Geoff Smith judged the October ‘Scapes competition. Geoff is a former SA Government official photographer and professional wedding and portrait photographer.

Geoff commended the range of seascapes, landscapes and urban scapes that were presented in this month’s competition.

In the digital images section Judy Sara scored well with ‘Grotfjord’ which invites the viewer to explore the middle point with attractive red roofs on the houses. The composition of the photo leads the eye to explore the distant peaks. With the same marks, Michael Selge’s image of ‘NZ Peaks’ shone with beautiful light, each ridge excellently lit, nice lens flare and a feeling of vista, shape, texture and distance.

Another image from Judy Sara; ‘Momocobreen’ explores land and sea, also with a lovely vista, and scale.

Moving through the judging, Judy Sara’s Pildappa Rock made good use of the panorama format, with good definition and foliage detail. While Meredith Retallack’s ‘Dawn at Arkaba Woolshed’ had a foreground leading into the building and her ‘Pelican Lagoon’ made good use of the portrait format, with the central tree being a bright area getting most of the sunlight and with good cloud detail.

In the Mono category the Judge looked for good tonal range, texture and contrast.

In this category Steve Wallace’s ‘Dunlop Woolshed’ scored highly with the Judge saying the leading lines from bottom left to the middle led the viewer into the image, the gate highlights and the definition in each of the corrals showed up well. The use of light, shape and texture added to the image to give a clear story.

Michael Selge submitted ‘Spotting’ which made good use of the frame, the diagonal positioning of the subject, and the positioning of the head back from the centre gave the bird space to move into.

Gordon Lindqvist in the Open colour category scored well with ‘About to Board’. A lively shot of a pilot boat powering through the waves. A dynamic shot, with the subject centrally located, the viewer can see where the boat comes from and where it is going, drawing them into the story.

Steve Wallace’s ‘Window on Sky City’ was all about the colour in the amber windows, a nicely constructed shot.

In the print open colour category Kerry Malec took out the top mark for her photo ‘Katherine Gorge’. The Judge liked the unusual and interesting deep rich blue of the water which gave a 50/50 split to the photo. The unblemished deep blue contrasted with and provided an excellent backdrop to the earthy colours of the land.

Michael Selge followed Kerry with ‘Dawn Jetties’. The still water and good use of time of day gave a lovely change of lighting while providing enough detail on the jetty, not just providing a silhouette, but preserving the shape and texture of the jetty.

Also by Michael, ‘Tassie Falls’ was applauded by the Judge because it had good detail in the foreground, and the photo led the eye in from the bottom right hand side and was a very restful scene.

Mark Pedlar with ‘Honkers’ showed an amazing skyline and lots of harbour and waterway activity. This print subject had variations in textures and heights, with a good range of tones giving atmosphere and mood and telling a story.

Sheila Gatehouse’s ‘Early Morning Hindley Street’ was commended by the Judge. The vehicles and buildings had good light on them, tonally well done, and also optically with a good lower horizon, drawing the eye down the road.

‘Waterfall’ by Di Gage used a long exposure technique to smooth the water while maintaining the fine detail in the rocks. Judy Sara scored top marks with ‘Working Together’ which told a story, showing the engagement of the individuals in the image. The structure and lighting were well caught. (image not shown).

The Judge said of Judy Sara’s image of “Working Together” that it was an example of beautiful modelling for an image with good depth and definition. The subjects aren’t posing for the picture but are concentrating on their work looking neither happy or sad. The subjects were a good photographic study.

The general theme of the Judge’s comments was about creating a story, having something to show scale where it wasn’t clear in the image and looking for different angles and ways of looking at subjects to tell different stories.

The ‘Birds of a Feather’ competition brought in a number of excellent entries. Birds could be wild, garden or pet birds.

Judge David Rowlands commended the images submitted, stating they were of a high quality.

He particularly appreciated the images that showed action or the behaviour of birds as shown in Meredith Retallack’s image “Spring Fling”, “Large Billed Tern” shot by Judy Sara and “War Wounds” by Michael Selge.

The quirky and cute birds shown in the images by Paul Hughes “Am I Ready” and “Bathtime” were also appreciated by the Judge.

The good use of backgrounds without distractions employed by Judy Sara in “Hornbill Courtship” and the good use of post processing in “Sparrow Hawk” by Judy Sara were attributes praised by the Judge.

David particularly commented on the advantages of being at eye level with the bird to capture the light and reflections in the eye and commended many images for achieving this, among them “Pelican Sleep Time” by Sue Bell.

Showing good dynamic detail “Plonk” by Michael Selge showed the landing speed leaving behind clear water droplets and water movement.

In the Open Category, Michael Selge scored top marks for 3 images, “The End”, which the Judge said was well executed, even though not a pleasant subject, the good use of leading lines led the viewer into the image. “Storm Summoner” with a good interpretation of the art work and “Darwin Sunset” which scored top marks.

Meredith Retallack and Steve Wallace elected to enter very different street scenes, both of which told a story. Mary’s “Playing into his Hand” is a contemporary street scene with the people in the street being happy, active and animated, while Steve’s “The Store, Dunlop Station” is a step back in time showing an historical building with an interesting old bike in front of it.

“Dawn on the Bank” by Mark Pedler and “F18 Shooting Flares” taken by Sue Bell were also commended by the Judge.

