Recognition, titles: Fostering improvement or vanity and gatekeeping? - e.g. Royal Photographic Society's ARPS and LRPS

@koraks “idealistic organization “. I doubt that any not-for-profit professional society would use those words. While most have ideals and standards they maintain, it seems that your use of the word differs. They are at their hearts small businesses that struggle to survive to achieve their goals. And generally it’s quite a struggle to fund the organization and keep the mission moving. Memberships and endowments often are barely enough. Conferences and book sales help. Maintaining active members is paramount, whatever it takes to accomplish that. There’s always attrition and new members but steady income and participation of established members is really important.

That is the longest title @ photrio I have ever seen..Congratulations.

awty said:

That is the longest title @ photrio I have ever seen..Congratulations.

Click to expand...

It was a little shorter originally, but it was modified later on to add nuance.

@BrianShaw re:RPS working as 'small businesses', I recognize what you said but avoided the term 'business' because I feel that's more of a commercially-oriented kind of entity where the economic dimension takes precedence. Still, it's undeniable that not-for-profit organizations like RPS also have an economic dimension to their operations. I also acknowledge that it's a perpetual challenge to keep such an endeavor funded.

I'd like to thank once again @RalphLambrecht @cliveh and @David Lingham for their insightful, first-hand contributions. I understand your motivations a little better now and can imagine why each of you chose to proceed the way you did. I also recognize that some of the questions I expressed initially do indeed appear to be confirmed in your accounts; i.e. that it's not always clear what the sustainable added value of these titles are and how these titles relate to development (or perhaps better put: that the title and the development process are loosely coupled).

I'm a member of the RPS (I first joined as a student around 1966, but let my membership lapse until recently), and never sought these qualifications, ARPS etc. However in 2023 I was awarded their Progress Medal and Hon FRPS for science-related work ... I should add this was a complete surprise, totally unsolicited, and given for work I did nearly 50 years ago which turned out afterwards to have some impact.

I can't really comment on why people apply for ARPS etc, but would like to point out that the standard of photography, in diverse areas, exhibited by the RPS is amazingly high. As an example, look at any edition of their bi-monthly Journal, which has a truly outstanding section of prints. They are not solely "old fashioned" on the one hand or "modern" on the other, just a collection of really really interesting photos of exceptional quality.

So perhaps having their programme of qualifications is all part of raising the standard of photography?