Our judge this evening was David Smith LRPS CPAGB BPE1* of Woking Camera Club fresh from his stint as one of the three judges on last Saturday’s SPA Individual Competition. He had a good number of prints to exercise his critical faculties on – 6 in the Standard Class and 20 in the Advanced.

This was the first of our season’s Open Print Competitions and the Standard Class looks as if it will be a two-horse race. I think you’ll agree that the quality of the photos in this class were indistinguishable from those in the Advanced Class. It might be worth reminding our two horses of the club rule that says that you can move yourself from one class to the other once during the season if you wish, although you can’t carry over your accumulated score. Not that I recommend that you do that!

Entries in this class were predominantly black and white images. The winning image was Jack and Jill by Paul. The judge described this as a lovely piece of street photography. He said the clothes they wore were interesting and liked the intense stare at the camera from the girl. The brick wall behind didn’t distract and put the pair in context.

Second was Free Range Ponies by Martin. He said this was a ‘calendar-like’ image but this was not to disparage it in any way. Putting the ponies on the third was a good choice as was not cropping too tightly. A lovely light and the heather at the bottom anchored the image.

Third place was Friends together by Paul. The held hands was a focal point for this image and drew the eyes down from the two characters. This worked very well in a pleasing image. There were good catchlights in the eyes and the crop worked well. David’s rule of thumb was ‘Don’t crop too close to a joint!’

There were two Highly Commended awards. One for Martin’s Through the eye of The Needles. A lovely light in this one. He commented that ‘Landscapes are never about the view but about the light’.

The other for Shirley Temple is watching by Paul. A nice interaction between the man and the image of Shirley. The part sign worked well as it’s obvious what the rest of it says.

Martin’s Still got the Blues was Commended. He described the grimace on the musician’s face as priceless, and the red colour-popping on the guitar was effective without being distracting.

The winner of the Advanced Class was Brian’s I Saw Three Ships. The odd number of ships works as it often does, although he said not be too wedded to this ‘rule’ of composition. He liked the way the colour of the buoys were complement by that of one of the sales. The blank sky drew his attention to the subject matter and the image had been very well printed.

Second was Alfred’s Smithy. One of those images that the longer you look at it, the more you see. Full of interesting details and a feeling of authenticity. He particularly liked the three rods bottom right pulling your eye back into the picture.

Third was Dave S’s Three Sails plus one. Three sails yet again with a bonus one. A great sense of movement in this one, whether done by post-processing or ICM, it didn’t matter. A good use of colour and square crop.

There were four Highly Commended entries:

High-Viz by Brian. He liked the placement of the colour-popped hi-viz clothes that worked well in front of the black and white industrial scene. The chevron behind the characters also added interest to the composition.

Forrest Fire by Mark. He said that this composition worked tremendously well with detail visible throughout, including through the smoke. He could almost sense the choking smoke.

Also by Mark, Sandhill Crane with Chicks. Beautifully sharp throughout with well-captured detail in the Crane’s feathers and the fluffiness of the chicks, all set in a natural environment. The composition hangs together well.

Blown over by Brian. An almost abstract image with beautiful rendering in golds and greens. There was no focal point, but one isn’t needed when the whole picture is the subject.

There were three Commended images:

Shadows on Sandstone by David M. Landscapes are all about the light, he repeated. This image had a very strong side light giving interesting verticals to the composition. The small figures on the beach with their shadows gave a sense of scale.

Down in the Glen by Dave S. He likened the presentation to images that were favoured in Victorian times. The oval border and light vignette draws attention into the details of the picture. Imaginatively put together.

A face at the window by Mandy. Unlike dogs, cats will not normally do anything you want making them difficult to photograph. This animal’s curiosity at the window made it a sitting target and every key part of it is pin sharp. No distractions in the background and the square crop works well.

Congratulations to all our award winners, indeed to everyone who entered the competition with a very high standard of creative ideas, inventiveness and technical competence in both classes. It all made for a very interesting evening.

And thank you David for your helpful and supportive commentary. We will look forward to seeing you again.

Author: Diddy Dodds