Congratulations to Keith Mulliner who won both our third print competition in the Colour General and Mono sections. In the Mono section he took the first, second and third spots. Judge Martin Pickles had travelled from Macclesfield to be with us. In the mono section, Keith’s two studio portraits, ‘Beard Gentleman’ (20) and ‘The Lady’ (19) took the top spots. Martin found it difficult to choose the winner, but chose ‘Beard Gentleman’ as he could see more of his face. Martin told us that although it was a low-key image, the subject was well separated from the background. It ticked all of Martin’s boxes with the print quality, pose, contrast and tones all being good. For ‘The Lady’ Martin said the lighting made the picture, by giving it form and texture. Keith’s football photo, ‘Goal’ shared third spot with Wallace Baxter’s cricket photo ‘Eye on the ball’. Martin added that both sport photos caught the action well, and weren’t easy to do.

Ray Hill’s two nature entries took first and second place. Martin told us the winner, ‘Hammerkop repairing nest’, was well presented and showed the environment well. The lighting revealed the bird’s texture and Martin liked that the bird was doing something. Ray’s second placed ‘Common Female Kestrel’ was well composed, with the grasses adding context and framing it well. Peter Robinson had two imaged which scored 18. Martin thought’ Weaver bird on a twig’ was well framed and had a good background. The open wing showed good detail and was sharp. Peter’s Eastern Pigmy Marmoset’ was taken in Chester Zoo, and Martin liked it surprised expression, which gave it a connection with the viewer.

Keith also won the ‘Colour General’ section with another studio portrait with a professional model. Martin appreciated the high quality print and mounting of ‘Book Reader’. He liked everything about it and said the pose, exposure and skin tones were all good. Kath Hill’s detailed study of York’s ‘Radcliffe Camera’ was awarded 19 marks from Martin. He thought it was very well done and taken from a good viewpoint. Peter Robinson’s two sport images, ‘Jessica’s Try and ‘Polo Action’, scored 18. Martin told us that his rugby photo of ‘Jessica’s Try’ would have been improved if the girl on the right had been cropped off.

See all the images that scored 18 and over above. All the results can be seen on our Results page here.