Results from the South Devon Photographic Exhibition

I guess I better let you know that I am going for my FIAP and BPE distinctions.  What these give are letters after your name which reflect the fact that you are a regular contributor to photographic salons, that is competitions; and if your work is accepted reflects a level of photographic competence. This ultimately gives you credibility as a photographer and allow access to locations for projects that you may wish to pursue.

Both FIAP and BPE work in a similar way in that each accepted image earns you a single point.  These count towards hierarchical levels that will over time culminate in the highest accreditations if you are successful.  The first level of FIAP is know as Artist (AFIAP) which required 40 acceptances from 15 different photographs, 15 different competitions salons, 8 different countries and a minimum of 4 being prints. This last point means that they can't all have been digitally projected images. You can rise to attain a Master (MFIAP) but this takes a number of years with increasingly more demanding requirements (http://www.pagb-photography-uk.co.uk/fiap/criteria-for-fiap-awards.pdf)

Similarly the BPE accreditation trail requires a number of acceptances to attain what is called crown awards.  This begins with the Crown 1 for 25 acceptances, Crown 2 for 50, 3 for 100, 4 for 200 and the top Crown 5 for 300 (http://www.b-p-e.org.uk/index.php/awards).

At the time if writing I have 45 BPE and 126 FIAP points. As yet I have not applied for any distinctions but will do so later this year.

Anyway I wanted to get to the point of the post after this little bit of background. I had the results from the South Devon Salon and had 4 accepted out of 8 images submitted. But what I found interesting is that the two that have gained a FIAP silver and bronze medal as well as three other awards scored 7 with 6 being the lowest and didn't even get accepted. I guess the point is not to expect great things in each salon as taste is different from one judge to the next.  But to actually write down the names of the judges who panned the images so that you don't submit them into another salon if they are judging.  Likewise to write down the judges who loved your work so that they may again award high marks.  That is of course no guarantee as the standard of the images may be higher.

Anyway I hope this will help some entering salons in future or an interest in FIAP and BPE.  Some of you may also be wondering why I did not mention the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) and PSA (Photographic Society of America) distinctions, well it is simply too late in the day and I will leave it for another time.