Club News

Disappointed by the lack of emotional connection to a series of photographs Huw Alban, a Dorset "artist using photography", developed his purpose in pursuing photography. He investigated what it was that made him stop after viewing an image to identify what encouraged him to look harder at it. If he could hear the sounds of the image or could see the quality of the image that made him look that little bit harder he could understand the message that the photographer was attempting to transmit.

The annual competition from which the Southern Counties Photographic Federation chooses its representatives in the PAGB inter-club competition was held in Bognor and hosted by Bognor Regis Camera Club. Participating clubs enter 15 prints and/or 15 PDIs to be judged by three eminent judges from outside the southern counties. The scoring method is different to that familiar in club competitions, i.e., out of 10 or 20, but is widely used in PAGB competitions, salons and international competitions and awards. It is a scale from 2 to 5 delivered via an electronic keypad.

Our fourth competition of the 2023-24 season was on ‘any subject’ and took place on 7 March 2024. It was judged by Lawrence Homewood, an experienced photographer, judge and speaker, from East Grinstead Camera Club. Lawrence was careful to remind us that the scores he would give were just his opinion; other judges may score the images differently. Throughout the evening, he gave helpful suggestions for improvement, where appropriate, and kept us all amused will his keen sense of humour. 

Members; evenings are an opportunity for us to see the wider range of photographic activities that our members engage in. On this occasion a quarter of members produced a very interesting and well appreciated group of projects.

Photographers in club competitions are familiar with judges criticising their images on the basis that they do not follow the rules. Caroline argues that there needs to be a reason behind a rule and set out to demonstrate that there are no rules just a series of tools than can be used in different ways to enhance the message that the photographer is intending to convey by applying some science to the decision making.

Our third competition of the 2023-24 season was on ‘any subject’ and took place on 25 January 2024. It was judged by Chris Dixon ARPS of Horndean Camera Club. Chris briefed us on how he proposed to judge our images; the key consideration being Expressive Quality, as advocated by Ken Scott. This was music to our ears and this, together with Chris’ sense of humour, set the scene for an enjoyable evening. 

Chris chose his favourite images and then a number of Highly Commended and Commended images. He was particularly impressed by the variety and quality of the entries. 

Virtually all of the time members present single images for comment, discussion or judgement. On this occasion members were asked to present a panel of images and/or an audio-visual presentation and they responded magnificently. Panels tend to follow a theme and can be of any number of images from three to 40. The latter was evidenced by the photographer Iain McGowan who addressed us in 2022. Dean, who masterminded the evening, was first with a panel of monochrome images of folded paper creating abstract shapes in a varied array.

It has been a long time since we attempted the exercise of taking an image and letting members process it in any way they chose but there was an echo of an earlier attempt involving a donkey that will be referred to later. George Reekie provided us with three images. One was of Blackchurch Rock in Devon, another of a dancer and a third of a dog on a wet beach reflected in the water. Without any disrespect to George it is fair to say that the images were not perfect.

Our second competition of the 2023-24 season was ‘any subject’ and took place on 30 November 2023. It was judged by David Smith, whose anecdotes and useful suggestions kept us all entertained. David was particularly impressed by the variety and quality of the entries. 

Judges are asked to choose their favourite image and then a number of Highly Commended and Commended images. 

Judge’s favourite images of the evening

As always at Storrington, the standard was high. The judge’s favourites were:

Ken Scott ARPS, a local photographer, planned a 5000 mile walk in 2017 around the mainland coast of Britain over the period from February to October. His presentation of photos, audio visuals and narrative was inspiring on a number of levels. It was primarily a walk. There was not time to make his photographs to his exacting standards but his selections from his 6,000 images were nonetheless impressive.