Arriving early after a couple of photo-a-day opportunities in the clear frosty dawn, I was glad I had picked up a free coffee at Waitrose, as the tea and coffee volunteers weren't ready to start selling, although to be fair it was before “doors open time”. I stayed out of the way chatting to a 365 friend. Proceedings got under way fairly promptly with an introduction from Ken Scott of what is the first exhibition style inter-club competition in Sussex with the entries grouped into two divisions, the Development and Open categories (probably the first in the UK). It was apparently inspired by Ken's experience of judging something similar in Ireland. The Development class was designed to allow the entry of images from club members not normally in the running for selection. The first running of the new format had caused quite a bit of consternation in the SCC committee. Would we be able to compete against the much larger clubs, such as Chichester? I certainly feel we held our own, but more of that later.
The three judges were Glyn Bareham LRPS CPAGB, from Invicta Photographic Club in Maidstone, Caroline Colgate ARPS from Bracknell Camera Club (another fellow 365-er), and Paul Adams DPAGB ADPS from Bexleyheath Photographic Society. In the morning session, the images were actually judged, starting with the Development section. Firstly we were all show around 15 images so that the judges could gauge the standard. Then it was into the competition. Each image was projected, and its title read out. The judges then pressed a button (without any conferring) to score the image from 1-5 marks, giving a total score of 15 per image. Any image scoring a 5 from one or more judge was then put forward into the best of category individual competition. There was no way of knowing which club each image came from, and I had a slight problem working out which were ours, having not thought to print out a list before I went! Ken described later that a score of 10 upwards was a good result.
'Radiating Flower' came up first for us in the Development class from Jane Coward, scoring 11, one of which was a 5. Then came 'Soaring' from John Gauvin also with an 11, but no 5. 'Young Love' from John again got a 10. 'Snatching the Moment' from Paul Hayward was only a 7. 'Dahlia' and 'Valletta High Street' both scored 9 for Alex Swyer, and 'Flower with Attitude' from Anne Nagle was another 11, with a 5. The only one I hadn't managed to pick out was our best scoring one, 'Urban' by David Burton, at 12 points. After the judging, the audience were asked to leave, so that the judges could deliberate their gold, silver and three bronze “judges choice” awards, but we were kept in the dark as to any results until the end of the afternoon session.
Allowed back into the hall, we moved on to the Open class. My (Janet Brown) 'Sun Khosi Rapids' was up early, and scored a 9. 'Quiet Time' from Ray Foxlee gained a 10, but his other one 'Architect's Plaything' was only an 8. 'Cheetah Cub' and 'Lunch in the Kruger Park' from our chair, Chris West both scored 10. Derek Grieve's 'Marbled White Butterfly' went one better at 11, as did 'Snow Bunting Singing' from Jean McWhirter. The best score of the Open section for SCC was Ian McWhirter with 'Arctic Terns Courtship Flight' at 12, with another 5.
With the Open section judging over, we were again asked to leave so the judges could choose their individual honours in this category. I went for a little wander around the area (industrial estates, but some pleasing shadows from the lovely sunny day), before having a look at the Longridge mountboard cutter company stand. At least I won't get told off for spending money this time, as Dave is always on at me to replace my cutter blades, and I got a good discount on a pack of 50.
For the afternoon I was joined by 6 others from SCC. With the judging completed, the format for this session was that images were displayed as a slideshow then panel for each club in turn. One of the judges then made some comments about two of the eight images from the club, not necessarily the high-scorers. There were certainly a few more obvious teething issues with the software in the afternoon, but the whole day did run incredibly well despite these slight annoyances.
The images chosen for comment for SCC in the Development class were 'Radiating Flower' and 'Soaring' On the first, the judge enjoyed the detail in the centre of the flower, and the abstracty feel of the zoom effect on the outer petals. 'Soaring' was a very simplistic image, giving a feeling of movement, and the bird had a strong position within the frame with lots of space around it.
In the Open class, the judge liked the way that the mother of the 'Cheetah Cub' was down the track, but her cub had taken note of the photographer and was looking back with an expression of wonderment, giving a feeling of involvement. It was a natural type of Natural History image, telling a little story. 'Arctic Terns Courtshp Flight' was yet another good NH image, capturing the speed and agility of the birds well. Shown very clearly against a mottled background, they have plenty of space around them, and one was caught mid-squawk, which was very well captured.
Overall, SCC came 11th in the Development class which was won by Mid Sussex Camera Club, 10th in the Open, won by East Grinstead CC, and 13th overall out of 19 clubs entered. Our arch rivals, Steyning did very well, coming 2nd in both categories, and winning overall, so well done to Steyning. We just have to remember that they have around 120 members, and have split into three ability groups this season.
The overall best image of the day was a lovely beach scene called 'I'm Watching You' in the Development class from Stephen Tattersall of Chichester CC. This was the only image that scored the maximum 15 points, and was the judges unanimous winner.