We welcomed Tony Baverstock LRPS last Thursday. His background is in landscape, still life and infrared BW photography. Having spent 25 years on the Surrey judging circuit, this was his first in Sussex. He reminded us that there was only one person we had to please, and that was not him, it was ourself. Overall, he commented that we had so many gorgeous prints, and he was impressed with the way they were mounted, saying that this was the window through which you look at the images. He often suggested a slight crop of parts of the image that weren't adding to the overall effect.
The scores ranged from 15 to 20, with 14 images being held back, and ultimately 25 gaining an 18 or over, so I have a task and a half to write this one up! Tony was aware that we have only one league of photographers, and was perhaps being less harsh on us all as a result.
Peter Picthall scored an 18 for a portrait of 'Blondie', which was beautifully sharp, and the model seemed happy to pose for him as he was definitely looking at the photographer.
Pairs of 18s went to Ray Foxlee and Derek Grieve. Ray's two were 'Dreaming Spire', a beautiful BW with the spire on the third and lovely dappled sunlight, and 'The Lady Chapel', showing the architecture and detail in the stained glass and altar cloth. Derek Grieve's 'Next brood of bee eaters' earned the comment “for someone who's doing what I think they are they don't look very happy!” 'Weatherfront Brancaster', had no half boats to spoil the enjoyment, although Tony did suggest cloning out a couple of buoys, saying that he was a terrible one for taking things out (I'm glad its not just me).
Anne Nagle trumped Ray and Derek with two 18s and a 19. The 18s were both Shard related. 'The Shard at Twilight', a very difficult building to photograph (don't I know it, just tried again this weekend!). Tony loved the colour of the sky, and the converging verticals pointing to the Shard itself. The night-time image 'Tower Bridge View', one that Tony was 99% certain was taken from the top of the Shard, had the river creating a lovely smooth diagonal, stopped by the light from the bridge itself. Finally another bridge gained her a 19: 'Ponte Vecchio' gave a different perspective on a second much-photographed place, especially as it was again taken at night with the reflections nicely filling in the water.
Jane Coward's person in 'Guilty' on Littlehampton's longest bench, with the No Climbing sign in full view, perhaps didn't look guilty enough to have been caught, but the image certainly showed a full range of tones, gaining her an 18. Earlier in the session, her held back image 'Bumblebee on coneflower' went on to get a 19. Commenting that “everything that needs to be sharp is sharp”, Tony was pleased that she had made the right decision with her shutter speed, as it worked extremely well.
Daisy Kane also had double success with an 18 and a 19. Almost at the end of the evening, the 18 was for her 'Aysgarth Falls'. Liking her long shutter speed and large depth of field, Tony enjoyed the milky water, in which she had still retained detail. 'The Fair and the Fireworks' was made up of a series of circles, and “the eye travels from circle to circle”. Commenting that “you chose you time well” Tony enjoyed the lack of people causing any blurring of the image.
Di Walker opened her account with an 18 for 'Keeping up with the News'. Tony suspected that we would want him to suggest a crop of the door on the left-hand side of the image, but he was happy with this as it was. He enjoyed the peeling paint on the door, and it closed on the gap where the main subject was sitting, so it worked. Her held back image 'Sunrise in Munnar' earned a well deserved 20 with its beautiful recession, the whole thing being “absolutely beautiful”.
Two photographers spread all three entries over 18, 19 and 20. Martin Tomes seems to have really come back to form this season. His 18 was for 'Cwymorthin Cottages', with beautiful light on the stone and surrounding hills, an image that was beautifully sharp right the way through. Moving up, 'Autumn Colour' was an impressionist woodland ICM image, which Tony had apparently tried himself the other day, getting one shot out of 20-odd attempts. Saying that you have to try new things, Tony liked the effect Martin had created. His best result was for 'Alison Neale', a live music image showing a saxophonist, beautifully lit and beautifully sharp. Debating whether she should have been playing, Tony decided the story was that she had finished, and was accepting the applause (although I heard a different story from the author!).
Norman Kirby has really become a photographer to be reckoned with. An 18 for his third entry, 'Castle Ashby', a landscape with “not a person in sight”. The composition was excellent, showing the complete building with the sun giving the third dimension, and a nice bit of fluffy cloud. 'Band Ready Sir' was all about the three guardsmen filling the frame, although with enough room around them to show us the situation. The colours looked right, and the exposure was perfect, retaining the texture in their black trousers and white belts. 'Puffins' gained the top mark, with detail retained in the black and white feathers, and in the rock on which they were standing. Although rules are made to be broken, this trio of puffins worked well as a natural history shot, and as a story, with Tony wanting to know what one bird was telling the other two!
The two other 19s of the evening went to Glenn Donnelly and Jean McWhirter. Glenn's 'Bluebells at Bedham' was a very peaceful quiet picture, beautifully sharp and the right colour. Pleased that they were English bluebells, not Spanish invaders, Tony felt the out-of-focus background worked extremely well. Jean McWhirter's 'Ice Wave' was amazingly detailed, and very beautiful, and Tony felt it might have been a 20 but for a couple of slight distraction.
'Calla Lily' by Liz Barber was a very well-deserved 20. The detail in the flower was beautiful, and the way Liz had presented the flower was excellent (I have to say that this was my favourite image of the night). Tony recounted a tale about a similar image he had taken which did well for him.
Now I get to the embarrassing part of this write-up, which I can't avoid any longer. I had two images held back, and both scored 20. First up was 'Launching into a lowering sky', my shot of Bembridge lifeboat which many of the club had seen in our 3 from 5 evening. I followed the advice given there, and I believe it helped enormously. Finally there was 'Windblown' a dandelion macro taken without a macro lens. Describing how we read photographs from left to right, Tony said that the diagonal from bottom right to lop left was “aggressive” (my heart sinks) and really strong (!). I was absolutely amazed when it was deemed to be the best of the night. Yet again an image that came out of nowhere for the 365 project has done me proud.
I am personally so impressed with the prints our club are producing. I know myself how difficult the colours can be to reproduce faithfully, and have sometimes changed to BW for an image as a result. We are also producing images that are sharp where they need to be, which is something we have often been pulled down on in the past (don't ask about my third entry of the night!). All of us are capable of producing something extra special, and I am proud to be involved in this club! (P.S. Thanks for making my wedding anniversary a bit special).