Congratulations to Kath Hill who won the Maurice Ashwin Trophy in our print portrait competition. Sports photographer, Noel Patterson was the judge with a keen eye and brought a fresh approach to judging our portraits. Noel chose Kath’s ‘Weary Dude’ as the winner as it was full of impact that grabbed your attention. It has strong eye contact and is tightly cropped, eliminating any distracting details. The dude’s face is full of character and light models the facial features. The mono conversion adds to the atmosphere and the period it reflects. I was surprised to hear that this is the first trophy Kath has won, as she’s shown us many imaginative images over the years, so it’s long overdue. Wallace Baxter’s ‘The Smile’ was only just beaten by Kath’s picture as it had similar attributes. The close-up of a smiling lady with strong eyes and an engaging expression was a worthy second. Ray Hill’s ‘Forties Singer’ wasn’t far behind in third place. Again, Noel enjoyed viewing this image, and told us it to often singers are hidden by their microphone, but Ray had waited until she had move back. The three entries that were awarded Highly Commended were Keith Mulliner’s studio portrait, ‘Erica in White’, Peter Robinson photograph of a ‘Mine Manager’ and Ray Hill’s re-enactment of a suffragette skirmish called ‘You’re Nicked!’
The winner of the PDI portrait competition is awarded the Howard Edwards Trophy. This season Peter Robinson’s ‘Tyred Mudder’ took the honour. Noel told us it had the edge as it had more of the photographer in the picture, as he had got down in the mud to the runner’s eye level. The lady runner was emerging from a tyre wall with a beaming smile that Noel appreciated. Kath did well again by achieving second place with her ‘Welsh Runner’ Another close-up portrait of a guy covered in mud showing his character. Noel liked his textured face and expression. Dave Barton took third spot with his studio portrait of Katie. Noel liked the strong prose and lighting. Katie had a great expression and used her hands well. Six images were Highly Commended in this competition. They were, Ray Hill’s delightful ‘Young Engineer’ covered in grease, Dave Barton’s headshot of ‘Ella’ which Noel thought was a bit different, Stephen Coyne’s cowboy ‘The Mean Gunman’, with strong eye contact and is well framed, Kath Hill’s ‘Special Detective’ has a strong narrative and plenty of props for added interest and Ray Hill’s photo of Graham Currey in ‘Wonder’s of Nature’.
All the prints that came 1st.2nd, 3rd and were highly commended can be seen above. All the results can be seen in our Results page.