AV News 196 - May 2014
A W a y o f L ife
Keith Brown FRPS MPAGB APAGB EFIAP FIPF
The day I gained my FRPS in AV was
one of the most stressful days of my life
but also one of the proudest. Mike
Woolnough and Vic Hainsworth offered
me use of the new Royale projector but
as I had not seen one before - it looked
so alien - I politely refused and tried not
to notice Mike and Vic's amusement as
I lined up the Gaf projectors.
Sir George announced my name and
I nervously switched on - amazingly the
first sequence came to life but when it
finished Len Smith said that the left
channel was misfiring! I tinkered with the
Amp and made it acceptable and
thankfully the other four sequences
projected OK. The panel retired to
consider their verdict - they were gone
for ages!
Eventually I was called in; the panel
was split and Sir George was to have
the casting vote. He thought my AV's
had a certain style and he particularly
liked the endings. So I was awarded my Fellowship and I will always be grateful
to the panel members, and particularly to Sir George, who recognised that I had
something. So why am I telling you all this?
I didn't quite appreciate what a life changing moment that day would be and
almost immediately I was invited to show my work to clubs. I teamed up with
Clive Atkins and we travelled to Scotland on a tour of four clubs then in 1987
another friend Richard Brown invited us to join him on the memorable '9 o'clock
Sharp' tour of Ireland. This led to the three of us doing shows and workshops
all over the country.
In 1992 I was a member of the jury at the RPS International AV Festival in
Bath and it was there that I met Doug and Barbara Mullins who later invited me
to Adelaide to be a panel member at the first Adelaide AV Festival in 1994.
My wife Kate guided me into the digital era and we enjoy presenting our AV )อก