New club season underway

Earlier this week the first club competition took place at my local camera club in Havant. After a successful season last year when I was promoted to the 'A' league for both the print and projected image (PI) competitions. I was now be up against the 'big' boys and ladies of course! Our club is in the 1st division of the Southern Photographic Federation (SPF) for both prints and PI's, so the standard is pretty high.

Much to my amazement, one of my two entries scored 10 out of 10 and is shown below. My grateful thanks to Derek Trendell ARPS, for getting the season off to a great start! The image entitled 'Ride along the prom' is shown below.

'Ride along the prom'

My other entry was again black and white and called 'Contemplation'. It scored 8.5 so I was very satisfied with the combined result. I am sure as the season progresses I will not have the same good fortune. During the season there are four competitons for both prints and PI's, so a total of 8 submissions in each category. At the end of the season the best six scores are counted. At the very first meeting I attended a couple of years ago, I was told how difficult it was to select images for competitions, as all judges adopt a slightly different approach. They do all require a technically competent photograph, well composed with no blown highlights and reasonable detail in the shadows. The rest is somewhat subjective and what might grab the attention of one judge could easily be discarded by another. So the job of trying to decide which images to enter, gets harder and harder in the quest for a good score. I do like the competitive element but for some it may drive their photography down a certain path, which may not necessarily be a good thing. Right here and now it works for me but I might change my opinion in the future.

'Contemplation'

I was also very pleased to learn that two of the photographs I had submitted for the SPF Exhibition were selected to be shown at the beginning of next year.The venue for the exhibition is Salisbury Library and starts on the 5th January and runs until the 26th January. There is a preview evening on Friday 4th January. Its a long way to go but it would be fun to be there on the opening night. More details of the SPF Exhibition here.

The two images which were selected are 'Sand Waves' and 'Sea Swirl' - both shown below.

'Sand Waves'

'Sea Swirl'

I don't wish to brag, but 'Sand Waves' did rather well last season, as it won me 'PI of the Year'. It came as quite a shock when it was chosen as I don't remember winning any trophies before. It really was quite embarrasing to walk out of the hall clutching four of them! For the record here they are.

Unfortunately they will all need a good polish when this season comes to an end!