Our annual inter-club competition against our friends from Nantwich was hosted by ourselves and presented over the Zoom network. Judge Darrell Oakden DPAGB BPE4* EFIAP told us he was going to judge the 48 high quality entries as ‘competition’ photographs. Their technical qualities were only a factor and he liked images to tell a story. Darrell took his time to comment and offer his advice. He ended up holding back 17 images. To our surprise we won the competition by 414 marks to 402. Our excellent host, Martin Smith, jokingly told everyone that he’d prepared a runners up speech, so was now unprepared! However, Nantwich had the overall winner with Wendy Williams’ atmospheric ‘Mill at Dusk’ taking top marks. The low evening light made the picture of a windmill stand out.
Once again, Paul Hill’s ‘Bamburgh Castle at Dawn’ was a favourite and scored 19. Darrell said it was taken at the right time of the day and liked the considered composition. He added that the slow shutter speed ironed out the sea, and thought the sky was just right. Stephen Coyne’s ‘Study in Concentration’ also achieved 19 marks for us. Darrell told us the face was the most detailed and lightest part of the photo, so it was the natural place for the eye to rest. Ian Whiston also scored 19 for his ‘Cheetahs Scent Marking’. Darrell said it told a story and liked to see their faces. Ian also scored 18 for his ‘Lion Cub Climbing on Mum’, Bee Eater with Catch’ and ‘Lion Cub Pursuing Tommie Lamb’. Joanne Beattie’s ‘Yay There’s Hay’, Martin McGing’s ‘Harvest Mouse’ Paul Hill’s ‘Eurasian Curlew’ and ‘Waiting’ and Keith Mulliner’s ‘Elle with Umbrella’ also scored us 18 marks each. All the images that scored 18 and over can be seen above. All the results can be seen in our result’s page here. Well done to all the winners!