Judged by club members

Our meeting this week was held via Zoom, and involved members’ images that had been both taken and then edited on either a Smartphone or a tablet.  No more powerful or spacious laptop or desktop computers allowed (apart from a final resizing of the image required for our competition display software).  We had 26 images submitted by members.

The format of the evening was for each club member to run through the set of images on the day before the meeting, and choose their seven ‘favourites’ from the complete set.  They were not shown their own images for marking, and were asked not to mark those of any family or household member who may have also taken part.  Favourite images were scored at one point, and all others at zero points.

As is usual with Photocraft we had a wide range of subject matter to choose from, some very striking and some best described as quirky.  Images were shown in random order, and the photographer described how and why they took the shot, and often talked us through some of the steps involved in post-processing.  This usually also involved a further series of questions from the audience seeking a better understanding of the how and why of the whole process.

Following this discussion period came the big reveal about the scores awarded by the members.  Our plan had been to award place marks to those scored in first, second and third places, together with images deemed to be Highly Commended and Commended.  It didn’t work out like that!  What the members scoring efforts actually gave us was one image awarded first place, and five other images all tied for second place.  No other images scored highly enough for an individual award.

Displayed below are all of these images to receive place award on the evening.  The images awarded second place are shown in their original software generated display order on the evening.

In first place was ‘Seaburn Pier’ by Anita G, shown below. 

This is a calm and evocative dawn shot from the beach, with matching reflections in the wet sand. Anita explained that she had wanted to remove the log in the scene before taking the shot, but couldn’t do this without leaving intrusive footprints across the sand.  She also explained that this is an area near South Shields she has often visited, and that the skyscape is usually beautiful as we can see here.

The next picture is the first of the second place images to be shown. It is ‘This Way Up’, by Chris R, shown below.

Chris explained that this was a quick grab shot taken when he saw the clear view of the building in a relatively uncluttered street-scene.  The traffic lights at the edge of the frame were seen as contributing significantly to his composition.

The next image awarded second place was ‘The Grove Falls’, by Brian C.

Brian explained that this was shot early one morning in the local park, using the phones integral long exposure mode.  The actual exposure time was obviously fairly long, as can be seen from the missing head and neck of the goose on the second tier of the cascade.  Much discussion about the advanced functions of mobile phones followed.

The third of our images awarded second place is ‘Lake Louise Ice’ by Brian C.

The view down this lake is a stunning location, even if the scene behind the camera is not so exciting..  The reflection in the water is a striking contrast to the rough appearance of the ice.

The next picture awarded second place is ‘Nelson’s View, by Ravi S.

Ravi explained that this was a grab shot one evening, and has been processed to introduce some colour changes in the scene.  The floodlights on the statue, and the moonlight breaking through the clouds, together generate impact in this scene.  The iconic red bus helps too, by giving a sense of scale.

The fifth (and final)  image awarded second place this evening was ‘Take me to your leader (Codd bottle ball valve)’, by David P.

David explained that this was an image of a Codd  (or marble) bottle standing in front of a light box.  This is a strikingly unusual image of a brightly lit neck to a bottle originally supplied containing a carbonated drink.  The pressure from the drink held the marble up against a rubber seal in the neck of the bottle. David explained that many of these bottles did not survive the attention of local children who broke the bottle apart to liberate the marble – an essential childhood toy at the time of their manufacture.  An unusual and striking image for us to enjoy.

Our congratulations to all given top marks this evening. Overall this was an entertaining and informative evening,  I, for one, don’t often use the phone based editing software, and am pleased that these evenings force me to use software and procedures that I wouldn’t otherwise ever open on my phone.  If only I could find some smaller fingers to manipulate that tiny screen I am sure I could do better.  Now, where is that six year old grand-daughter of mine…

PS Edited to correct errors and misattributions.