Nature and Open Challenge first round, Tuesday 25th October

Hi Folks,

Nature and Open Challenge first round, Tuesday 25^th October

Last night was the first round of the clubs challenge trophy competition and the judge was Pat Begley from Wycombe and Marlow CC. Pat said that she had been in photography for 25 years and recently decided she ought to have some letters after her name, Pat said some organisations ask for an annual fee each year just to retain them but Pat achieved the CPAGB which doesn’t make a charge.

The evening started with problems as the competition photographs which had initially checked out ok wouldn’t come up on the computer. It was decided to have the coffee break first to give Dave a chance to recover the situation. A couple of us asked last year’s winner Steve whether he would accept a draw, with us all getting the 20 points lol.

After a coffee we were up and running but the Open round came up first. I think there were 30 images to get through before starting the themed round of Nature which had a further 33 images.

The first two images shown were of the Lake District and Pat declared she loved landscapes. The first of which had the horizon in the middle with too much rock for her liking showing in the foreground but in the second image which she recognised as Derwent Water the horizon was nicely positioned two thirds of the way down. The clouds above and the trees on the left led one’s eye to the centre of the picture. Pat wanted the image held back.

The next image was a pencil simulation in B&W of sailboats perhaps created in Photoshop which I haven’t seen before but just didn’t quite do it for Pat.

There was a run of 17 -19’s scores before a photograph called Victoriana came on screen.

Pat described the image of perhaps a bridesmaid laid over a chair and looking bored as maybe the bride hadn’t turned up. The dress looked crinkled and small pieces of the silk dress looked a bit burned out but why not said Pat, it’s a silk dress. Pat wanted it held back

I tried Emma on the farm in the hope that nobody else had used the subject, I was lucky they hadn’t but that was as far as my luck went, with Pat working out the gold reflection was coming from a different direction to the sun and she was a little unhappy with the green background and slightly burnout hair but Emma got me 17  lol

The last to be held back was a photograph of St Paul’s which had a feature of movement in front of it stretching across the Thames. Pat said there was a boat which had lights on to the left of image which was a little distracting and taking the eye away from the Cathedral but never the less wanted it held back.

Abstract and painterly view of St Paul’s Cathedral

So at the end Pat had the final three which I believe were all given 20 but Pat favourite was 1^st ) St Pauls by Julia Cleaver, 2^nd Victoriana by Kathy Chantler and 3^rd Derwent Water by Mike Ashcroft

So with a couple of minute break for reflection it was straight onto the Nature round

The first picture to attract Pat’s attention was of a Stag titled ‘Majestic Tenderness’ which showed a Stag and it’s young in the grass. Pat thought too much grass was shown on the left and felt a crop would have improved it but she wanted it held back.

One member had a nice picture of a butterfly and Pat said getting the legs and antenna in focus is very difficult but like the pale background giving it a 19

Another bright red flower made the projector struggle and she said it is worth perhaps toning down reds when shown with the projector but it was probably perfect on a PC.

The next to be held back was of a Swan called ‘The Swan’. The picture showed the swan in flight almost heading for the photographer. Pat loved the soft colours of the lake behind and asked for it to be held back.

This was soon followed by a Photograph called ‘Early Morning Hare’ a picture of a hare running toward the photographer taken perhaps with a long range lens as the hare didn’t seem to be aware of the photographer. The hare had previously been in a fight said Pat as there was a nick out of its ear, the subject was sharp and Pat asked for it to be held back

Another photograph called ‘Barren land’ had Pat talking of a good picture of the tree on the left having a nice ‘C’ shape leading you into the picture of barren land with great detail in the roots of the tree but was give 19

Aussie Alan did mention about the importance of borders around photographs which then started Pat commenting all the images with borders, saying some were too bright or too big and borders should not be brighter than the actual subject. Of course, I had decided to have the funkiest border around one of mine and I think Pat talked more about my border than the actual picture but lesson learnt. I do have several other angles of the same flower to try without that border next time but she did say good on me for trying lol

Another image titled the ‘The Victor Stag’ with a Stag covered in grass was sharp in colour and a nice fun picture and given a 19.

The last picture to be held back was called ‘Into the Wild’, it was a landscape picture in letterbox form and Pat pointed out the horizon was in the correct place and she immediately gave it a 20.

The last of the photographs was of two storks fighting, taken with a fast shutter speed said Pat to capture the water splashes. However, Pat thought the rocks in the background were a little too light and distracting and may have been worth dimming down, she gave it a 19. (I thought it had chances but what do I know)

Which left the four held back, I thought I had her favourite but realised one was missing from my 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd

So ‘Into the Wild’ by Neil Lovell and ‘The Swan’ by Stefan Mladnov, both scored 20

‘Majestic Tenderness’ by Aussie Alan and ‘Early Morning Hare’ by Vicki Walton both scored 19.

Next week is

‘Ask an Expert’ Evening