• Best colour print
• Best black and white print
• Best digital image
• Most unusual photograph

Our judge was Charles Hallsworth from Bridport Camera Club. As usual, the prizes were hotly contested and Charles had his work cut out to judge a total of 30 prints and 13 digital images.

As he went through the entries, the judge commented on each one, pointing out the good bits and diplomatically mentioning where the bad bits could be improved. His commentary was very informative and his experience as an artist was clear from his remarks.

After selecting shortlists of both prints and digital images, Charles chose the winning entries. The trophies were awarded as follows

• Best colour print – Linda
• Best black and white print – Michael
• Best digital image – Gillian
• Most unusual photograph – William

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Charles Hallsworth for being such an excellent judge!

Roger won the prize last year and he suggested the theme of ‘Shadows’.

We had entries giving a wide variety of interpretations of this theme in both colour and black and whiite. There were landscapes, ancient buildings, still lifes, nature and architecture, amongst others.

Unlike other competitions in our Club year we do not have an external judge for this competition but members attending the meeting are the judges. Each member is given a scoring sheet and each entry is displayed to the room while people enter their marks for each photo.

Linda was a clear winner of the compeition with a stunning black and white print depicting shadows cast by a pair of garden chairs. Roger came second with a photo of a shadow of an insect and William came third with a print of a landscape with mists and shadows.

Roger presented the trophy to Linda, who gets to nominate next year’s theme.

This was a fun and friendly evening and we look forward to hearing what we’ve got to line up for next January!

Judge Jim Eastaugh

This Tuesday evening we held our annual Black & White competition with the winner being awarded the coveted Iris Overton Memorial Cup.

Members submitted a total of 45 mounted black and white prints, covering subject matter as diverse as trains and boats to trees and turbines,architecture and birds to poppies and pandas. Our judge for the evening was Jim Eastaugh of Wincanton Camera Club who passed a very critical eye over each print, pointing out what he liked and didn’t like and commenting on the quality of both the printing and mounting.

Jim likes to see an interesting combination of light and texture with the composition showing an appropriate level of detail and contrast. As he viewed the prints one by one he selected a short-list of nine prints which he considered the most worthy of merit. From this nine he selected a first, second and third and two highly commended. The winners were:

1 Brian C.

Brian receives the Iris Overton Cup from Jim Eastaugh

2 William

3 Brian H

Highly commended: William and Brian C.

Congratulations to the winners, who were up against some very stiff competition, and thanks also to Jim for being such a fair and informative judge. A highly enjoyable evening!

The theme of the competition this year was ‘Wet’ and the judge was Sid Jones of Dorchester Camera Club.

We viewed a wide range of interpretations of the theme, from soaked birds to wet people, rainy streets to sodden fields and raindrops on cobwebs, leaves and a clothes line – amongst others.

Sid was an excellent judge, pointing out the best points of each image and making really helpful comments about how each entry could be improved. There was applause for each entry awarded 20 points and we looked in more detail at these winning images when the competition was over.

The Bradford Abbas Shield was won by Yeovil Camera Club with 182 points out of a possible 200. Second was Wincanton with 180 points, third was Sherborne Bradford Abbas with 172 and fourth and fifth, Yeo Group and South Petherton with 170 and 169 respectively.

Here Laura Pearce is seen receiving the trophy on behalf of Yeovil Camera Club from Sid Jones.

Well done, Yeovil – and many thanks to Sid Jones for a job well done!

Here are some of the highest scoring digital images from all of the clubs:

[ashgallery code="1498"]

(click on an image to play a slideshow)

We judge the competition ourselves using anonymous marking sheets with points awarded for creativity, technique and ‘do I like it?’. The member awarded the highest number of points wins the competition.

This year the theme was ‘Time’, chosen by last year’s winner, Norman. By popular vote, the winner of this year’s competition was Roger, a relatively new member of the club, who is clearly quite a talented photographer.

In second place was William and in third place Brian H.

Here is Roger being presented with the crystal trophy by Norman.

The winning image is shown below. As this year’s winner, Roger gets to choose the theme for next year’s competition. He has confirmed that he is deliberating the matter very seriously and will announce his decision in due course.

click to see full size

Congratulations, Roger – a worthy winner!

Martin Western

We welcomed members from the other four participating clubs: South Petherton,Wincanton, Yeovil and Yeo Group.

This year we invited entries on the theme of ‘Abandoned’. Each club could submit five prints and five digital images each of which would be awarded marks out of 20.

Our judge was Martin Western from Poole. He commented on each photograph, looking at how well the photographer had interpreted the theme, the composition of the photo and the technical skills that the photo displayed (or not!)

He was an excellent judge, making some very incisive comments and also injecting a touch of humour in his commentary of the images.

When all the points were added up, the final results were:

South Petherton 170 points

Wincanton 167 points

Yeo Group 153 points

Sherborne Bradford Abbas 153 points

Yeovil 143 points

South Petherton therefore won the Bradford Abbas Shield for 2010.

Congratulations to all the winning photographers, thanks to all the other clubs for taking part and especial thanks to Martin Western for being such a superb judge.

See you all again next year!

Our judge this year was Jim Eastaugh, one of the area’s prominent photographic judges and a leading light in the WCPF (Western Counties Photographic Federation).

Each member was limited to three entries which could be either colour prints, black and white prints or digital projected images.

Subjects portrayed included landscapes, seascapes, wildlife, still life, aircraft, panorama, architecture and portraiture.

Jim discussed each picture in each category, explained what he liked and didn’t like about the image, and narrowed each category down into a short-list from which he picked 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

The winners in each category were:

Best colour print: Brian C.

Best black and white print: Gillian

Best projected image: Roger

Most unusual photograph: William

Winners each received a cup.

Thanks to everyone who entered, congratulations to the winners and thanks to Jim for being such an astute judge!

For further information and entry forms go to their website www.bfcclub.co.uk.

The four open sections are monochrome print, colour print, transparency and digital projected image.    Plenty of scope, so have a go.

Members were invited to submit up to three prints or digital images each on the subject of this year’s theme, ‘Water’.

There were 28 entries in all, 16 prints and 12 digital images. There was a wide interpretation of the subject matter covering all types and states of water.

Norman

Members judged the winner themselves, awarding marks out of 15 for each entry. The judging criteria included creativity, composition and ‘do I like it?’. The marking was done by secret ballot and this turned out very interesting exercise in club democracy!

After all the marks were added up the winner, by a clear margin, was Norman who entered a stunning image taken from within a pod on the London Eye.

Here’s the winning entry:

Congratulation to Norman who wins the new trophy for the year. Well done also to the runners-up, Brian C, Linda, Keith and Gillian.

A very enjoyable evening, using all our new toys!

Jim Eastaugh of Wincanton Camera Club was the guest judge and he stated that he always looked for pictures where the light added interest and definition to a photograph. He wanted to see a full range of midtones between black and white rather than just a ‘grey’ photograph.

Each member of the club was entitled to enter five mounted black and white prints, on any subject, provided that the photograph had been taken within the past year. Members entered a total of 41 prints into the competition, on subjects ranging from landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes, statues, flowers, swans and people.

Jim complemented the club on its wide range of subject matter and the quality of the best prints. From a shortlist of six prints, the chosen winner was Brian C. with a landscape entitled ‘Standing Stone Avebury’; second place was awarded to Gillian for a wedding portrait ‘Vancouver Bride’ and third place was taken by another of Brian C’s prints ‘Pilsdon Pen’.

Congratulations to Brian C. for winning the cup two years running, and thanks to Jim for being such a sympathetic and informative judge!

Come on club – someone’s got to knock Brian off his perch next year…