LRPS Portfolio

Judgement Day

The morning of 14th April 2010 will remain firmly fixed in my memory as a morning of tension, nerves, high pulse rate etc! Sitting in the conference room at the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) HQ in Bath awaiting judgement on my portfolio is enough to send anyone's blood pressure rocketing.

I had submitted my portfolio of ten images (in digital form) for assessment by the panel of five judges, with the warnings about the high failure rate for portfolios submitted on CD rather than as mounted prints ringing in my ears. I had thought that the morning might start with judging of the printed offerings but no, it was CD's first. The judging process for each portfolio took 10 to 15 minutes. Each image must meet the required standards as well as the portfolio overall covering the required range of subjects, techniques and style as well as the sequence 'flowing'. Whilst someone might have nine superb images, if the tenth has a flaw (a blown highlight or is oversharpened or is of weak composition etc etc), the whole lot fail. Similarly, if there is not a broad enough range of subjects and techniques, then it will fail. The first two were deemed to be failures, the third was successful - and then it was my turn. It is difficult to describe the relief when Madam Chairperson, having totted up the score sheets, stood up and pronounced my digital offerings as suitable for the award of the LRPS Distinction! The following two CD's failed, so just two out of six were successful. I stayed on to watch judging of the printed portfolios and of the twelve I saw, only three failed, so clearly printed output (of the right standard) can be the better route.