Why it Won – 12th Dec 2007

Sorry, I am not able to post and comment on the winner of the 35mm slide competition as we have not yet scanned the slide. 

Winner of the digitally projected image competition  on 12th December 2007.

MORNING MIST by Jerry Wheeler

A restful pastoral landscape with a great feeling of mood and calm. The mist is very well caught and gives good recession through the layers of the picture. The colours are warm and harmonious. The horse in the foreground is classically, but well placed to give interest without dominating the picture.

The judge on the evening, Helen Taylor, did suggest a crop to the top of the picture to remove the brighter part of the sky in order to deepen and enrich the rest of the picture; what do you think?

Well done Jerry,
/Graham

Note: This post is open for comments.

Views from the Pews: On your marks!

Re-posted from November 6, 2007

What are club competitions for?
How should the judges mark?
What should the judges look for?
What ranges of marks should be used?
Should marks be against an absolute standard or relative to the other entries on the day?

These are just some of the questions that usually come up in discussions about club competitions and the marking thereof.

To kick off a discussion thread I though I’d post a potentially controversial opinion from one of our members.

Note, to avoid this being thought of as being an issue with a particular judge I have edited the remarks slightly so as to conceal the competition in question.

I would ask that all contributions to the discussion be honest, but temperate. Remember this is a public blog viewed by potential new members.

Thanks
/Graham

Why it Won – 22nd Nov 2007

Winners of the monochrome print competitions held Wed. 22nd Nov 2007

THE WINDWILL by Ian Farrant
(Intermediate mono print)

A richly printed graphic study of a well-known local landmark. Several of the prints that Ian put into this competition had deep blacks well separated midtones and clean highlights showing that modern ink-jet printing can produce a beautiful result. Windmills can be tricky to photograph without ending up with a boring record. A low viewpoint, strong diagonals and not worrying about clipping the sails has yielded a strong and graphic composition.

STARGAZER LILY by Sarah Smith
(Advanced mono print)

A sensitive and airy rendition of a classic still life subject. A well-chosen and prepared background of silky fabric, soft lighting, careful focusing and thoughtful ‘posing’ and framing have produced a delicate yet detailed image that would be very easy to live with. It looks like care was taken during the processing to ensure a pleasing tonality with good handling of contrast.

Well done Ian and Sarah,
/Graham

Note: this post is open for comments.

Why it Won – 31st Oct 2007

For the first of our “Why it Won” postings we have the winners of the colour print competitions held on 31st Oct 2007 which were judged by Frank Page LRPS.

CARTWHEEL START by David Brown
(Colour Print – Intermediate Section)

The photograph has a great feeling of design and captures a moment in time. The shapes are simple and very well put together. The shadow of the child falls entirely on the clean background and is cleanly seperated from, but is a perfect echo of, the child’s outline. The column at the left acts to balance the child (cover the column with your hand and then look at the balance of the picture). The deep shadow at the top also echoes the solid dark base of the picture. Capturing this precise moment has created a very neat and tidy shape that almost looks like an elegant move out of a Tai Chi kata. Quick reactions and great composition have made this picture.

JUST BUMBLING AROUND by June Hill
(Colour Print – Advanced Section)

A very sharp and well-exposed study of a bee against a beautifully soft and textured background of flower petals. The bee is well with the depth of field of the shot, shows great detail and is well positioned in the frame; almost reaching for the center of the picture. Lovely diffuse lighting has been found or created to reveal the shapes, textures, details and tones of the flower petals that are very enjoyable to look at. Technical competence and understanding of sympathetic and correct lighting have been key to the sucess of this photograph.

ANY COMMENTS?

These are my opinions. If you want to add a remark to agree, disagree or bring out a point I have missed then plese add a comment below.

Bye for Now.
/Graham Robinson

Why it Won – New Series

I thought we would try a new type of posting on the blog. What we will try to do is post the winning pictures from competition nights. I will add some thoughts as to why I think it was a winner and I’ll open the posts for comments so that you can add your ideas and reactions.

As a result of the the copying,  reduction in size, the compression and being viewed on non-calibrated monitors much of the technical quality of the image will be lost. To protect the images from commercial re-use and to save space on the blog we will only be posting the images as 400px wide. However, we hope that enough of the image is left to explain ‘why it won’.

We will put these posts in the categories “Winners” and “Discussions” so they can be found easily by clicking on the categories links.

If you have any thoughts about this you can add a comment to this posting or contact me in person at the next club night.

 /Graham Robinson
(Club Chairman)

Request for Member Feedback/Comments

The committee has wanted a website to serve the membership for a while. Many options have been considered and eventually it was agreed to create a club blog instead of a full scale website.

This blog is our attempt to achieve this.

The main objectives we wanted to achieve with a website were to:
1: have some kind of web presence so that we could be linked to (eg by the KCPA)
2: give potential new members some basic information
3: give current members club news and information
4: provide a basic gallery facility for members
5: provide the means to share the effort of keeping the web content current
6: avoid both initial and on-going costs to the club
7: and, not least, present a positive impression of the club

We feel that we have achieved these objectives and have only had to make acceptable compromises in doing so. To give some background and answer initial queries there is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

If you have any suggestions, comments, feedback or questions having read the FAQs please contact the Chairman or any other member of the committee.

Or you could add a comment to this blog entry and everyone could see your comment/idea.

Many Thanks, Graham Robinson (Club Chairman)