Landscape/Seascape Competition February 11th 2021
“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.)
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- James Allan – From the Clifftop
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- Jenny Pedlar – Impressionist Hay Plains
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- 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!)
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- James Allan – Remarkable
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- 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.
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- Vicki Kramer – Baby Liam
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- 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!
For more Top Prints come back in a few days for an update. Top Projected Images are available for viewing now.
31 Day Challenge – December 2017
A few dedicated club members undertook the 31 Day Challenge on Flickr for December 2017. We have done this each year since 2010 (wow – that long?). The idea if you haven’t seen it before is to take a photo a day and post it on the club Flickr page. No prizes other than a satisfaction in completing a fairly daunting task and keeping it fresh.
For me, it was certainly a challenge and I approached it in two parts. Firstly all posted images had to be black and white. Secondly, I tried to maintain a theme for a week to create a little photo essay (for later use). The second part sort of worked and I think I can get some essays together on commuting, street life and some dark imagery. But more importantly, I’ve had some fun along the way and got some shots I’m very pleased with.
The participants that managed to post a photo a day were Judy Sara, Jennifer Williams, Bruce Nankivell and myself. One notable near daily posters was club life member David Douglas-Martin. James Allen threw a few into the mix as well.
Both Judy and Jennifer tried the black and white treatment too – and the results were very good. Hopefully that means a few more monos next year in competition.
I had a look through the images and selected my top 5 – with myself excluded from that mix (conflict of interest!) and chose the following (click the image to see it full size on Flickr) with comments as to why:
How about you? What about selecting your favourite shots and telling us why? Click on this link to see the full set for the 31 days and choose your own favourites. Let the photographer know what you think as well or post here and share your thoughts.
Cheers
Chris 🙂
The 31 Days of December 2014 are over – did you like it?
A dedicated bunch of BPC members took up the challenge again this year. It’s been a fun ride and most of the participants managed the full 31 days.
If you look through our flickr group it looks like Heather, Jen, David, Eric, John, James and I managed to post at least an image a day. Kerry came close, and we had a few images from Gloria, Ann, Helen, Terry, Howard and former member Hilary.
So what did we see? Well first we had a huge variety of images, following of themes, a bit of image manipulation, some of our photographers rediscovering their photographic passion, and a bit of repartee between us in the comments. I’ve picked what I think are the best of each members images and a comment on what they gave us. You may not agree with my choices, but you’ll probably agree it’s been fun and entertaining for the observer.
Sticks and Bits
Let’s start with Heather, who gave us a selection of wildlife, birds, travel photos, Christmas food and drink (love that Quinta Ruban!) and observation. No theme per se, but Heather looks to have had fun. What’s more, Heather didn’t confine herself to her dSLR, but use her iPad and a compact as well. For me, the image above was quintessential Heather – simple and effective imagery.
Figure to ground relationship
Next we had Jen exploring themes of photographic composition, often using simple objects and simple lighting. There were some powerful images in there that merit a serious look – like the 3 rocks and the almost monochrome sea urchin on a black background. Jen has a very good eye for composition – so watch out in this years competition everyone! Jen I think takes out the award for comment discussions. I direct you to one image as an example and you be the judge!
Kerry took part for most of the 31 days (actually, all of them I think, but she didn’t post them all on the BPC flickr page), and seemed to explore a lot of food! Not a problem really, as we all like it, and I was half tempted to visit and inspect the pantry! You’ll have to look at her photo stream to see her images as I can’t embed the images here directly. Never the less check out her Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars and her Dump Trucks to see what I mean.
Father and Son
David worked at giving us an image a day from his secret hideout south of Adelaide (we can’t tell you where or he may have to silence us!). David presented us with an fascinating array of still life, images from the hideout, and garden images, often manipulating the images to add something new. For me, Father and Son, (although not fully representing the body of work) showed us David’s wit and talent. But don’t overlook his artistic work either – Argive Abstract is one not to miss.
Year End
Now on to Eric. Never stuck for a word or a witticism, Eric produced some excellent work demonstrating clever manipulation in camera, around the camera, in processing and outside the camera. Check out Friction Grater as an example. That’s comes from lots of practice and experience. But for me, Year End was a stunner that should not be missed.
Hindmarsh Old and New
Our newest club member, John, participated in the process enthusiastically – both as commenter and photographer. Although a long time photographer, he commented to me “This challenge has whetted my appetite for photography again. Until it started my camera would have been lucky to have been out of the house more than once a month or so”. John’s stream of images shows his new enthusiasm with some great images of his favourite architecture (like the one above), but also exploring other ideas like panos (which he does very well – have a look at Base Running),macros and some clever textures. I’m glad you had a good time John and look forward to lots more images from you.
