t that much different from my potential at Heathrow. So I stayed on as an Engineer at British European Airways where I had been since the start of my apprenticeship at the age of sixteen.

I have never liked gossip or photographing innocent people who did not want to be photographed. Apart from natural disasters which should be accurately reported, I prefer good news myself anyway. So, I did not take up the challenge at that time, although I did ultimately make it to the top, but my climb was more sure-footed and took much longer.

Alan Holland-Avery FRPS

History Spot

“ For the second time in five months I took a national news story to The Daily Express, and this time they recognised me”

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This exhibition covers a decade of work by the acclaimed American photographer and Magnum member, Alec Soth (born 1969). It brings together four major works – Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010) and his most recent work Songbook (2014). The title Gathered Leaves is taken from a line in the American epic poem Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself (1855), cataloguing the diversity of the nation and also a reference to photography as sheets (leaves) brought together.

Much of Soth’s work is in collaboration with others; journalist or authors, providing a narrative to complement the images. His style, described as lyrical documentary, is in the tradition of photographers such as Robert Frank and Stephen Shore.

Review

Alec Soth – Gathered Leaves

Alec Soth, Gathered Leaves isat the Science Museum inLondon until 28th March 2016.

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/alec-soth

Displayed as projects in separate rooms, the large gallery images are juxtaposed with his note books, collected artefacts, drafts and mock-up books. The images are diverse, ranging from: large landscapes of the vastness of the wilderness or majesty of Niagara Falls, urban images of small towns and suburbs, to portraits of the characters inhabiting these spaces.

Sleeping by the Mississippi, his earliest work, shows in colour, the communities living along the aortic, central river. Niagara, in a similar tradition, explores communities around the Niagara Falls region. Monumental images of the falls, are juxtaposed with images of the ordinary, urban. Broken Manual, takes a different approach, a journey into the wilderness and unknown to explore the worlds of America’s ‘hermits’ those who have discarded society and chose for various reasons to live in isolation in the wilderness. His latest project, Songbook, offers a further change, with a move to exclusively monochrome images.

For the aspiring documentary photographer, the exhibition provides an insight into his working methods- with evidence from his note books, collected artefacts and ephemera, early layouts and mock-ups of books and texts. It shows an approach to long term and immersive projects that go beyond mere photo essays into “photo novels” that provide a rich and diverse narrative.

By Mark Phillips ARPS

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Representing a major retrospective of his work in early monochrome and colour photography, together with sketches, notebooks and a small selection of painted artwork; this exhibition is not to be missed.

Saul Leiter (1923-2013) was given a camera at the age of 12 by his mother and at the age of 23 moved to New York to pursue a career as a painter. He continued his photography and worked almost exclusively in his East Village neighbourhood, studio and New York’s streets.

His early work in black and white, could be considered ‘quiet’, with candidly observed images. But he adopted colour early on, in 1948, and began to experiment and use it with inventiveness, with photographs taken, for example, through frosted or rain splattered windows, creating an impressionist like image. In the 1950’s the art director Henry Wolf published Leiter’s colour fashion work in Esquire and Harper’s Bazaar, and examples of his fashion work are included in the exhibition. His approach, unusually for the time, is abstract and painterly with innovative compositions and use of bold colour.

His imagery does not represent ‘decisive moments’ or the reality of social events, but is impressionistic, using composition, shape, colour, blur, depth of field to convey a sense of tension and mystery. Although his work is associated with street photography, it does not possess the hard edged or graphic imagery often associated with this genre in late 20th century New York, instead the images seek beauty or an almost poetic nature. They depict a vision of New York that is unusual, unique, yet still unmistakable.

Despite late recognition, particularly for his pioneering work in colour, Leiter’s work has more recently been influential in a number of areas, notably influencing the colour design in Carol (Todd Haynes’ acclaimed 2015 film). His published books, Early Black and White (volumes 1 and 2), Early Color and Retrospective (reissued for this exhibition) provide a reference source for photographers seeking ideas on composition, colour and aesthetics – challenging and inspiring.

A ‘must see’ for 2016.

By Mark Phillips ARPS

Review

Saul Leiter – Retrospective

Saul Leiter: Retrospective is running at the Photographers’ Gallery,London until 3rd April 2016

http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/saul-leiter

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Members Images

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In September 2009 Celine Marchbank’s mother, Sue Miles, was diagnosed with lung cancer and a brain tumour.

