My fellow 365-er Malcolm Bull stepped into the breach when our booked judge developed a sore throat and was concerned his voice might not hold out, indeed he subsequently needed 2 days off work, so I guess we have to let him off!
It was nice for SCC members to meet Malcolm without the moustache he was growing for Movember when he last judged for us.
Throughout the evening, Malcolm had good control of what he felt was a Sussex image, and he recommended we have a look at the work of Finn Hopson for characteristic South Downs photography. He also commented often that the photographer would have been better going back at a different time of day or lighting conditions, to avoid the flatter light of the middle of the day. After all, we live in Sussex, so its not as if we have far to go!
Eight images were held back, and another eight scored an 18 without being held. Ray Foxlee opened the 18s with 'Just Sketching' where the composition and conversion to BW worked well for Ray (as usual!), although it could have been a wide variety of places. Alex Swyer's 'Steyning Bowl' could easily have been one of Malcolm's images in his Flickr photostream, as he often goes there when he thinks there is going to be some mist. He congratulated Alex for keeping an eye on the weather forecast, and being up there to capture the scene, but suggested that bracketing and an HDR conversion might help with the high contrast. David Burton's very Sussex scene 'Disconnected' showed Brighton's West Pier in all its decaying state from an interesting viewpoint. A moody sky helped, and the BW conversion worked well. Next came Jean McWhirter's 'Sussex Garden' showing a selected area of a very summery country garden with the elements arranged very nicely, and good control of exposure. 'Selsey' by Anne Nagle gave the lifeboat station working well as a structure, and as an image of the south coast. Malcolm felt that the weather helped here, with a moody sky and nice colour to the water, but perhaps wanted a slightly different angle to fill the frame. 'The Wey and Arun Canal' by Derek Grieve gave a sense of tranquillity with the foreground flowers repeated in the background, with well controlled contrast and highlights. 'Big Bang at Shoreham' was a fantastically well timed action shot by Terence Bermingham of the moment a cannon was fired. Malcolm particularly liked the reaction in the people with their hands over their ears, the summery colours, and the sense of occasion. Finally I managed an 18 with 'St Agatha's Coates', with the lighting and processing bringing the detail out in the stonework.
The held-back images produced one 18 for Chris West, with 'Mr Turner comes to Worthing' giving nice colours in the sky reflected in the low tide foreground, a “Sussex by the sea” feel to this open scene characteristic of the south coast. Chris went one better with a 19 for 'South Downs Way'. This worked well in BW, with the chalk path and big skies being very characterful of the South Downs. Three other photographers also went one better than their previous 18s, with David Burton's 'Evening Mist at Singleton' being full of atmosphere with the mist and golden light. Malcolm felt he had been brave including the sun, but that this had worked. The next 19 was for another of Terence Bermingham's action images, this one a classic cricketing shot 'A Drive through Sussex'. Catching the action very well from a good vantage point, with the ball in a plausible place, Malcolm felt that Ken Scott would probably have been able to pick out the finer points, but he certainly enjoyed the composition and exposure. Anne Nagle also scored a 19 for 'Cowdray Castle', a good place to visit, and she had done everything she could to bring the details out, with quite a moody sky adding to the overall effect.
A final 19 went to Daisy Kane for 'Bluebell wood near Nutbourne', with characteristic bluebells shown in an image that nicely recorded the scene.
Two images scored 20. The “very Sussexy” 'Sunset over West Pier' gained Glenn Donnelly her highest score to date. Liking the colour in the sky and sea, Malcolm again said he felt she had been brave to include the sun, but that she had handled this well, retaining detail in the dark areas.
However, this was not quite able to pip Martin Tomes to the top spot with 'Big Sky'. For those debating whether there is any point in doing the weekly challenge, this was one of those images that came out of it back in September. Malcolm very much enjoyed this one, saying it was very much about the sky, which the South Downs lend themselves to. The BW conversion had given a very effective mono, and he liked the sweeps through the sky. Well done to Martin (at least you hadn't lined this judge up for us this time!).