An Unusual Experience – Competition February 29th 2024

This month’s Judge was photographer Alan Bevan. Alan is also President of his local photography club. Alan gave good advice on both the open and set subjects. When judging a photo Alan looks for impact, composition, quality and narrative. Alan particularly noted the placement of elements within the images, looking for good borders and ensuring room was left around the image elements to allow them to stand out and for the viewer to be able to sense where the movement takes place and where the subject will move to next. When judging bird photos, Alan looks for the impact and narrative of bird behaviour rather than a static bird.

The image “Today’s Weather” by David Hancock was awarded high marks by the Judge in the Colour Set Subject as he said it was well composed with nice separation between the clouds and the border, has good colours and was shot at a good time of day, giving the image impact.

In the Mono Set Subject “Leap Year” by Kerry Malec was technically well done and showed creativity.

Taking out top honours in the Colour Open section Sam Savage’s image “Breakfast at Waitpinga” has strong impact. The Judge said it was was a great capture and had excellent timing. The image is almost humorous as the young bird is leaning so far back. As the viewer, you can almost hear the noise. The background is nicely out of focus and the image has good tonal range.

The image “Success” by Heather Connelly was also deemed a very good image by the Judge, there is nice separation between the main bird subject and the birds below. Alan said it was a well composed and captured image with the other birds being slightly out of focus.

Also achieving a high score in this section was “Lotus Beauty” by Di Gage. The Judge said there was sharpness across the image with good framing and beautiful detail in the middle and the viewer could see enough of the bee. The highlights were handled well with attractive soft lighting.

“Attitude” by Michael Selge in the Mono Open Section had a strong subject, the singer’s stance was dramatic and had high impact. The explosion of light in the smoke created drama with great framing of the subject.

Taking top honours in the Mono section was “Sharing” from Sam Savage. The Judge described it as a fabulous shot, beautifully composed with high impact.

In the Print Open Colour Section Di Gage’s “A Look Inside” (Image not supplied), was captured in a pleasing way, a flower being shot from above. In the Mono Prints Open Section Michael Selge’s “Chester” was a strong image with impact, a huge amount of energy and good tonal range.

And Michael’s “Dance” also had impact on the viewer, with beautiful light and a sharp image.

Finally in the Set Subject Colour Print section Michael’s “Boom” was an interesting capture, a great image, the explosion has impact and it is an extraordinarily unusual image of the woman.

Mark Pedlar’s “Fixing Christchurch” had a lot to like, an image of a mural with a face looking alarmed appropriate for a building being demolished nearby.