4th Quarterly Competition - Theme: 'Nature'
Judge: Chris Sargeant

This was the final club competition of the 2012/13 season and the second round of the Nature competition, this time for PDIs. Our judge for the evening was Chris Sergeant who was visiting us for the first time.

We had 19 entries in the Standard section and 38 PDIs competing in the Advanced.

Congratulations to new member Chris Radley who, with his first ever competition entry at WEBCC was the only member to achieve the maximum ten points in the Standard section with his ‘Robin’ picture. All of those that achieved 9 and above were as follows:

• Chris Radley, ‘Robin’ 10 points

• Roger Holdsworth, ‘The Boss’ 9.5 points

• Emma Ramskill, ‘Eye-Eye’ 9.5 points

• John Massey, ‘Rocky Mountains Sunset’ 9 points

In the Advanced section there were two members that scored the maximum 10 points; Clare Odds, with her image ‘Don’t Come any Closer’ and John Drew with his ‘Seed Head’, very well done Clare and John!

The images scoring 9 and above were as follows:

• Clare Odds, ‘Don’t Come and Closer’ 10 points

• John Drew, ‘Seed Head’ 10 points

• Ernie Loft, ‘Flower Colour’ 9.5 points

• Allan Michie, ‘Midday Sun’ 9.5 points

• Tony Mearman, ‘One Last Drop’ 9.5 points

• Rodney Hart, ‘Leopard’ 9 points

• Tony Hayward, ‘Survivial Of The Fittest’ 9 points

• Philip Hayman, ‘Caught In The Act’ 9 points

• Tony Mearman, ‘Flamingo’ 9 points

Chris Sargeant, addressing the audience.

Picture by Phil Blanchard

Fourth Quarterly Print competition, theme “Nature” (Advanced and Standard)

Ken Lyndon was judging for the first time at WEBCC and we had another well attended meeting.

There were 13 print entries in the Standard section and we had two members who achieved the maximum 10 points. Congratulations to Jennifer Cassidy and Rachel MacNiven for achieving top marks and a special mention to Emma O’Brien who attained 9.5 for each of her two prints. There were only five images that scored 9 and above points:

• ‘Stop for a chat’ by Rachel MacNiven 10 points

• ‘Busy Bee’ by Jennifer Cassidy 10 points

• ‘Looking for food’ by Emma O’Brien 9.5 points

• ‘Sun at last’ by Emma O’Brien 9.5 points

• ‘Elegance’ by Rachel MacNiven 9 points

In the Advanced section there were 23 print entries with four of them achieving the maximum 10 points. Prints scoring 9 and above were as follows:

• ‘Cornish Sundown’ by Tony Hayward 10 points

• ‘Prevailing Wind’ by Pam Loft 10 points

• ‘The Parliament’ by Martin Pickles 10 points

• ‘Gorillas’ by Tony Mearman 10 points

• ‘Red Fox’ by Ron Simpson 9.5 points

• ‘Bluebells’ by Rodney Hart 9 points

• ‘Autumn’ by Rodney Hart 9 points

• ‘How do I swallow this?’ by Sue Istead 9 points

• ‘Swan – Heath Lake’ by Phi Blanchard 9 points

• ‘Breaking out’ by John Lewis 9 points

• ‘Harvest Mice’ by Tony Mearman 9 points

This is a candid shot of WEBCC President Peter Odds managing the print presentations.

Picture by Phil Blanchard

‘People’ PDI competition (Advanced and Standard)

Our invited judge for this evening’s competition was Gordon Roberts CPAGB, a regular visitor to WEBCC. We had 23 entries in the Standard section and 29 PDIs in Advanced.

In the Standard section Pat Rowell’s image “I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles” was only one that achieved the maximum 10 points and this was Pat’s first ‘ten’. Many congratulations to Pat!

There were only four images that scored 9 and above points:

• I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles by Pat Rowell 10 points*

• You Looking At Me by Emma O’Brien 9.5 points

• Spiderman The Early Years by David Kimber 9.5 points

• Oh Mr Porter! By Richard Marks 9 points

In the Advanced section there were three images that achieved the maximum 10 points and the PDIs scoring 9 and above were as follows:

• Going Home (Two Ladies) by Rodney Hart 10 points*

• Yeah by Martin Pickles 10 points

• David Resting by Pam Loft 10 points

• Been There, Done It by David Sherwill 9.5 points

• The German by Tony Mearman 9.5 points

• Going Home (Man on Bus) by Martin Pickles 9 points

• Chinese Opera Singer by Sue Istead 9 points

• Decisions by Allan Michie 9 points
  
  

View images in the gallery.

