Our 5th competition of the 2021-22 season took place on 14 April; a physical meeting with additional Covid precautions, instead of being a virtual meeting on Zoom. The judge was David Hughes ARPS CPAGB BPE2*, based in Surrey. David’s primary interests are photographing wildlife and landscapes, though he has also photographed many other genres – quite fitting for reviewing our images!
Our 5th competition of the year is always ‘set subjects’, this year “breaking the rules” for prints and “negative space” for projected images. The images presented were particularly creative – we like breaking the ‘rules’ and many argue that there are no ‘rules’ in photography!
Favourite images of the evening
The judge’s favourite print of the evening was “Walking in the Sun’s Spotlight” by Dean Sephton; which broke several ‘rules’. Despite this the image worked well, telling a story and could even be used as an illustration in a magazine said the judge. Printing on matt art paper brought extra emphasis.
The judge’s favourite PDI of the evening was “Experienced Listener” by Nigel Cherry; described as a well-lit and beautiful portrait of an elderly lady, obviously listening to a speaker who remains out of shot - hence the negative space.
Being the judge’s favourites, these were each given a bonus point and were therefore awarded 21 points.
Prints
In total there were 16 print entries. Of these, two received the full 20 points, two received 19 points and two scored 18 points.
Those scoring the full 20 points were:
- “Walking in the Sun’s Spotlight” by Dean Sephton, already described – a lovely image of a walker on the beach judged best printed image of the evening and …
- “Abstract Seascape” by Liz Barber – an interesting and very delicate abstract image of a beach scene which is very much open to interpretation.
The prints scoring 19 marks were:
- “Seed Heads” by Dean Sephton – a curious and deliberately noisy image which has a charm of its own and which the judge described as ‘brave’.
- “On the Edge” by Janet Brown – a nice and interesting portrait with half of the subject out of shot; another brave and very creative image.
The two images scoring 18 points were:
- “Groynes” by Martin Tomes – a beach scene with an interesting sky, breaking a couple of ‘rules’.
- “Into the sun” by Daisy Kane – a very well composed image of very interesting seating at Littlehampton; the image taken directly into the sun.
The remaining images are too numerous to describe individually but also won plaudits from the judge, who was very impressed by the standard of printing in the club. A number of other judges have also made that comment, so it must be true!
Projected Images (PDIs)
In total there were 29 projected images, of which three scored the full 20 points, three scored 19 points and three scored 18 points.
The three images scoring 20 were:
- “Experienced Listener” by Nigel Cherry and already described – a very delicate portrait judged to be the best PDI of the evening.
- “Wasp Drinking” by George Reekie – a very skilful macro shot of a wasp drinking, having landed on water; lots of negative space and a beautiful reflection.
- “Tawny Grissette” by John Gauvin – a very detailed macro shot of fungi, with interesting colours and lots of negative space.
The three images scoring 19 points were:
- “Cloud Slicing II” by Janet Brown – an interesting view of the sky with what appears to be a tall building slicing through a cloud; another creative and challenging image for the judge!
- ”Ox-eye Daisy” by Kristina Byng – a very skilful image focusing the eye on the head of the flower with lots of negative space surrounding it and
- “Crossing the bridge” by George Reekie – a delightful image showing people crossing a bridge in silhouette with no detail anywhere else.
Those scoring 18 points were:
- “Drooping Daffodils” by Kristina Byng a very enjoyable image of daffodils, past their prime, spread out against an empty white background,
- “Can anyone out their hear me” by Liz Barber – an interesting landscape with an air of mystery and intrigue and
- “As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean” by Chris West – a very clever image, exactly what it says in the title.
The remaining images are too numerous to describe individually but also won plaudits from the judge.
The judge’s comments on all images, both prints and PDIs, may be viewed in the attached files. The images themselves may be viewed by following the links at the head of this report.
Following a very enjoyable evening, Janet Brown brought the event to a conclusion with a vote of thanks to David whose insights and tips had been much appreciated.