Advisor, Revvity
Search every verified Robert Friel interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Rob Friel, an advisor at Revvity, discussed how he earned an Associateship distinction from the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) using images taken with an iPhone. In a 2019 interview, Friel said he began taking photographs through train windows during his commute, using apps to process the images on his phone. He stated that he created a body of 20 images, which he presented at an assessment day, and noted that he was the second person to receive an RPS distinction with images taken from an iPhone. Friel described the process as requiring passion and commitment, saying that the RPS panels are bodies of work rather than single images. He said that he edited down 300 to 400 Instagram images to select 15 that told the right story, and advised others pursuing a similar goal to choose a subject they are passionate about, as the process took him two years. He added that achieving the distinction meant a great deal to him, given the respect associated with it.
“I started looking for apps that allow me to do the processing on the phone so I started creating images on the train on the way to work on the way home and that evolved into another 20 images that I took to an assessment day with Ray Spence and Sue Ellen.”
“Only the second person to have a distinction with the images taken from an iPhone or camera is quite an achievement actually when I didn't know that until you'd said today's.”
“The RPS panels are bodies of work, they're not just single images. It's no good having 10 or 15 single images, you've got to create a body of work and I think that takes more than just producing a few nice pictures; it's a bigger commitment, it requires that you show vision and passion.”
“It means an awful lot to me to have achieved this distinction, especially knowing the respect given to those who have them.”
“If anyone else is planning to do what you have done, go for an A panel. My advice would be: pick something that you are passionate about. It took two years to do this, so you've got to want to take the pictures.”
“You’re not going to be able to do 15, knock them out, get them right and submit them; that happens very rarely. It takes a lot of time to find 15 images, and there must be 300, 400 images on Instagram that were edited down and selected to tell the right stories, to give the right shapes of frames, to have the right col...”
“It's a great thing to do, it's a great journey to go on and I think it elevates you as a photographer. So do it, but do something you're passionate about and can keep going at.”
Rob Friel ARPS explains how he became an Associate by using a camera phone to shoot through the windows of a fast-moving ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Robert Friel.
The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →