This was our first PDI Merit Competition of the new season and we had pleasure in welcoming Paul Bradley, Chairman of Witon and District Camera Club on the Isle of Wight, for his second visit to the club. Paul started on his photographic journey with an interest in transport photography, but admits he doesn’t have any particular specialism now. He likes to take photographs for posterity i.e. something that is likely to disappear in the future.
It was fantastic to see 36 club members who had joined the evening via zoom, including some of our new members who had submitted images for the first time. There were 71 images altogether, consisting of 31 from the Beginner group, 16 from the Intermediate group, and 24 from the Advanced group.
The evening commenced with the judging of the Beginners’ images first, followed by the Intermediate and Advanced groups. Paul gave some very good comments, and encouraging advice, as well as solutions to the usual pitfalls we experience when taking our photographs, i.e. composition, lighting, colour, perspective, viewpoint, angle of view, depth of field, and sharpness (in the right place). Overall Paul thought the standard of the images was very good, and was particularly impressed by the breath of subjects, particularly those that tried something different.
Paul’s ‘Best of the Evening’ went to Jackie Tourle for ‘Strawberry Fundae’. The winners from each group category are as follows:
Beginners: Nick Macleod – ‘Grasswater’
Intermediate: Jackie Tourle – ‘Strawberry Fundae’
Advanced: Sheila Higgs – ‘Synchronised Damselflies’
A full list of results can be found on the ‘Competitions/Results 21/22’ tab on the website.
Grateful thanks go to Paul for a very interesting and informative evening, and we are sure everyone will take something positive from his comments and suggestions and use them to enhance their own techniques in the development of their photography. Thanks also to Mike G for acting as our zoom host, Rob for collating and preparing the images, as well as Vince and Babs for recording and officiating the scores.
Last, but not least, thanks to all our members for continuing to support our lovely camera club over the years, especially during the COVID pandemic and beyond.
The Committee