Whether you are interested in landscape, street, portrait, macro or other genres, getting involved with a camera club or photographic society is a great way to raise your skills and meet like-minded people.

The Royal Photographic Society was founded in 1853, just 14 years after the announcement of photography, and is recognised as one of the world’s oldest societies for photographers. See www.rps.org

The Royal Photographic Society, or RPS, is the world’s oldest photographic society with royal patronage, and has announced its 2024 Annual Bursaries. These aim to help support photographers develop, finance and realise a wide range of projects, so are well worth applying for.

Furthermore, the funding can be used to support aspects of a project such as research, travel, equipment, website development and creating an exhibition.

All bursary projects are published in the Society’s magazine, The RPS Journal, and on completion of the projects, each recipient will also have the opportunity to have their portfolio printed by printing and framing specialist Metro Imaging and receive remote mentoring from its director, Steve Macleod.

The RPS Bursaries now open for applications

  • The RPS/MPB Postgraduate Bursary. This bursary, worth £3500, is designed to support postgraduate students undertaking photographic research or studying photography at postgraduate level. In addition there will be the opportunity to loan photographic equipment from leading used specialist, MPB. The closing date is June 10th.
  • TPA/RPS Environmental Bursary, in partnership with The Photographic Angle. This second bursary, worth £4000, offers funding to support a project that promotes environmental awareness and presents these issues to a wider audience. It is open to all those living, working or studying in the UK. The closing date is July 15th.
  • The Eamonn McCabe Bursary. Named after the award-winning sports photographer and picture editor who died in 2022, this new bursary is organised in partnership with The Guardian and the McCabe family. It will give £3000 to a photographer aged 25 years or under to deliver a photography project responding to the theme of ‘sporting endeavour’.

    ‘This can be interpreted as widely as the applicant wishes, but the general approach should be editorial and suitable for publication,’ said the RPS. Again, it is only open to those living, working or studying in the UK.
Eamonn McCabe, in whose name the RPS Bursary is awarded. (image courtesy of Rebecca Smithers).

For more information on the bursaries, see here.

Further reading
Latest RPS Award winners announced