Message from Tony Riley of the SPA - PAGB APM Workshops

[Canonballer]

All,

Please see message below from SPA Moderator, Tony Riley
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I would be grateful if you would draw this opportunity to the attention of club members as soon as possible.

Having held three PAGB APM workshops in the SPA in recent years we are not intending to hold one this year.

However, we have received notification that the Kent County Photographic Association (KCPA) will be hosting a workshop on 23rd and 24th August and they are kindly inviting members of SPA clubs to attend.

Individuals should apply direct and full details are available on the KCPA website here:
http://www.kcpa.co.uk/2014/05/apm-workshop/

Please note that the SPA will be hosting the APM Awards weekend in April 2017 and we will be looking to hold another workshop in Surrey during 2015 to assist those that may wish to apply for this assessment on our own territory!

Thanks and regards,

Tony Riley
moderator@surreypa.org.uk

______________________________________________________________________________________________

[Mike Farley]

Thanks for posting, Dave.

I do like the way that SPA (Surrey Photographic Association) blithely assumes that everyone will know what APM stands for. Awards for Photographic Merit.

If you want to get letters after your name for photography, this is one way to do it. The PAGB (Photographic Alliance of Great Britain) scheme has one advantage over the equivalent distinctions from the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) in that there is only a one-off payment to be made for the assessment. If you are successful, the qualification remains with you for life, whereas the RPS expects a substantial annual payment as its distinctions can only be held by those who belong to it.

[Rose]

Interesting... Have we some members who'd care to share their experience of going for a PAGB award ?

[Mike Farley]

Interesting... Have we some members who'd care to share their experience of going for a PAGB award ?

I have not gone in for a PAGB award myself, but they do take quite a different approach to the RPS when considering submitted images.

With the RPS assessments, if submitted as prints all the images are displayed simultaneously and are judged both as individual images and cohesiveness as a panel. This can be quite a challenge as an entry will fail even if the individual images reach the required standard should the assessors feel that there is too much repetition, the images do not work well together or the panel is poorly ordered. LRPS panels are marked and the distinction is awarded if the entrant achieves the pass mark. For the higher distinctions, the assessors simply state whether or not they believe the panel has been successful. Some dissension is allowed for the ARPS, but unanimity is required for the FRPS and the decision is subject to ratification by a further board before the award is made.

By comparison, the PAGB marks the images individually and makes the award if the overall score reaches the target. There are six adjudicators scoring between 2 to 5, but not every one of them has to award the pass mark of 4 for each image. Last season Clive Tanner gave us a talk and included his experience of getting a DPAGB, complete with images. Apparently, his first few shots did not do that well and his running total was falling short, but he then started getting higher marks and at the end was in excess of the minimum score.

There is more information on the PAGB website, which answers most questions about the process.

http://www.thepagb.org.uk/merit.htm

[davidc]

I must admit I had no idea that the SPA people even ran workshops in the first place even though I checked their website & the PAGB website. Wonder why they are cancelling it?

[Mike Farley]

I must admit I had no idea that the SPA people even ran workshops in the first place even though I checked their website & the PAGB website. Wonder why they are cancelling it?

+1

I do not find SPA to be especially communicative (and they do not respond to e-mails unless chased), so perhaps there has been lack of support for workshops no one knew about? The best way to engage them seems to be via criticism (including construed, implied or indavertent) using the feedback section. Perhaps, Dave, you would care to make an enquiry from the safety of Singapore?

[davidc]

Don't tempt me!

In fact, I tried checking the SPA site to see if my question from March had been answered only to find the site is blocked here at work for "malicious content" which did make me giggle!

[Mike Farley]

Don't tempt me!

In fact, I tried checking the SPA site to see if my question from March had been answered only to find the site is blocked here at work for "malicious content" which did make me giggle!

It looks as though your workplace's Internet policies are protecting you from yourself.

I can find only one comment on the SPA Viewpoint from March, so I assume that it is yours. If it is, for some unfathomed reason you opted not give your name this time.

Here' a screen print of the question and, yes, response. Hopefully, including such dubious content on the forum will not get it blocked as well and we can keep communicating here.

[davidc]

I can neither confirm nor deny that I would want to withhold my name from SPA.

[Mike Farley]

I can neither confirm nor deny that I would want to withhold my name from SPA.

PS - I am trying to work out if you are up late or early in your timezone.