The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB), offers Awards of Photographic Merit (APM) by Print, PDI and Audio Visual. There are three levels, Credit, Distinction and Master. The first MPAGB/AV was awarded in 1999. Since then, there have been 23 applications, yet only 10 have been successful.

 

I am 62 and happily retired. I started in audio visual by making slideshows about foreign travels. Then I became interested in AV Competition. I was successful at DPAGB/AV in 2019, however, in 2021 I was unsuccessful at M. I had to up my game. As a PAGB AV Advisor for C and D, I knew I needed help. I went through the official PAGB Advisor route and worked tirelessly with my mentor. For ‘M’ you have to submit at least 3 shows with a running time of 15-20 minutes and is often described as “not quite impossible”.

 

I felt that my first show was the weakest of the three. 'Photographer's Paradise', features iconic Icelandic landscapes with wham-bam music for the first half and some relaxing piano for the second half.

 

I thought that my second show was my strongest, 'All Human Beings'. It used iPhone6 images from the Oscar Schindler Museum and Auschwitz. I used a harsh high contrast 'Look Up Table' for the first half and a more sepia-toned LUT for the second half. The change occurs with a change in the music and is very subtle. The music was supported by victim testimony.

 

I considered my final show as a bit of a risk, 'A Landscape of Love'. It was a new show, untested in competition, but it had a lovely story about life, love and loss, set against the dramatic landscapes. It included a visual impression of the Sword of Damocles to imply impending death, followed by a few seconds of silence.

 

All images were post-processed with ON1 Photo Raw, including the iPhone jpgs. Each audio visual was created with PTE AV Studio Pro (for Mac).

 

My AV work can be seen on my youtube channel, please click here.