19th May 2026
Last night was our Best of the Best competition when all images that scored a nineteen or twenty in the five round challenge competition plus all the placed and highly commended images from the Winner on the Night competitions were entered. Images were split in to two sections; those that came from open rounds and those that came from themed competition rounds.
We had sixty-six entries in the open round and twenty-nine entries in the theme section. This gave our judge, Peter Cox from Tring Photography Club, the arduous task of giving individual critiques to ninety-five images.
OPEN SECTION
We began with the open round which featured Wildlife, Portraits, Landscapes, Street Art, and Creative images.
Peter examined the entries looking at the composition, colouration, depth of field, dynamism, power, story, and drama. Peter said “Lighting is only comparative not consuming” he also considered form, structure, and texture.
Peter reduced to nineteen held backs and then reduced again to our target of ten outstanding images. Members who had images included in the final ten were; Brian Worley, Damon Mitchell, David Jones, Paul Mee, Peter Carter, and Steve Gunn. Their images can be seen below.
The members voted for their favourite image to select the winner of the open section. The image that went through collecting the most votes was ‘Wildebeest Sunrise’ by Peter Carter. This went forward to be voted for by members against the winner of the themed round.
THEME SECTION
The second part of the evening featured the best theme images and Peter again spent time discussing the images in depth. Peter held back eight images and reduced to six.
Members who had images included in the final six were; Ayshe Denton, Brian Worley, Damon Mitchell, Kathy Chantler, Paul Benham, and Steve Gunn. Their images can be seen below.
The members voted for their favourite image to select the winner of the theme section. The image that went through collecting the most votes was ‘In Reflection’ by Paul Benham.
BEST OF THE BEST
A final members vote was held to choose the Best of the Best 2026 between “Wildebeest Sunrise” (open) and “In Reflection” (theme).
Wildebeest Sunrise by Peter Carter – Best of the Best 2026 & Best Open Section 2026
Peter Carter won the overall competition with the most votes.
In Reflection by Paul Benham – Best Theme Section 2026
Congratulations to them both, and very well done to Peter.
While summing up the evening Brian Worley went on to say that the images this evening had been the work of thirty-one different members who had been entering and scoring top marks in our competitions this season. The standard of the club is high and Brian urged everyone to keep working, enjoying their photography, and improving.
A huge thank you to the hard work of our judge Peter Cox, who gave insightful critique and some learning points even from these successful images.
Blog written by Carol Haines
Next Week: End of Season Presentation Evening and Fish and Chip Supper.
An excellent blog Carole. I saw you writing furiously during the evening, and I knew you were very proficient at making a good blog. Well done. I thought it was a lovely evening and that the judge was very good.
Thank you Jan.
Huge congratulations to Peter Carter and Paul Benham! What a fantastic show of images, well done to all the authors that had an entry in the competition!