Big Spender -man of distinction.
I was hooked on photography long before the age of the digital camera. It all started with an £8 Kodak Instamatic camera which became my constant companion for many years. Whilst so many people used the slightly cheaper option of colour prints I preferred to take all of my pictures as colour slides, or transparencies as they were known by the “posh people” of the day.
It started to develop into a passion but it also became a drain on my finances. There were no second chances — once you pressed the button then the picture was taken and you could not go back, your money had been spent.
My main skill area was also my biggest problem. Composition just came natural to me and I would see a photograph where others would see nothing at all. I therefore tended to take many more pictures than the normal person which rather had a debilitating effect on my cash flow.
As in all walks of life you can be totally brilliant at what you do but if you do not possess a degree of marketing skill and knowledge of your audience then you will struggle to succeed. This is true in the world of photography and I shall always be grateful to the Wellington Camera Club for providing the knowledge base to enable me to make the best use of my talents.
I started winning camera club competitions and was over the moon when some of my slides did well in regional camera club events.
Imagine the thrill when I was informed that one of my slides had been accepted for the prestigious “Royal Photographic Annual International Colour Slide Exhibition.” The story behind this slide highlights how I used my knowledge gained at the club to provide the audience with an image that stood out from the run of the mill photograph.
I had just put a slide into the waste paper basket as it did not meet the high standards that I looked for. This was a picture from my front room window of a recent snow shower. Something made me pick it up again and start thinking about what I could with it to make it different.
It was decided that I would make a “slide sandwich” which is where two slides are sandwiched together to create a third new image. On my desk was a plastic transparent document folder. If you held this up to the light you could see lots of tiny bubbles within the plastic. I cut out a piece the size of a slide and sandwiched it over the original. The result was something really original and it was titled “It’s sno storm.”

I then went on to become a “Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society.” To gain this distinction you had to submit a set of slides to be judged by a panel of Fellows of the Society. This gave me the right to use the letters LRPS after my name. I was so proud of this — the first member of my family to have letters after his name, well the sort you could put in print anyway !!
However, once again the finances took a hammering as the annual membership of the RPS was rather expensive. After several years of being an active member I found myself in a difficult situation.
I had just been made redundant and had to tighten my financial belt.
The first things to go were the non-essentials in life, such as my RPS membership. I wrote to them explaining the situation and stated that as soon as I was back in employment I would of course re-commence my membership.
The letter I received back from the RPS was a shock. They told me in straight talking terms that I must now never use the letters LRPS after my name again as I could only do that if I was a paid up member.
Now hang on a crazy minute here — had I not been judged by my peers to have attained a standard worthy of the distinction? Well seemingly not, as when the Gods giveth an honour then they can also take it away!
Determined not to let them win, I have continued up to this day to tell the world how proud I was of that distinction by stating, where appropriate, that I am an “ex Licentiate of the RPS.” Let them complain about that !
