We were a bit thin on the ground for our third competition night. Several members were away, and several more had been struck down with various “lurgies”. Thus it was up to the stalwart few to try and make enough noise to welcome Glyn Edmunds back. It was certainly a more subdued occasion, but we did our best to lift the mood for Glyn.
The prints were on the set subject of “Minimalism”, and Glyn felt that this had been a successful endeavour in the main. Letting members interpret the brief, it was a good exercise in photography, and several people seemed to have had fun, which is, after all, presumably why we enthusiast photographers do it. Most of the images scored between 15-17 points, but just seven got the higher marks.
Jane Coward gained an 18 for 'Lets Fly a Kite', a nicely composed image with the kite-flyer and kite on opposite sides, filling the frame well. The grain effect she had applied gave lots of atmosphere, especially in the sky, with the kite appearing to aim for a white cloud.
'Misty Dawn' also scored 18 for Daisy Kane. Another grainy image, this worked nicely, giving a sense of mystery. The composition was good, and the group of birds had good space between and above them.
Derek Grieve's 'The Weed and the Window' was a fun image with lovely colours and quality, which scored 18 points. Glyn remarked about weeds always growing more effectively than plants we have slaved over. This weed certainly was doing well, growing sideways out of the window, in fact Glyn did consider turning the image so that the weed was growing upwards!
Ray Foxlee gained an 18 for both of his prints. 'Sinuosity' was our first image of the night, a “photographer's picture” of a chair under a curved staircase. In Ray's customary BW, it had to be good. 'Less is More', another monochrome, showed a selection of pieces of art, with a selection of hands looking rather like rubber gloves!
Di Walker had another excellent pair of prints. 'The Eyes' came second in the prints with 19. A very strong image, Di had been very brave to only show the eyes, creating a striking portrait, and leaving Glyn wanting to see more of the subject's face. Her abstract 'Snowdrop' was the only 20, and best of the prints. With a pleasing lack of definition, the combination of pinks and greens worked well. The square format, so hard to achieve well, was excellent. Well done Di for your lovely prints!
After tea break, we went to the PI's. Here four images were held back for the top honours, and another four scored 18's straight off. The 18's started with 'Female Blackcap Bathing' for Derek Grieve. Glyn remarked that it looked like she had crash landed in the bath, perhaps she was still practising that skill. Anyway, the water droplets were beautifully frozen.
Next up was 'Bee Eaters and Dragonfly' for Anne Nagle, where it looked as though the dragonfly was fighting back with its last gasp, and a bit bigger than the bird expected. The fraction of separation between the dragonfly's tail and the second bird made for a strong image.
Alex Swyer's 'Sun Bathing' showed that photographing butterflies is a “skill all of its own”. The shallow plane of focus had captured the butterfly nicely, with the background well out of focus.
'Wet Feet in the Frame' for Jane Coward gained it's second accolade of the night, having already been announced as the January Flickr Competition winner. Reminding us that there are lots of pictures to be had when it is raining, the reflections here were lovely.
David Seddon went one better with a 19 for 'Lake View', which had a feeling of distance to it. The reflected dying white trunks gave a suggestion of caustic water.
Jane Coward then excelled with a 20 for her 'Stag and Hind at Dawn', with the mist creating a lovely backdrop, stark ferns in the foreground and the deer almost silhouetted. However, Glyn felt that we didn't need more detail, and that the stag seemed to have lost interest or perhaps he was checking the other hinds in his harem!
Derek Grieve also gained top marks for the strongest Natural History shot in the set, 'Have a Bee'. Nicely caught, this was a serious technical challenge. Glyn particularly liked the light through the tail feathers, and the square format was strong, with the twig leading off into the corner.
However, Anne Nagle needn't be worried that her bee eaters were beaten, as she got top marks and best of night for her 'Red Dahlia'. Glowing red, this was a very strong striking brave image, with the offset centre approach working well. (I'm sure Glyn didn't mean his comment about Anne sticking sweetcorn into the flower's centre!).
Thanks to Anne for brightening up the room considerably, and congratulations on winning the PI's.
We finished with Glyn showing us a set of triptych panels, some of which were taken with a £70 fisheye lens film camera. I very much enjoyed the way the three images were mounted in the same board, perhaps this is something we could consider for our proposed panel competition. A discussion for next week's committee meeting I believe.
Now we all just need to go away and look up Kandinsky....