Our Surreal competition was a challenge to everyone – entrants, viewing members and the judge! Members came up with a wide variety of interpretations of this set subject which stretched our imagination. Here is a selection of the more creative entries.
Judy Sara – On the Prowl in Ostuni
Paul Hughes – Covid is believed to have lowered the standards of Ventriloquism
Jenny Pedlar – Beware of the Dog
Judy Sara – A Cosmic Taste Sensation
Helen Whitford – Grevillea
Vicki Kramer -Smallperson
Mark Pedlar – Late Gambit
Paul Hughes – WHICH star did you say we are following?
Julie Goulter – Invasion of the Aliens
Mark Pedlar – Bottom of the Garden
Vicki Kramer – Flower Dreaming
Steve Wallace – Catch of the Day
Judge, Tim Newberry, seemed to get caught up in the “dream” part of our definition “Surreal – Seeming like a dream or Fantasy” but he appreciated the creativity in images, as long as they didn’t include a cat!
It was great to see the top scores spread around a bit, including to new members. View Top Prints and Top PDIs here.
“If at first you don’t succeed, read the instructions.”
This was a “meme” before anyone had heard of memes and I have to admit it popped into my head a number of times during preparation for this competition. I don’t usually do these write-ups from a personal perspective but I feel the need this time as so many of the members who entered had issues with their entries – “out of category”, too big, incorrect file names, titles provided not matching title on print/file, category not nominated etc., almost all of which could have been avoided by carefully reading the subject definition and the entry instructions.
At the risk of sounding like a teacher, I do ask that everyone please take care to avoid these mistakes because each one of them makes the task of putting the competition together take that bit longer. Gordon and I are very happy to manage the competitions but it is frustrating when it takes twice as long as it should. OK, whinge over. Thanks for “listening” – Helen
Now to the competition! We had a good number of entries, with 82 photographs from 14 different members, and the entries in the Set Subject of Landscape/Seascape well outnumbered the Open category.
Despite photographing a spot which is becoming an iconic location, James Allan made an impact with From the Clifftop. Jenny Pedlar’s daring Impressionist Hay Plains did impress judge Keith Seidel, who was in his element judging Landscapes, and Helen Whitford’s panoramic Parachilna also caught his eye.
(Click on any image to see it at full size.)
James Allan – From the Clifftop
Jenny Pedlar – Impressionist Hay Plains
Helen Whitford – Parachilna
In the Print sections, Vicki Kramer’s El Capitan’s Fluffy Hat, Mark Pedlar’s 69 Degrees South, James Allan’s Remarkable and Judy Sara’s At Horizontal Falls were the most successful entries in Set Subject. (Photos coming soon!)
James Allan – Remarkable
Judy Sara – At Horizontal Falls
In Open category Keith commended Vicki Kramer on “breaking with convention” in baby photography with Baby Liam and he admired the simplicity of Judy Sara’s The Curl.
Vicki Kramer – Baby Liam
Judy Sara – The Curl
Keith gave thoughtful, constructive comments and offered useful tips on ways to improve technical aspects of the photographs. It was a great start to our competitions for the year!
2020 has been an extraordinary year, full of twists and turns and surprises, including the postponement of our Annual Exhibition due to the brief Covid 19 lockdown two weeks ago. Happily, we were able to hold the event live on December 3rd with 25 members present.
As our 2020 competitions were revamped to include only Projected Digital Images the evening took a slightly different format, with no prints on the walls, but with twenty members entering a total of 163 images we had a strong competition and a fabulous display of the talents of our members.
Congratulations to Suzie Smith and Frances Allan who emerged to challenge the regular strong performers, James Allan, Judy Sara and Helen Whitford and it was great to see the awards spread between 8 members.
We introduced two new award categories this year – Nature and Portrait. The images were all judged in Open category but the highest scoring image nominated in each of these categories (and the existing WEA Australian Landscape category) won the award.
Nature was won by Suzie Smith with her exquisite Pink Robin.
Portrait was won by Frances Allan with Surfing Pondalowie.
The WEA Australian Landscape Award went to James Allan for Last Light on Rawnsley Bluff
Colour Projected Digital Images
In the Colour PDI section Suzie Smith’s Pink Robin was First.
Helen Whitford’s Feather came Second
James Allan’s Last Light on Rawnsley Bluff was Third
Merits were awarded to:
Frances Allan for Pied Kingfisher and Shaped by Prevailing Wind
James Allan for Mist on the Water
Mark Pedlar for I Beg your Pardon
Jenny Pedlar for King Penguins
Steve Wallace for Ever Watchful
and Helen Whitford for Pearls and Bonney Light
Monochrome Projected Digital Images
In the Monochrome PDI section Suzie Smith’s First Train of the Season was First
Frances Allan’s Surfing Pondalowie was Second
and Helen Whitford’s White Cheeked Gibbon was Third
Merits were awarded to:
James Allan for Hooded Robin
Di Gage for Had Better Days
Suzie Smith for Reynisfjaara
and Helen Whitford for Timid
Aggregates 2020
The Aggregate Awards for competitions throughout the year were also different in 2020. As Print categories were not possible we ran just two sections – Colour PDI and Monochrome PDI.
Colour PDI Aggregate 2020
First – Helen Whitford Second – Judy Sara Third – James Allan
Monochrome PDI Aggregate 2020
First – Judy Sara Second – James Allan Third – Helen Whitford
Thank You to our judges Peter Phillips SSAPS, Brad Hodge and Sandra Goulter.