“While I was trying to come to terms with the fact she was dying, I decided I wanted, or maybe needed, to document the time she had left. I didn’t want to create a graphic portrayal of her death, it would have been impossible and wrong to focus only on the dying part, but rather I wanted to photograph our last months together. I looked at the things that made her uniquely her, the details in her house I thought I knew so well, the things that would also be gone when she was.

Her love of flowers was a beautiful part of her personality; the house was always full of them, and as I photographed them I realised they were symbolic of what was happening – they represented happiness, love, kindness and generosity, but also isolation, decay, and finally death.”

Celine Marchbank is a documentary photographer specialising in British based stories, fascinated by the small everyday details of life. Based in London, she spends her time between personal documentary projects, exhibiting work regularly, and undertaking commercial and editorial work. She is also a regular sessional lecturer in documentary photography at Ravensbourne University in London. A Fellow of the RSA, Celine Marchbank has exhibited widely throughout the UK. Tulip has already received widespread acclaim and Celine’s work has been shortlisted for several prestigious awards including

The European Publishers Award For Photography, The Deutsche Bank Photography Award, The Lucie Foundation and the Emergentes DST International Photography Award. Tulip is her first book.

Tulip. My Mother’s FavouriteFlower.Celine Marchbank

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Preparations are now well under way for the imminent launch of DPOTY 2016, so we thought that we would give you advance notice of some of the important changes that we have incorporated into this year’s competition. Here they are;

• We have changed the entry categories from the previous Experts and Enthusiasts distinction-based method. For 2016, there will be two new categories, Colour and Monochrome.

• Entries will still require five images but we have dispensed with the requirement to provide an accompanying statement. We shall however, need a title for the series.

• This year, you will be able to submit your entries as high-resolution images, we have partnered with theprintspace whose facility, the hub, will host the competition.

• We have opened the competition to all 11,000+ members of the RPS. This will mean that the winner’s accolade and the title Documentary Photographer of the Year will be even more prestigious. This is no longer a Documentary Group competition, but managed by the DG, and will now be the RPS Documentary Photographer of the Year.

• A dedicated micro-site will be incorporated into the main RPS site. We shall also maintain our http://dpoty.com site that will act as an information centre.

• We have lengthened the period over which your entry images may be taken. Any image taken since 1 January 2015 will be valid, the closing date for entries is 31 August 2016.

• The growth of the Documentary Group has been a terrific success story in the last few years so we thought we should provide a collaborative element as well as the competitive buzz. To this end, we shall incorporate EXCHANGE 2016, a facility to share your favourite books and resources with your fellow documentarians. We’ve seeded EXCHANGE with a few of our favourites at http://www.dpoty.com/exchange.html but we would very much like to hear about what has inspired and excited you.

DocumentaryPhotographerof the Year 2016

DPOTY2016

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There will be some very interesting prizes for the best three entries in each category, PLUS the prospect of seeing your work exhibited when we celebrate the work and achievement of the winners.

We’ll be back in contact with details of how to enter and all other relevent information in the very near future. Good luck and if you need to contact us, the email address is [email protected]

David Cantor DPOTY Organiser

DPOTY2016

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The Documentary Group (formerly the Documentary and Visual Journalism Group) focuses on photography which chronicles everyday life in the broadest possible way, as well as topical events and photography which preserves the present for the future. It is typically found in professional photojournalism, real life reportage, but importantly for us it is an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, often of people.

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If you’re not a member come and join us see:http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/ documentary/about/dvj-membership

Find us on the RPS website at:http://www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/documentary

Join our Forum at: http://www.rps.org/rps-forum?g=topics&f=50

On Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/groups/2764974@N25/

On Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RPSDVJ/

Members form a dynamic and diverse group of photographers globally who share a common interest in documentary and street photography. We welcome photographers of all skill levels and offer members a diverse programme of workshops, photoshoots, longer-term projects, a prestigious annual Documentary Photographer of the Year (DPOTY) competition, exhibitions, and a quarterly e-journal “Decisive Moment’. In addition to our AGM and members get-together we have an autumn prize-giving for the DPOTY incorporating a members social day.

Some longer-term collaborative projects are in the pipeline for the future. Additionally, we have an active Flickr group and Facebook page.

Members are offered in 2016 a single-use discount of £25 on any paid DG event.

Overseas members pay £5 per annum for Group membership rather than the £15 paid by UK based members.

The Documentary Group is always keen to expand its activities and relies on ideas and volunteer input from its members.

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Slone by David Cantor LRPS

Designed & Published by Jhy Turley LRPSwww.jhyturley.com

www.rps.org/special-interest-groups/documentary

rps the decisive moment march 2016

Documents