Congratulation to Stephen Coyne CPAGB BPE3, who won our PDI League with 137 marks, beating Ian Whiston by 5 marks and Paul Hill came third with 130 marks. Stephen does consistently well in this competition, and this season has been no exception. In his top scoring seven images, four received 20 marks and three scored 19 and one scored 18. Our club consistently benefits from the much travelled, retired head teacher’s excellent travel photography, with many of them doing well in external competitions. Stephen has had over 150 of his images accepted for prestige national exhibitions and salons. Stephen’s recently been awarded a PAGB GOLD medal at Neath 2023 for his ‘Wahiba Dune’, which won ‘Overall Best Image’ in the Open Colour Class. Stephen is, of course, our dedicated Programme Secretary and works hard to create a varied Programme and his research and finds us many top quality speakers.

In our first and third PDI competitions, Stephen won both the General and Mono sections. In the first, judge Nick Berentzen CPAGB BPE3, awarded 20 marks to his ever popular ‘Angry King’ in the General section and also to ‘Adolescence’ in the Mono. In our third PDI competition judge Rebecca Entwistle awarded top marks to Stephen’s atmospheric ‘Lake Inle Evening’, and to his tense composite, ‘Take Care’ in the Mono section. Those images both came first in General and Mono sections of our Jim Harrison Trophy.  Stephen also took second place in the PDI-3, Colour General section with his ‘Illulisat Scene’. It’s a well lit view of the Northern Lights hovering over a mighty glacier.

In our PDI portrait competition, the Howard Edwards trophy, Judge Mike Lawrence AFIAP DPAGB Hon L&CPU awarded Stephen 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for his ‘Mischief’, Burmese Minx’ and ‘The Soldier in the Shrubbery’. For ‘Mischief’ Mike liked the strong eye contact and cheeky expression. He told us the coloured hair gave a good separation from the background. The tight cropping also adds impact and removes any distractions. In ‘Burmese Minx’ he thought the good quality image again had strong eye contact and good skin tones. He loved the girl’s expression, but wasn’t sure about the red hair grip. However, it was strong enough to gain 2nd place. Stephen’s 3rd placed ‘The Soldier in the Shrubbery’ also has a dark background which hides any distractions.

See Stephen’s successful images above.