Just as judging is a personal view, so is report writing, and the authors assessment of the competition. In my humble opinion Don Mitchell was in top form judging our prints and projected images, with concise critiques of each picture focussing on technical detail and composition rather than the common trait we have experienced from some judges of lengthy descriptions of the content of the picture.
The marking could be described as harsh, but this after all was Best of Year, and there were considerable variations from the original score a print received to that received in this competition, which either reveals that our earlier judges were to say the least generous, or that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I leave you to be the Judges of that.
The winner this year was Daisy Kane with her “Hot Air Balloon”. Don said that of all the competitions he has judged this year, this picture would always stand out as one of the best. High and well deserved praise indeed. How Daisy is going to follow this years success I don’t know, at least for photographers like myself the only way is up!
Joint second, both with 20 points were Martin Tomes with “Tranquillity” which Don felt showed excellent gradation a comment and mark received from a previous judge, and Peter Michell with “Emma” who was rated higher by Don than the previous judge. This I feel was because of Don’s expertise in portraiture recognising Peter’s skill in this field.
There were two 19s, one from yours truly “Paarl Monument” and one from Max Burns entitled “Shelter” which I feel was correctly marked this time. Don’s comment was that it deserved to be a true black and white picture, which might have cost it that magic twenty.
There were also two 18s, Paul Hayward with “Dali was here” and Di Walker with “Field Flower”.
Another good year with three excellent and varied pictures receiving top marks in a highly competitive competition.