28th September 2021
Tonight we had great pleasure in welcoming Lyn Phillips back to our club for this zoom session. Lyn has been visiting us for a number of years now, usually at the beginning of the season, to provide some simple techniques, ideas, and guidance as well as an interactive and fun evening, which serves as an ‘ice breaker’ for new members, and some existing members who may need a bit of encouragement to get off that sofa!
Lyn had already provided us with some worksheets including some competition entries from Middleton Camera Club, and her aim was to try and develop our ‘critical eye’ when viewing our own and others images. The evening was educational and fun, and small ‘break-out’ groups were held to review each image on technical strengths, narrative strengths, weaknesses, and a scoring group. Members only had a short amount of time to view each image and were then asked to score them interactively. Lyn then produced an overview of our scoring percentages, and it was amazing to see how differently our members interpreted each image, which was reflected in the scores ranging from 14-20. This helped us to understand the diversity of judging, and what makes a good first impression.
At the end of this session, Lyn gave us the judge’s original score for each image and asked us to compare our own against them. Overall the majority of members had quite different scores, however there were a few who were very aligned to that of the judge, so we might have some budding judges amongst us!
Throughout the evening, Lyn encouraged members to submit images into competitions, as it’s a way that everyone can enjoy and share them. However, she stressed it isn’t all about competition but it is the one way we can appreciate each other’s work and enhance our own critiquing skills, as well as getting some critical appraisal from the judges. We all know what we like and dislike, and we are all critical people and can learn a lot by watching and taking part. Find shots you like, and if they mean something to you that’s all that really matters, just put them in to a competition. Just remember, photography is creative and the more you put into it, the more you will get out.
Our very grateful thanks go to Kathie, Programme Secretary, for arranging such a great evening, and to Lyn Phillips for giving such an inspiring, educational and fun session, as well as providing some extremely useful worksheets. We are sure these will help everyone to enhance their photographic (and judging/critiquing) skills, as well as taking the ‘fear’ out of competitions.
Good Luck everyone.
For, and on behalf of, the Committee