Well done to all the members who achieved high scores in what turned out to be an unusually-low scoring competition. *These were judged to be the best images of the round.

Dawn Evans, Tony Mearman, Gordon Roberts and Sue Scott

Picture by Phil Blanchard

Third Quarterly PDI competition (Advanced and Standard) Theme – Open

• Damselfly by Emma Ramskill                 10 points
• Blue Waters by John Massey                 10 points
• Autumn by Emma Ramskill                 9.5 points
• Winter’s Cold Breath by John Massey             9 points
• Lake District by Roger Smith                 9 points
• Round and Round by Richard Tredgett             9 points

• Sunlit Castle by Rodney Hart                 10 points
• Cockle Boat Waiting for the Tide by Martin Pickles     10 points
• Grounded by Peter Odds                 9.5 points
• Spotted Flycatcher With Food by Ron Simpson        9.5 points
• You Had The Map by David Sherwill            9 points
• Cold Winter Morning by Phil Hayman            9 points
• Abandoned by Allan Michie                9 points
  
  View the images in the gallery.
  
  

Members’ practical demonstration evening

We had another well attended club meeting which featured club members giving practical demonstrations of photo related techniques to fellow members.

The presentations were as follows:

• Mount cutting demonstration by Paul Hampton

• Off-camera flash techniques by Brian Burden

• Re-sizing images for PDI competitions by Dawn Evans

• Preparing PDIs for club competitions by Glynis Jodrell

• Close-up and macro photography including focus stacking by Tony Hayward

• High Dynamic Range photography by Rodney Hart

An interesting view of some of our members in the back row!

Glynis Jodrell demonstrating PDI preparation

Dawn Evans demonstrating re-sizing of PDIs

Paul Hampton showing members how to do mount cutting

Tony Hayward demonstrating macro photography techniques

Brian Burden demonstrating off-camera flash techniques

Tony Hayward (L) and Graham Elliott (R) share a joke with Tony Mearman

Pictures courtesy of Phil Blanchard and Roger Holdsworth

Southern Counties Photographic Federation Print League Competition

Judge: Mikki Aston CPAGB

This was the first time Mikki has judged at our club and everyone enjoyed her unique style of appraising the images on display.

Judge Mikki Aston (left) and Tony Mearman sharing a joke with club members.
Photo by Phil Blanchard
The evening was enjoyed by everyone although the outcome could have been better.  One of our images, ‘The Angel’ scored a maximum 10 points but in a close run competition, we only managed to finish in fifth place in this round of the competition.

More details on the SCPF website: http://www.southernfed.org.uk/leagueprints.htm

Third Quarterly Prints Competition, Advanced and Standard Sections, ‘Open’

Judge: Mark Buckley-Sharp ARPS, CPAGB, APAGB

‘People’ Prints Competition, Advanced and Standard Sections

Judge: Ruari Cumming ARPS

This was another well attended club meeting with 43 members in attendance and a warm welcome was given to new member Chris Radley. Our guest judge for the evening was Ruari Cumming ARPS, a member of Bracknell CC. This was Ruari’s third visit to WEBCC, previously giving Audio Visual talks on the Hebridean Islands but this was his first visit to us as a judge.

       There were fourteen print entries in the Standard Section and the winning images were as follows:

• Three Emotions by Emma O’Brien 10 points

• Toby by Emma Ramskill 10 points

• Mirror, mirror on the wall by Pat Rowell 9.5 points

• Keeping the Rhythm by Sue Blest 9.5 points

• Gemma by Roger Holdsworth 9 points

       In the Advanced Section there were 34 prints and the winning images were as follows:

• Lingerie Department by Peter Odds 10 points

• The Old Bikers by Sue Istead 10 points

• Timekeepers by David Sherwill 10 points

• Peep Bo by Rodney Hart 9.5 points

• Hey Grandma by Martin Pickles 9.5 points

• Miss Attitude by Tony Mearman 9.5 points

• Dusky Beauty by Rodney Hart 9 points

• Let Me On by Glynis Jodrell 9 points
  
  
  

Ruari Cumming ARPS assessing one of the prints.
Picture by Phil Blanchard

Southern Photographic Federation PDI League Competition

Judge: Tony Charters