The Committee

Regional Organiser

I find photography a great way to engage and record real world events, at the same time being a rewarding activity. I am a member of both the Analogue Group and Nature Group. I enjoy both digital and analogue photography. Analogue photography, in particular, slows me down in my thinking of the final image and getting the exposure right. I also enjoy putting together photobooks and have created one on Iceland based on several recent visits and, in 2021, between gaps in lockdown, I created two street photography books focusing on the City of Birmingham

Hi – this is me, an independent minded photographer who does her own thing and (these days) does not worry about the accolades of others. 

I have chased the gongs and gained the letters – DPAGB, EFIAP, GPSA, FIPF and ARPS.  Don’t get me wrong there is a lot to be said for doing this as you learn a lot along the way: what works, what doesn’t.  How to improve.  But I love Photoshop and fiddling and diddling, so produce fantasy work and that is very often not seen as ‘real photography’ by many.  In the defence of creative work I do point out that often my images can have many layers of different elements to complete the final image and that means every part has to be a good image or the finished article pays the price. 

RPS wise I have had an interesting volunteer career here.  My many roles have included organising a local DI Centre, Sec then Chair of the Digital Imaging Group, the Chapter Organiser for the Netherlands whilst living there for 6 years, a Distinctions Assessor on the Licentiateship panel and from 2019 to 2021 a RPS Trustee.  Volunteering has bought me into contact with many interesting and inspiring people over the years 

I got involved with photography on a reasonably serious basis when I was in my mid-teens and joined the RPS some thirty-five years later in 2010.  I shoot mainly digital images but also do a little experimentation taking monochrome images using vintage and antique 120 roll-film cameras and developing my own film.   Apart from record photography my work tends to be a cross-over between Travel and Contemporary Photography and I am a member of both RPS Special Interest Groups.   My ARPS (in Contemporary Photography) was based on the relationship between geology and human habitation in Greenland.  I also convene Contemporary Southwest and am a member of the national Contemporary Group Committee where I seem to have written the Groups definitive non-definition of Contemporary Photography (available on the RPS website).  Although I am not a landscape photographer as defined by the RPS, I am interested in landscape as defined within geography, namely as the interaction of people, places and things and the way in which this relates not just to photography but to other disciplines.  I have degrees in Chemistry and Theology, am a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Member of the Royal Geographical Society, although the word member here has two very different meanings. I also enjoy writing and have lectured to a wide range of audiences in many different subjects. 

My passion for photography began in my early teens and goes back to the late 1950s. In 1960 I set up a photographic darkroom for developing film and printing monochrome. I had a keen interest in nature and this led me into a career in marine environmental research with important collaborations all around the world. When digital cameras and Photoshop became available in the late 1990s this enabled a more Visual Art / Creative approach to my photography.

In the late 1990s I rekindled my photographic interests and joined the RPS. At this time I was producing Cibachrome colour prints from slides.  I finally closed the darkroom in 1998. Then in 2005 my photography became totally digital (capture and printing). Retirement enabled me to devote a little more time to photography. My photographic interests are diverse and include nature, visual arts / creative, landscape, travel and sport. Active participation in the RPS and Plymouth Camera Club significantly enhanced my photography and added new dimensions to my work.

In 2010 I gained the Associate Distinction of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) in the Visual Art category with a panel titled ‘Dartmoor Impressions’. This was primarily achieved by ‘intentional camera movement’ and long exposures with moving subjects (e.g. rivers).

In November 2013, I was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) with a panel in the Visual Art category. It was titled:-  'The Metamorphosis of Stardust:- The Story of Creation'. Every image reflected the diversity of life in order of first appearance, from single-celled organisms to mammals. The images of creation were inspired by and derived from the colours, shapes and textures made by rust, rivets, and crazed running paint on the metal gates of an old scrap yard. More than 200 macro-photographs provided a ‘palette’ used to visualize and represent all aspects of nature.

www.johnwiddowsphotography.co.uk

I started taking photographs when I was about 7 with a hand me down box brownie.  The summer I left school I earned enough money doing a holiday job to buy my first SLR, a Praktica VF. This of course was completely manual, and I also bought an exposure meter. Consequently I learned about exposure in a way which is not needed by most people in these days of automation. I progressed to a Pentax MX which gave me excellent service during an eventful 3 month journey in a double decker bus across Asia in the mid-70’s.  I joined my first camera club (Paisley Colour Photographic Club) shortly after this. In the eighties I moved to London and went to a small local club, which I didn’t particularly like. As a result I joined the RPS and attended a number of their events in London. In 1989 I moved to Brisbane and was almost immediately contacted by the RPS Queensland representative, and urged to join Brisbane Camera Group and not the other good club closer at hand. I did and ended up as President. I returned to the UK, settled in Cornwall and continued my association with the RPS, gaining my “A” with slides some 20 years ago. I’ve been running the postal print folios for the SW Region for at least 13 years. I belong to Truro Camera Club and do some judging. I am not interested in studio photography nor anything “set up”  and I am not creative but will photograph almost anything else. I particularly enjoy natural history, travel, dogs and documenting the relationship of man with animals. In my view we live in a wonderful world and I want to document it as well as I can. 

Webmaster

Sheila lives in Exeter and  started her photography with slides in 1986,  and joined Exmouth Photo Group where she was Secretary for 18 years, Chairman for 3 and now the webmaster.  She joined the RPS in 2010 and gained her ARPS in both prints and audio visual. 

A keen photographer who enjoys all genres of photography and her main enjoyment is giving presentations with her prints and audio visuals to clubs and Associations far and wide.  Sheila has also had many years of judging experience.   At present Sheila has immersed herself into the Audio Visual World as she feels this is making the best use of all her photographs and a way of telling stories.

Sheila's Portfolio