FIAP Club World Cup Competition 16/01/21

Towards the end of last year HPIC took the decision to try competing at the highest possible level in the world of club photography, placing an entry into the 15th annual FIAP Club World Cup. It was a high stakes decision, as the contest pits clubs from all over the globe against one another. As you would expect, the standard of work on display is superlative, with every club putting forward their very best images.

The 2020 edition of the contest saw 213 clubs from 51 countries submit 4,242 images in total. Given the scale and scope, our expectations were that we would give a good account of ourselves but would realistically place somewhere outside the top 100.

Limited to two entries per author, we chose to put forward 20 images from a total of 12 members. With this entry we scored 357 points with 12 acceptances. For comparison, the Eurasia club of the Russian Federation achieved a score of 406 and 16 acceptances, placing 1st overall.

It is with great pride therefore that we can announce that HPIC placed a fantastic 26th out of 213. Whilst not a medal position or even in the top 10, it is an amazing result that far exceeded our expectations when embarking on this endeavour. It cannot be overstated what a huge achievement this is for our club. Congratulations to each of the authors on their entries and acceptances.

The full list of results from our club is set out below along with the score and details of any acceptances:

James Gibson - Stallion at Liberty - 19 (Accepted)

Alan Stopher - Coin Collectors - 15

Alan Stopher - Taking a Break - 17

Barbara Sheldrake - 80 and Working - 17

Susan Gibson - Dancing in the Moonlight - 14

Duke Gledhill - Sunrise at Windermere - 20 (Accepted)

George Fewster - Greybeard - 18 (Accepted)

Graham E Sykes - Winter Sheep - 13

George Fewster - Lockdown - 19 (Accepted)

Harry Wentworth - Escape to the Country - 16

Harry Wentworth - Working Girl - 18 (Accepted)

Tony Renshaw - City Scape - 21 (Accepted)

Kevin Lloyd - Iranian Icon - 18 (Accepted)

Paul Campbell - Pip - 20 (Accepted)

Paul Campbell - The Dancer - 21 (Accepted)

Richard Fulcher - Going Round the Bend - 20 (Accepted)

Richard Fulcher - Wild Goose Chase - 20 (Accepted)

James Gibson - Splash - 21 (Accepted)

Tony Pratt - Hill Climb - 14

Susan Gibson - Warrior Princess and the Guardian - 16

You can see the Eurasia club's winning entry and all the individual award winners on the FIAP website. HPIC's entry is shown below:

Group Critique 13/01/20

Tonight saw club members embracing more technology in using the breakout rooms in

Zoom. Members were sent a selection of previous monthly critique digital images from the

club's archives to use for critiquing. These were a selection of images from different

genres namely, portrait, landscape, still life, nature and topics that were used for

previous monthly critiques.

On the night members were assigned to a room/team where they could chat and

discuss the images. Seven teams were made up of members with different skills sets

within the club.

Each team had 3 random numbers and these related to the images that the team were

asked to critique, looking for the usual things that would immediately class as judge bait!

It all provoked a lot of discussion and thought before feeding back to the club in the

second half of the eveing.

Images used and those which were critiqued brought back fond memories of members

who are no longer with us, club outings and stories behind each image.

A small selection of images displayed on the night are shown below.

Author: Graham Sykes

Author: Philip Wood

Author: Colin Gower

Author: Barry Jackson

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.