A DORCHESTER photographer is setting his focus on a full-time career after achieving a second prestigious accolade.

Ian Alcock is a landscape photographer in his spare time with a passion for capturing images of Dorset.

After winning a competition run by the Dorset Echo for his contribution to its book Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year in 2012, Ian decided to take his passion to a new level and looked into gaining distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society (RPS).

Last year he gained his RPS licentiateship at his first attempt and this year has been working towards the next level, an associateship.

Applicants need to show 15 images of ‘exceptional standards’ along with a submitted statement of intent before the entry is considered by a panel of assessors. Ian said: “I had decided to enter the ‘Professional and Applied’ category and continue my creative studio work that I also enjoy when not taking landscapes.

“My statement of intent was to achieve professional quality images suitable for advertising or abstract pieces of fine art, but on a tight budget.

“I used hand-held strobe lighting sourced from eBay and created my own studio light modifiers and generally used objects found around my house.”

Ian said that he was warned the assessors would be experienced and well-respected members of the RPS but he could not believe his eyes when he met the panel.

He said: “When they walked in I couldn’t believe that one of them was Joe Cornish, who is regarded as one of the gods among landscape photographers.

“So the standard had to be the best to get past these guys.”

Ian added: “The emphasis is on a very high standard of technical skill relevant to the purpose of the photography, but also you have to demonstrate that you have applied imaginative and visual skill.”

During the session Ian attended, 17 photographers made their submissions and he was one of only three successful applicants.

He said: “This has meant that I have achieved firstly my LRPS then moved up to ARPS in consecutive years and both at my first attempt.”

Ian said he hoped the achievement would help him move towards his dream of becoming a full-time landscape photographer who also commissions to create advertising and fine art imagery.

To find out more about Ian’s work visit mydigitaleye.net