Our annual Print competition is split into Colour general, Monochrome and Nature sections. The images aren’t given a mark, but are awarded 1st,2nd, 3rd, Highly Commended and Commended. At the end of the judging, John will choose an overall ‘Print of the Year’. We were very grateful to judge John Smith who stood in for our original judge who couldn’t attend for personal reasons. John travelled from Rhyl on a horrible night to accommodate us. John hadn’t seen the prints until he arrived and admitted the standard was very high and we’d given him a difficult task.
The Colour general section was judged first and Peter Robinson’s ‘Winning Jump’ indeed proved to be the winner as John like the girl’s concentration and position. The defocused background highlights her and low viewpoint raised her above the horizon. Wallace Baxter’s superb photo of motorcyclist ‘Jake Campbell’ came second. John like the impact made be a tight crop and liked seeing the rider eyes and expression. Peter Robinson also came third by capturing the action of a ‘Slizzer Fun’ fairground ride. John appreciated how difficult it is to get this right with all of the challenging elements. Another of Wallace Baxter’s motorbike photographs, ‘Kyle Ryd Yamaha R1’ was highly Commended, as was Keith Mulliner’s studio portrait of ‘Erica with flowers and pink ribbon’.
Peter Robinson also won the Mono section with his photo of some women playing ‘Muddy Rugby’. John liked the muddy action and the shape the players made with them all contributing to the image. Wallace Baxter’s photo of canoeist ‘A Focused Robert Holdway’ was awarded second. John like the canoeist’s expression, the splashing water and close crop which enhanced the action. Peter Robinson also came third with his photo of singer ‘Kelley Tigerheart’ at full volume. John told us it was important that the microphone wasn’t covering her face. Keith Mulliner’s studio portrait ‘Sad Maiden was Highly Commended and Ray Hill’s ‘Frazer Nash TT racing at Oulton Park’ was Commended.
Ray Hill’s beautiful photograph of a ‘Common Female Kestrel’ not only won the Nature section, but was also awarded ‘Print of the Year’. Well done Ray! John liked the fine detail and alert expression of the bird against a muted background. Keith Mulliner’s ‘Plucking Feathers’ came second. John told us the snow was well exposed and liked the story told. Keith also came third with his ‘Gannet landing with nesting material’. John told it was well caught with the bird carrying something. Peter Robinson’s ‘Orangutan Lookout’ and Ray Hill’s ‘Water Rail Foraging’ were both awarded Highly Commended.
All the images that came 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Highly Commended can be seen in the slideshow above. All the results are in our Results page here