Twice
a year in May and November the DPS awards distinctions to
members in recognition of acheivement in photograph. There
are three levels of distinction awarded by the DPS, for those
who wish to apply and to be considered for them.
LDPS
or
Licentiate, the starting point.
ADPS
or Associate, the next rung on the ladder with a higher
level of skill required
FDPS
or Fellowship, the highest distinction awarded and not
unsurprisingly the hardest to achieve.
The
requirements for each do vary in the skill level and the number
of images required. They also become harder to fulfil as you
climb the ladder, but they are not unobtainable,. With some
effort, thought and usually with some help from those who have
already "been there" and "got the T shirt",
as it were, it is very possible and rewarding to acheive.
We
are currently accepting images as prints or slides, but not a
mixture of the two. Images can be a mixture of colour or black
and white. In 2008 we will be accepting images on disc for the
first time. Please click here
for more information or on the menu at the top of the page
Applicants
do need to be a member of the society and all images must have
been taken during their period of disability.
The
assessment panel sits twice a year and your images and
application forms need to be with us no later than the 30th
of April or the 31st of October for inclusion in the
relevant sitting.
Your
images will then be assessed by the distinctions panel who will
take into account any difficulty encountered due to a
disability.
The
panel is chaired by Margaret
Salisbury, who along with John Chamberlain and Anne Cassidy,
assess each application on its individual merits.
Margaret
Salisbury, who joined the DPS some years ago, took up photography
35 years ago. First going to evening classes to learn how to put
a film in the camera and what the dials were for!
Then Margaret started teaching the same class 6 years later and
continued to teach for 25 years.
Joining
the Royal Photographic Society she gained an L in 1976 an A
in 1979, after failing miserably at her first attempt. Margaret
has been involved with the Licentiateship panel of
the Royal Photographic Society for years as panel member,
deputy and then one of three Chairmen and now Chairman and
team leader of the panel.
Amongst
many distinctions and honours she was awarded the Fenton Medal,
mainly for services to the L panel and helping people with their
distinctions which number several hundred over a period of
seventeen years.
Although
she enjoys Assessing, judging and lecturing Margaret still loves
her hobby, still has a darkroom, rarely used these days but
enjoys all aspects of photography and still thinks of herself as
a "pictorialist" but has taken pictures of anything
and everything when the opportunity has arisen.
