Ten members of SCC attended the Sussex Fed P.I. competition at Wivelsfield Village Hall which was hosted by Mid Sussex Camera Club, whose Chairman Alec Pelham introduced the gathering to the Judge Steve Lawrenson ARPS APAAGB, who is a member of Reigate CC. Alec said that Steve had visited a lot of the clubs in the Region; however he has not visited us and he seemed to penalise us for this oversight in his marking of our entries! (joke)
It was a fact that most of our entries did not inspire him and I will not reveal whose images got what marks. A committee selects our entries; suffice to say that Anne Nagle was the only person to get good marks for us getting 18 for her ‘Razorbill Pair’ and 16 for her ‘Black-eyed Susan’ images.
Steve awarded only Five 20s, one in each round as it happened, and they were really outstanding pictures. The first was of a butterfly resting with dew on it and its perch from Rye CC. The next was the best of the competition which came from Worthing club and was a very well set up shot of a human fist breaking through a glass pane with water and glass scattered around the fist. It must have taken a lot of thought and was amazing.
Bognor got the next 20 with a fantastic shot of a Barn Owl with its head down whilst hunting. I was amazed that Bognor had such a good Natural History photographer in their midst as our first two judges this season came from Bognor and did not know a Mushroom from a Toadstool!
Steyning got the next 20 in the fourth round with a well seen and stunning panoramic shot of a line of people all standing in a row, but not in an orderly fashion, using HDR. Finally, Seaford got the last 20 with a set-up shot involving a Marmite pot and some liquid falling down in front of it, again a very well set up image.
The final winners were Seaford CC who got 89 points out of a possible100 with ChichesterCC and EastbourneCC sharing second place with 87. Steyning were a creditable 5th with 83, and we were sadly 18th out of 20 clubs with only 73 points. In our defence, this competition has clubs of a very high standard who again are nearly all bigger than ourselves. But, on the plus side, we have a very good chance now of winning the cup awarded to the most improved club next year!!?
Steve is to be congratulated on giving short sharp deliberations on each image so we were ’done and dusted' in two hours, which must be a very welcome record, no rambling on about what’s in the picture in front of us which we can all see!
Anne remarked that she could imagine me writing this report in bed (stop it!), but she would have been surprised to find me doing it at 4.30 am which is what happened. I am not an insomniac, but if I wake and have something going on in my mind, it is better to get it down on paper and go back to sleep.