Set Subject Competition - Red 2 March 2015

Our second Set Subject competition for this season was Red - a topic which guaranteed a plethora of entries from members covering a wide variety of material. In total the judge, David Richardson APAGB from  Ryton  and  District Camera  Club, was presented with 54 entries. David was kind enough to comment on each picture providing useful feedback to members.
Elspeth Peddie’s “On the Vine” was awarded first place with David commenting, “Beautiful, so well rendered with the reds and greens. Satisfying detail throughout the image. Sheer quality, beautifully recorded.” Second place went to Helen Bradley’s very original take on murder most foul entitled “A Study in Scarlet” with David sayiing this was “a great idea”. Two more of Helen’s pictures were Highly Commended - an excellent showing with three very different images. Finally in third place David selected Dawn Watson’s nautically themed “Just Jack” of which he proclaimed, “Dead simple, simplicity assists with its power.”
Overall an excellent evening with David commenting on the number, quality and range of entries from a wide selection of members.

Click here to see all of the entries for this competition.

Second place A Study in Scarlet
by Helen Bradley

Third place Just Jack
by Dawn Watson

Red Squirrel
by Alan Barker

Lady in Red
by Tony McCann

Ian Woodly LRPS, CPAGB from Whitley Bay Photographic Society was kind enough to be our judge for this season’s Open Projected Digital Images. From a field of 49 excellent images Ian picked two of Helen Bradley’s entries for first and second place. After last month’s similar double by Elspeth it looks as if we are starting a new trend - well done ladies!
Of the top entry, “Double Glazed Daddy Long Legs”, Ian said ‘Well seen by the photographer - good small aperture - gives good focus with the veins on the wings.’ And of Helen’s second placed image, “Cocktail Time”, Ian said ‘I like the colours - almost a chartreuse colour at the bottom - perfectly sharp.’
In third place was Alan Barker’s well captured fledglings picture, “First Flight”, on which Ian commented, ‘Incredibly lucky to have these three youngsters in one shot - excellent.’
Ian also selected three images as Highly Commended which are also shown below.

Second place Cocktail Time
by Helen Bradley

The Lonely Skier
by Frank Thomson

The topic for the first of this season’s Set Subject competitions allowed for a varied interpretation from members. Entitled ‘Trees’ the subject drew a large and differing portfolio of images from members. The judge was Mary Hartley from Ryton Camera Club who selected the first three winning pictures and also four Highly Commended images from the entries.
The top two photographs came from Elspeth Peddie with a London park study, “Kensington Gardens”, taking a well deserved first place. Elspeth’s “Knarled Tree” was second with “Snow Storm” by Bill Norfolk in third place.
With a total of 68 entries and displaying a very high standard of photographic skill, the 4 images Mary chose as Highly Commended are also shown below.
As usual the full entry list is available using the link below where you can see larger versions of each picture.

Click here to see all of the entries for this competition

Second place Knarled Tree by Elspeth Peddie

Third place Snow Storm by Bill Norfolk

Portrait in a Tree
by Tony McCann

The competition this year was judged by a good friend of the club Jim Welsh LRPS, CPAGB. Jim chose Frank Thomson’s stunning image “Eigergletscher & Mönch” as the winning print.
Frank says, “The photograph was taken  on 25/02/2014 in the Swiss Bernese Oberland. The height of the Mönch (Monk) is 13,474 feet. It lies between the Eiger (Ogre) and the Jungfrau (Maiden). The Eiger glacier “runs” down between the Eiger and the Mönch. I used my Canon EOS 40D with EF-S 15-85mm IS  lens at 35mm, ISO 400 and 1/400 at f/18. The shot was taken in RAW,  processed in Lightroom 5.3 and tweaked in Photoshop CC. I printed from Lightroom on my Canon Pixma Pro 100 printer onto A3  Epson Premium Glossy. I let Lightroom do the colour matching rather than the printer.”
Jim selected Ken Godfrey’s “Kittiwake” in second place and “Hadrian’s Wall on Boxing Day” by Bill Norfolk as third place.
In all there was a total of 33 prints entered, all of a very high standard.

Click here to see all of the entries for this competition

Second place Kittiwake
by Ken Godfrey

Third place Hadrian’s Wall on Boxing Day
by Bill Norfolk

The following 4 prints were all awarded Highly Commended by Jim Welsh LRPS, CPAGB.

Morning, Newbiggin Beach
by Helen Bradley

Second place Complicated
by Tony McCann

Third place Centurion
by June Atkinson

Fouth place Newcastle Quayside
by Elspeth Peddie.