{"id":9115,"date":"2019-10-17T12:09:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T11:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/colinwalls\/?p=9115"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:58:17","slug":"success-can-be-elusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/2019\/10\/17\/success-can-be-elusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Success can be elusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I attended the assessment of my work with which I was endeavoring to get an ARPS [Associate of the Royal Photographic Society] award. It was my third attempt – I was hoping for third time lucky. I started this process 5 years ago and wrote about my first attempt here<\/a>. This time I worked very hard to get everything right. I took advice from a very good source. Got some input from fellow photographers. I made sure that I dotted all the Is and crossed all the Ts. But I went along to the RPS, knowing that I would see some other submissions that would blow me away, others that would leave me cold and would have no certainty of success myself \u2026<\/p>\n

To apply for an ARPS, you are required to submit a panel of 15 pictures, which must be arranged in a suitable way. Here is mine:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Also, there must be a \u201cstatement of intent\u201d that describes what the set of pictures is all about. Here is what I wrote:<\/p>\n

I enjoy the use of indirect imaging – silhouettes, shadows and reflections – particularly to depict a mood or an atmosphere. Reflections are the most expressive. The ubiquitous utilization of glass in modern cities means that reflections are many and varied. I have applied them to illustrate the vibrance and vitality – verging on chaos – of the urban environment, using a series of individual images with a common aspect ratio that depicts a sense of scale, and a presentation that complements the reflections.<\/em><\/p>\n

The assessment process is quite straightforward. The pictures are displayed at the front of the room. The panel of [4] assessors look at them – from a distance and close-up. A couple of the assessors then pass comments – some kind of feedback. Then they vote [this is not visible to the audience]. And the chairman announces the result. This will either be that they will be recommending the submission for acceptance [and the submitter is identified and congratulated] or that they are not making a recommendation. In the latter case, the submitter\u2019s anonymity is maintained and the feedback is written up to send to them later. My name was not announced.<\/p>\n

The initial comments were that I had quite an original idea and approach and the presentation of tall, thin images was novel and made sense. Then there were some specific comments:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The middle images on the top and bottom rows were too similar in color.<\/em> To my mind, they are not that similar, but they are consistent in tone.<\/li>\n
  2. The top right image is not vertical.<\/em> This is true, but I would contend that buildings – particularly reflections of buildings – do not actually appear vertical when you look up at them unless you hold your head perfectly straight, which normal human beings do not do.<\/li>\n
  3. The quality of the images was inconsistent, giving the impression that they were just pulled from a library to complete the set.<\/em> Although this is true, I would contend that the \u201cquality\u201d of reflections is incredibly variable by their very nature.<\/li>\n
  4. The focus of the images was mostly on the reflecting surface, not the subject being reflected.<\/em> I suggest that the person saying this should actually go and use their eyes and look at some reflections.<\/li>\n
  5. The choice of glossy paper means that they attract dust.<\/em> Please excuse my Anglo Saxon, but FFS! If I had used matt paper, they would have carefully explained that, for reflections, I needed high gloss.<\/li>\n
  6. The set was more style than substance.<\/em> I will refrain from comment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I could fix (1) and (2), but the rest seem not to be fixable [to me].<\/p>\n

    Having seen a number of assessments, I always have the impression that the panel decide whether they like a submission or not in a purely subjective way. If they decide to reject it, they then come up with some justifications. They would, of course, deny this.<\/p>\n

    As I left the place and went to find some lunch, I had two questions in my mind. First, am I going to have another shot at it? I will have to think about that one. Second, what do I do now? That was easier: take some photos. I had my camera and I can find pictures anywhere. Here are a couple:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    It seems that I can still do it …<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This week I attended the assessment of my work with which I was endeavoring to get an ARPS [Associate of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71677,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[302],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-9115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-off-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10830,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9115\/revisions\/10830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9115"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=9115"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=9115"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}