Photographic Qualifications And Distinctions

Introduction

A useful way of developing photographic skills is to work towards qualifications.

TDCC has one of the highest % of members with qualifications and distinctions in the UK.

The primary awards that members enjoy are delivered by Open University, The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain PAGB).

Open University: https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/short-courses/tg089/

The Digital Photography course offers a really good way to establish a wide range of knowledge and skills for those at the early stages of development. It is a 10 week, 100 hour online course. The website above provides all the details you need.

Our members have found that this course provides them with:

  • A good understanding of photographic:

    • Composition

    • Exposure

    • Colour

    • Expression

  • Encouragement to understand a variety of genres

  • Experience of providing and receiving feedback

The 10 week course is quite intensive – there is much to study and research and images need to be taken each week to support the learning. So members find that they need to plan to do this course at a convenient time.

The course culminates in the presentation of 10 images and supportive documentation. There is no ‘examination’ but the images are assessed and a mark is given.

We encourage members to study this in pairs for support and encouragement and an experienced member will act as coach – providing guidance and help – especially in selecting and ensuring the submitted images are of adequate standard.

12 of our members have passed this qualification with strong marks – so there are plenty of people with whom to discuss this further.

For those that want to go a bit deeper, there is also the ‘Photography as a Language’ Course https://www.oca.ac.uk/courses/photography-as-language/ - again a 10 week / 100 study hour programme that looks at Photography as art and helps the student to understand key approaches to thinking in photographs and making photographic work.

Royal Photographic Society https://rps.org/qualifications/

Having achieved the OU course, many members develop their skills further by aiming for the distinction: Licentiate or Royal Photographic Society (LRPS). The link above provides lots of information on this and other levels of qualification.

The key points are:

  • The qualification is measured by the production of a panel of 10 images.

  • There is no examination nor formal study or timeline

  • To achieve the standard to deliver a panel of 10 excellent quality images will normally require self study of:

    • Photographic techniques

    • Post Processing

    • Presentation

    • Artistic creativity in combing the 10 images into a cohesive panel

  • Whilst a high standard of images is required, it is also important to demonstrate creativity in images and in the way they are presented in the panel.

TDCC will provide an experienced member to act as a coach to all those studying towards this qualification. The coach will help them understand the standards required and what learning may be needed.

The Panel is assessed by a panel of judges who decide if the panel should pass. Be aware that this is a high standard and many people do not pass first time.

The TDCC coach will give advice on how to ensure you will have an 80% chance of passing.

The time taken for this project is anything from 1 to 4 years.

11 of our members have passed this qualification – so there are plenty of people with whom to discuss this further.

Some members then move on to higher levels of qualification with RPS: Associate and Fellowship.

Photographic Alliance of Great Britain Awards (PAGB). https://thepagb.org.uk/awards/apmstill/

As an alternative to RPS qualifications the PAGB also offer a ladder of qualifications – staring with ‘Badge – and all the way up to ‘Master’ – see the link.

PAGB qualifications have been around much longer than RPS and are more common in most camera clubs. The main difference is that each image is judged individually (no panel) and the level of quality expected in the image is higher than that in RPS qualifications. So this qualification is especially helpful to those that may be more focused on great individual images, rather than a ‘style’.

TDCC will provide an experienced member to act as a coach to all those studying towards this qualification. The coach will help them understand the standards required and what learning may be needed. PAGB also provide judges to pre assess your images and offer good advice on whether they will be likely accepted / could be improved.

TDCC Development Programme

Our club has an extensive development programme available to all members. This offers primarily zoom courses that are designed to help embers develop their photographic capabilities to understand what it is to take ‘crafted images’.

This programme incorporates advice and support for those studying for qualifications.

Please contact Peter Cox club.president.tdcc@gmail.com for any advice on qualifications and the development programme