The Bill Templer Award for Service to Blackwood Photographic Club over the past 12 months was presented to Helen Whitford
See below for the slideshow of all entries and awards.
The banner this week is a montage of what I considered were the great character portraits from the recent competition. The Authors were, Frances Allan (1&3), Shiela Gatehouse (2&4), Helen Whitford (5) and Steve Wallace (6). I chose these images because of their unwavering gaze. I was not the judge, but there would be several 10’s in this collection if I was.
The alternate (second) Banner comes from Vicki Crammer from the product photography competition with a strong image called the handbag. Of course all of the original images and a write up of the competition can be found on the club web page.
It is time to choose your favourite images for judging. The end of year competition looms. Of course this year the competition is only projected images, with 2 categories, colour and monochrome. In addition there are 3 special prizes, one for Landscape, one for Portrait and one for Wildlife. Entries are due in early November, refer to the wabpage.
So this month I am going to start a new feature. As there is a lot of trial and error in photography, I have decided to look at the problem solving aspect of capturing an image. This week I will pose a problem and once you feel you have the answer, have a look at the answer page. Best of Luck.
Enjoy this edition of Camera Clips.
James Allan
Post script:
There is a change of format this week. Word Press has updated it’s editor and I can no longer nest the pages within each months newsletter. Accordingly I have made each of the articles a post on the home page. However you can navigate to the articles in the usual way from the table of contents below.
The Set Subject of Character Study was embraced by the 12 members who entered, with about 60% of entries in the category. The inclusion of Animals in the definition surprised judge, Geoff Smith, but he embraced the concept, appreciating that animals can indeed display character in their expressions and actions.
Geoff was impressed with Huli Wigman by Judy Sara and Helen Whitford’s Quizzical.
Judy Sara_Huli Wigman
Helen Whitford_Quizzical
In Open category he liked new member Frances Allan’s In the Moment and Heather Connolly’s Painted Lady.
Heather Connolly_Painted Lady
Rounding out the high scores were James Allan’s Climbing Boy, Duart McLean’s Linked Pair, Paul Hughes Love at First Sight and Judy Sara’s Elle.
James Allan_Climbing Boy
Duart McLean_Linked Pair
Paul Hughes_Love at First Sight
Judy Sara_Elle
As an Editor’s Choice I select Frances Allan’s Playing with Light, which I saw as a beautiful serene scene, although it perhaps didn’t display as well on the large screen as on a computer.
Frances Allan_Playing with Light
That’s it for regular competitions in this unusual COVID year! All that’s left is the Annual Exhibition and I would encourage EVERY MEMBER to ENTER! Even if you don’t feel “competitive” this is your opportunity to share your work and and have it seen in a public space! We anticipate showing a slideshow of images in a public display after the Annual Exhibition and Awards night and all images will be displayed on this website. Why not join in and perhaps put yourself in the running for one of the special 2020 trophies for Portrait and Nature images! Entries are due by 7pm Monday November 2nd.
Here is a slideshow of ALL of the images in this competition and you can look back over the best images throughout the year here.
Di Gage_I Think I Have a Splinter
Duart McLean_Linked Pair
Frances Allan_Focus while Fishing
Gordon Lindqvist_Got My Eye on You
Helen Whitford_Hayley
James Allan_Nesting Hole
Judy Sara_Huli Wigman
Paul Hughes_Love at First Sight
Meredith Retallack_Youthful Exuberance
Sheila Gatehouse_It Wasn’t Me!
Judy Sara_The Naturalist
Sheila Gatehouse_Sean
Gordon Lindqvist_Forlorn
Steve Wallace_At Coc Ly Market
Di Gage_This is a nice piece of Wood
Helen Whitford_Quizzical
Frances Allan_Thrill of Discovery
Helen Whitford_Ready to Play
Paul Hughes_This One’s Mine
Sheila Gatehouse_The Dreamer
Steve Wallace_Happy in her Work
Di Gage_Early Morning Milang
Duart McLean_ Steady for the Bridge
Frances Allan_Playing with Light
Heather Connolly_Painted Lady
James Allan_View of Wilpena
Meredith Retallack_Drangonfly Eyes
Steve Wallace_Not the Midnight Oil House
Duart McLean_Lattice Bridge
Meredith Retallack_Spider Orchid
Judy Sara_Purple Orchid
Heather Connolly_Thelymitra Pauciflora
James Allan_Peregrine
Heather Connolly_Lady of the Lake
Di Gage_This is How You Do It
Frances Allan_Puppy Love
Helen Whitford_Cheeky Monkey
James Allan_A Cup of Coffee
Judy Sara_Elle
Meredith Retallack_Unless you’re feeding me I’m not Interested!
Paul Hughes_Portait of the Artist
Sheila Gatehouse_Pondering The Future
Helen Whitford_Timid
James Allan_Climbing Boy
Sheila Gatehouse_Those Irish Eyes Are Still Smiling
Helen Whitford_Uncertain
Meredith Retallack_Concentration
James Allan_Walking Through the High Dry Grass
Di Gage_Resting Awhile
Judy Sara_Orchid Opening
Steve Wallace_Down and Around
Judy Sara_The Ant
Steve Wallace_Low Light on Lake Gairdner
Di Gage_Seen Better Days
Sheila Gatehouse_The Trees are Bare, So are the Chairs
Blackwood Photographic Club of South Australia Inc. 