Bus Shelter 2
James again enthusiastically took part in the Challenge, even incorporating a Best of 31 Days commentary on his new Camera Clips page. His images of course show his experimental and strong visual style. The image above is one that is shows a powerful awareness of that style. It has shades of Robert Capa’s “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”. How many of you see beyond the obvious? James of course gave us his bird and insect shots, but I think his abstracts are some of his best images.
Coffee!
Finally, there was me. I spent a bit of time trying different things like only using one prime lens a for week (I succeeded), experimenting with mono treatments of images (like the one above – check out it’s colour cousin), wide angles, abstracts, and memories of lost relatives. It was hard work at times – as work and other things again got in the way. But the capture of a daily image or two to share was very satisfying in the end.
So there you have it – an interesting journey for all of us. Please visit the club Flickr page and see what we’ve done. We’ll probably hold another mid-year just to try something new.
Chris 🙂
Just A Wee Update – Things We Have Been Up To! September To November
Wow, time fly’s when you are having fun! Anyone guess from the lack of news here, that all we have been doing over the last few months has been nothing but competitions…. How wrong can you be! Below is a quick recount of what we have been up to.
September 1 – Guest Speaker – Darren Siwes
Darren very graciously spent an evening with us in early September. For me, especially, it was a very informative insight into how a Photomedia artist works and his inspiration behind his art. He touched on most aspects of his Photography work, from his earliest long exposure work, through to his ‘Bronze Coin’ representations of 2010. It was certainly an honour to have an artist who has been exhibited world wide as a guest to our club.
For more information on Darren, check out the excellent write up by James Allen in our September Camera Clips (LINK)
September 15 – AGM
Our Annual General Meeting was held on the 15th of September, with the following offices being decided:
President: Chris SchultzVice President: Ashley HoffSecretary: Yvonne SearsTreasurer: Jenny PedlarEx-officio: James Allan, Matt Carr, Adrian Hill, Mark Pedlar, Richard Wormald
September 17 – Informal Outing, Goolwa Cockle Train
On the same weekend as the Noarlunga Photographic Exhibition (please follow the link to Eric’s write up), a group of us decided to venture to Goolwa, to catch the Cockle Train to Victor Harbour.
It was quite a fortunate outing, as we were able to experience Steam Travel in both directions, including the Steam Rangers “Duke OF Edinburgh” on the way back. For someone as young as myself, it was certainly great to experience an era that my parents had only told me about 😉 (sorry, couldn’t resist).
Victor Harbour was also hosting a Rock and Roll Festival, which gave us plenty of photo opportunities.
October 13 – Practical Workshop
The October workshop was a walk out and about the local Blackwood area, with the emphasis on low light photography.
Some may see it as a blessing, others a hindrance, but the moon was out with in all it’s glory. Combine that with some broken cloud, saw some awesome dramatic shots (all we needed were some bat’s!)
As per always, check out our flickr group to see what people shot on the night (click on the image to your right, should head you in the right direction!).
October 16 – An Afternoon With Steve Parish (Marion Cultural Centre)
While not an official BPC event/outing, a few of our members managed to attend the Marion Cultural Centres ‘THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHING ANIMALS, PLANTS & LANDSCAPES’ workshop with Steve Parish.
Please follow the link to read James Allen’s writeup (LINK)
October 30 – Outing, Wellington To Hindmarsh Island
After our aborted effort to get an outing organised duing the long weekend, we finally managed to get out and about again on the 30th of October.
The outing took in such highlights as the Arboretum at Wellington, Milang, Clayton Bay, Finnis and Hindmarsh Island. There was a decent turnout, with up to 4 cars in convoy taking in the sites (but watch out for those Gary Secombe abrupt stops!)
The weather was nice, the company good and the pictures plentiful. Again, click on the picture to your left to head to our Flickr page
BPC on the Shores of Lake Alexandrina
November 10 – Annual Exhibition Judging
Well, our Annual Exhibition Judging has been run and the top prize getters have been decided by our three fantastic judges (David Douglas-Martin, Lindsay Poland and SAPF President, Peter Phillips).
The winners are…….you didn’t think I’d let the cat out of the bag that easy! You’ll just have to turn up to our Annual Exhibition on Thursday the 24th of November to find out!
Cheers
Ashley
31-day challenge is up and running
Just a quick note to let you know the December 31-day challenge is up and running. We only have a few contributors, but then you don’t have to contribute images as James says in the FlickR discussion:
If you don’t want to submit, it’s enough to keep an eye on the website and enjoy the unfolding of the month. Perhaps you could join in by making a few comments to encourage us all on. Your chance to do some judging.
So go on, pop over, have a look and contribute in any way you like.
Chris 😉
Blackwood Photographic Club of South Australia Inc. 