Of the critiques the Judge gave, he suggested removing distractions where possible including any smudges, dust spots and distracting light spots in backgrounds. He also suggested darkening or lightening backgrounds to better contrast with the image subject and cropping photos to make the subject the most prominent object in the image.

Susan Bell

SAPF Judge Annette Hollitt judged our Competition ‘Patterns and Texture’ on Thursday 30th March 2023, with a total of 88 images to view.

There were 14 Monochrome Prints, 8 in Set Subject and 7 in Open. Mark Pedlar scored a 10 in Set Subject for ‘Circles of my Mind’ and a 9 in Open for ‘Bottom of the World’

There were 14 Colour Prints, 8 in Set Subject and 6 in Open.

Michael Selge received a 9 for ‘Wet Bark’ and Sheila Gatehouse a 9 for ‘Weathered by Sea and Time’, in Set Subject.

Michael Selge also received a 9 for ‘Aurora’ and James Allan a 9 for ‘Backlit Brass’ in Open.

There were 44 Colour Projected Images: 36 in Set Subject and 6 in Open. 

Members who scored 9s in Set Subject were Kerry Malec with ‘Fern Frond’, Sheila Gatehouse with ‘Ducati Yellow, Michael Selge with ‘Sunflower’ and David Hancock with ‘Old Man Gum Tree’. Michael Selge also received a 9 in Open for ‘Flyover’.

There were 17 Monochrome Projected Images: 16 in Set Subject and 1 in Open. 9s were awarded to Meredith Retallack’s ‘An Impression’ and Michael Selge’s ‘Melbourne Library’, both in Set Subject

The average score for the evening was 7.57

Report by Ray & Julie Goulter

Our Annual Exhibition was held on Thursday November 17^th with a good turn-out of members to celebrate our achievements for the year.

The Best Architecture Award was won by Di Gage with Underneath the Arches. The WEA Landscape Award went to Dappled Light in Black Gap by Meredith Retallack and Frances Allan won the Best Creative Award with The Splash.

The awards were presented by Julie Goulter, the club’s president.
The full list of awards was as follows:

Projected Digital Images – Colour Division

1st Hutt St Photos Award – Michael Holmes – Portrait of Daisy

2nd – Kerry Malec – Horses Crossing Flooded River

3rd – Sam Savage – Squabbling Neighbours

Merit – Di Gage – Nest Building

Merit – Sheila Gatehouse – We’ll Park Where We Want To

Merit – Paul Hughes – Derby Jetty

Merit – Judy Sara – Fungi Garden

Annual Aggregate – Projected Digital Images – Colour

1^st Photographic Wholesalers Award – Judy Sara

2nd Heather Connolly

3rd Sheila Gatehouse

Projected Digital Images – Monochrome Division

Top Monochrome Print Trophy – Michael Seige – The Skater

2nd – Kerry Malec – River Crossing at Dusk

3rd – Heather Connolly – Geometric

Merit – Di Gage – Remarkable Rocks

Merit – Sheila Gatehouse – Cathedral of Lights

Merit – Kerry Malec – Natures Artwork

‘Merit – Meredith Retallack – Caught in the Act

Annual Aggregate – Projected Digital Images – Monochrome

1st Blackwood Times Award – Judy Sara

2nd – Sheila Gatehouse

3rd – Ray Goulter

Click HERE to see a video presentation of all the projected digital image entries.

Colour Print Division

1st – Meredith Retallack – Dappled Light in Black Gap

2nd – Di Gage – Busy Bee

3rd – Judy Sara – Brown Bear

Merit – Di Gage – Underneath the Arches

Merit – Steve Wallace – Lesser Crested Tern

Annual Aggregate – Prints – Colour

Blackwood Photographic Award – Judy Sara & Helen Whitford

3rd – Sheila Gatehouse

Monochrome Print Division

First – Judy Sara – Splash

2nd – Sheila Gatehouse – Hart’s Mill

3rd – Di Gage – Mortlock Library

Merit – Mark Pedlar – Pickin’ Em Up

Annual Aggregate – Prints – Monochrome

First – Judy Sara

2nd – Helen Whitford

3rd – Sheila Gatehouse

Despite having held our workshop on High Key Portraiture, this was our least favourite subject for the year, with only eight out of fifty-seven entries placed in the Set Subject.

In Prints we had Judy Sara’s Masquerade Elle, Helen Whitford’s Loving Couple, James Allan’s Mark and Sheila Gatehouse’s It’s all about Fashion and Strike a Pose.

In Digital Images we had just Sheila Gatehouse’s 61 Years of Love, Helen Whitford’s self portrait, Helen and Di Gage’s Mr P.

Judge, Roger Harrington, made constructive comments and suggestions but used a limited range of scores.
In Open Subject he was impressed by Judy Sara’s Yellow Fungi Garden, Inside the Old Boathouse, Jay Take Off and Yellow Gills, Di Gage’s Busy Bee and Mortlock Library 2, Stuart Mcleod’s Emu 16, Frances Allan’s Open Book, Sam Savage’s Elegant Bathers and Steve Wallace’s Brown Tree Creeper.

Click the links for all of the Top Digital Images and Top Prints for 2022.

This was our last regular competition for the year, with only the Annual Exhibition left to go!
It would be great to receive entries from everybody!