Support to Cafe Art
As part of the educational charitable work in which the RPS is engaged, Members from London Region support the photographic activities of Cafe Art, a social enterprise company which helps people who are homeless or affected by the effects of homelessness through art and photography. Each Summer, CafeArt runs the MyLondon Calendar Competition which produces a calendar of images taken by people who are or have been homeless. It sells this calendar which is sold by the photographers who receive “commission” with the balance of income supporting CafeArt’s activities.
Photography Mentoring
Since 2015, Members of the London Region have been offering photography mentoring to people who have participated in the CafeArt Calendar Competition.
In 2018, we started a structured photography mentoring group for photographers who have participated in the calendar project. This is run by Julian Rouse LRPS supported by regular mentors Judy Hicks LRPS, Fred Barrington FRPS and Pat Simmons LRPS. Typically, twice a month it organises a field trips around London followed a week later by online feedback and learning sessions. Members of the group participate in an annual exhibition (2023: Brixton Library; 2024: Putney Library) to showcase their work. Their 2024 exhibition was included in our 2024 Members; Exhibition.
The mentoring is restricted to mentoring their photography skills, but the regular nature of the programme and the building a collegiate group amongst mentors and mentorees assists with helping them to become part of the mainstream.
The composition of the group changes over time as some move on to other things and new members join. The current group is about 13 regular members.
Funding Appeal for new cameras
New members to the group do not have cameras, so use cameras provided for the mentoring sessions. As they become more involved and their photography improves, some established members of the group buy their own cameras.
The growth of the group means that we now need to purchase new cameras for the newer members of the group and also to replace our existing cameras which are now quite old or have been damaged. Currently mentors bring along some of their own cameras which they loan to mentorees for the field trips. This results in the mentorees using a mixed bag of camera makes and models which complicates the mentoring process because each mentor is only familiar with their own brand of camera and are frequently unable to assists mentorees using other brands. And the functionality available varies between cameras - further complicating the mentor's task. Having the same cameras will simplyfy this part of the mentor's role and commonality of controls and functionality will benfit mentorees as progess along their photographic journey.
We are appealing for funding to purchase 10 new cameras which would give the mentorees who need a loan camera for the field trip the same brand and model allowing mentors to understand fully the functionality and controls of one camera model. It also facilitates mentorees helping each other with the operation of the cameras.
To donate please follow this link
https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/25740
Other support for CafeArt and the Mentoring programme
There are opportunities for Members to help with the mentoring programme and also help with the single-use camera handout for the annual MyLondon Calendar Competition.
If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please contact Julian Rouse by e-mail here or Judy Hicks by e-mail here