31 May, 2023
This evening we welcomed Keith Newton as our judge for our final monochrome print competition of the club year. Keith is a member of the Woking Photographic Society as well as the Aldershot, Farnham and Fleet Camera Club, and an accredited judge.
We had 14 prints submitted for this competition. The highest scores given were two images scoring 10 points, three scoring 9½ points, and a further two scoring 9 points.
The first 9 score went to ‘Lamp’ by Mark B. Our judge asked himself whether this image was a still life, or a found item. He mentioned the good range of blacks recorded, and in particular the bright areas in the background that made the lamp handle stand out so clearly. Overall it was described as a nice study printed on an interesting textured paper.
Our second 9 score went to ‘Maritime Cemetery’ by Alfred C. Keith described this as a nice print on a nice mount board. He liked the skeletal boat frame standing out from the mud, and described the subject matter as “generally past its sell-by-date”. He felt the heavy sky was showing just enough to hold the image within the frame. He noted a slight blue cast to the image which worked well.
Our first 9½ score of the evening also went to Mark B for his image ‘Explosion’. This image shows powerful waves in a strong wind, with sea spray being carried away in that wind. In particular, Keith liked the way the power of this scene was captured.
Our second 9½ score was awarded to ‘Metro Dubai’ by David H. Our judge described this scene as having tremendous leading lines, but perhaps lacking a train as a point of focus. He described it as a well taken shot that would look good on an office wall.
Our third 9½ score was awarded to ‘Glen Coe, Shades of Winter’, by Brian C. Keith was impressed by the overall crispness of the image, with lots of incredible detail and texture throughout. He went on to extol the good range of deep blacks to bright whites, without any of these tones being beyond acceptable levels of saturation.
Our first 10 score of the evening was ‘Sitting and Waiting’ by Brian C. This image was described by Keith as crisp with lots of detail. The viewers eye finds much to look at as you examine the scene. Keith felt that the leading lines in the frame take you down the street successfully, even passed the cross wall that could have interrupted the flow of the image. The double mount board was complimented, although Keith felt the image may have had greater impact with a larger print on display.
Our final 10 score, and the overall winner on the evening was ‘Desert Bedu, The Empty Quarter’ by David H. Keith was immediately taken with this picture, commenting on the capture of the eyes in a powerful face, staring straight into the camera. He commented on the whiskers on the face being so clear he could almost feel them. A successful portrait with a powerful individual clearly dominating the situation. He felt the black and white tones were well controlled, with a good range of tones between. He commented that the crop, with the top of the headwear being cut off, strengthens the face.
An interesting and varied selection of prints on display this evening, with the scores from the evening going forward to the leader board to establish the award winners for the season. Our winners and runners up will be announced over the next couple of weeks.
Our thanks go to Keith Newton for visiting us this evening as judge and for his consistent critique of our prints over the evening.
At the completion of the competition we had a little time left. Keith and Dave C had both brought prints along to show and describe how they took and processed their images. Both speakers provided a brief but illuminating talk, particularly about the prints that were either composites, or so abstract that it was not immediately clear what the subject of the picture was. Our thanks go to both for this impromptu contribution to the evening.
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