Several Club members had successes in this year's annual portfolios from the Scottish Photographic Federation:

One acceptance into the portfolio came from Alistair Birnie ("Triangle Plaza"), two from Rob Buchan CPAGB ("Barn Owl on the Prowl", "Family Group"), four from John Thom CPAGB ("Riding the Storm", "Storm Force", "Storm Season", "The Storm") and two from Doug Winton ("Hillwalking", "The Fire").

Well done to these members whose photographs will now be part of a portfolio circulated around most of the other Scottish Clubs in the coming year.

Full results and details of the event can be seen on the Federation's web site.

A photograph by Club member John Thom (CPAGB BPE1) has been awarded a Commended status in this year's Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year event.
John's photograph can be viewed at slpoty.co.uk/photographer-gallery/john-thom.
The complete collection of winning images can be seen at: https://slpoty.co.uk.

One of our Club members, Rob Buchan CPAGB has had a recent success in the 2024 Winchester National Exhibition run by Winchester Photographic Society His accepted entries in the Nature and Pictorial Colour sections can be seen here: https://photoexhib.com/winchester/results-2024/custom_gallery.htm?ent=1227

From the Edinburgh Photographic Society:
The Edinburgh International is one of the most highly regarded photographic exhibitions in the UK, and one of the few Print only International Salons in the world. Our Exhibition attracts thousands of entries from all around the world. Our Exhibition has built a strong reputation since its inception in 1861, the year Edinburgh Photographic Society was formed. Unlike many exhibitions, we only accept what we can display thus, gaining an acceptance is a high achievement and much sought after by photographers who enter year after year. All accepted prints are displayed at Edinburgh Photographic Society’s premises during the Edinburgh Festivals in August when the exhibition receives thousands of visitors from all over the world, many of whom visit year after year.

Congratulations to Club member, John Thom CPAGB BPE1 who gained an acceptance in this year's exhibition. The accepted print is shown here:

Another successful CPAGB (see http://thepagb.org.uk/awards/apm-awards/) from a Club member - this time the panel comes from John Thom, submitted in the form of 10 prints. His successful panel is shown below.

Entering the adjudication process for the Awards for Photographic Merit can be a daunting but rewarding task. At the start you have the choice of entering PDIs or mounted prints. My preference was to enter prints as I could be confident of the image quality and colour without relying on a third party projector. In general prints also do a little better in the adjudication process than PDIs as I believe the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain prefer images to be printed. The process for mounting and labelling the prints is quite specific and requires careful planning and a degree of skill.

For CPAGB ten photographs require to be entered and each is judged on its individual merit by six adjudicators. The voting process is complex but essentially an average score of 20 points (the lowest score per photo is 12, the highest is 30) is required in order to give a pass mark of 200 or over to gain the award. Choosing ten photographs is a nerve wracking process and it can take up to a year to select and appropriately edit the ten to submit. They can be in black and white or colour, or any combination.

What will help in the selection process is entering photos into Camera Club Competitions, entering photos into National and international salons such as the Rushden Open and taking part in judging feedback sessions held by the Photographic Federations, in my case at Carluke by the Scottish Photographic Federation.  I also greatly appreciated the help and advice given by my fellow members of the Aberdeen Camera Club and my family who helped narrow down my selection and ultimately providing advice and feedback on editing, composition and comparative merits.

Time and patience is required until there is a final nail biting moment when the adjudication happens, in my case in Nottingham. This can be attended as a live event, or in my case by waiting at home in Aberdeen for some feedback. Being honest it was touch and go as I knew a couple my photographs were weaker images and I was relying on seven or so images that had done well in national competitions. They saved the day and carried me through and I am now the proud owner of a CPAGB badge.

My advice to anyone considering entering and award process is plan carefully, follow all the advice and recommendations of the Photographic Alliance, ask your camera club colleagues for help and above all produce and display your images to the very best of your ability.

Rob Buchan CPAGB

[More details of these awards can be found here: https://www.scottish-photographic-federation.org/pagb-awards]

Congratulations go to one of the Club's members, Rob Buchan, for his recent success in achieving the prestigious CPAGB award (details here https://www.scottish-photographic-federation.org/pagb-awards), one of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain's "awards for photographic merit". His successful panel of 10 images is shown below.

The results of the annual SPF Portfolios for 2023 are now out. Three of our members gained acceptances, with 1 acceptance for Alistair Birnie, 2 for Rob Buchan and 2 for John Thom (13 out of a possible 15 points from 3 selectors were required for an acceptance). Overall the Club came 7th out of 26 in the Projected Digital Images (PDI) section.

Two of our members, Rob Buchan and John Thom, have recently had several of their photographs accepted into this annual exhibition's portfolio. Out of over 5000 total submissions, our two members gained 4 acceptances. More details of the exhibition can be seen at https://photoexhib.com/dingwall/results-2023/results.htm.

Two Club members have had great success in this year's Scottish Photographic Federation Portfolios competition. The majority of Scottish photography clubs are represented in this annual event so competition is fierce.

Overall, the Club came 4th in the Monochrome Print section and 6th in the Colour Print section. The awards (SPF Gold Medals) for the best photographs overall in these two sections both went to Club members: John Thom for "Edge of the Storm" and Rob Buchan for "Osprey Fishing".