Judge Darrell Oakden DPAGB EFIAP BPE4, from Alsager, was a busy man when he joined us, as he had to judge 2 competitions. The first one was our prestigious portrait competition, The Howard Edwards Trophy which was purely in PDI format this season due to COVID restrictions. Darrell found it difficult to separate the 31 high standard entries, so he requested that he be able to award half marks. It’s the first time I’ve known this happen. Eight images were awarded 18 or more which shows how high the standard was. Martin McGing took three of those and Stephen Coyne two, but Peter Robinson’s ‘Barred’ pipped them to the post. Darrell admitted that it wasn’t the most technically perfect photograph, but it was different from the crowd so he made it his winner. He liked the model’s quizzical expression and the atmosphere it created.
The second competition Darrell judged was our first themed competition for some time. The subject was ‘Twilight’. From a strong entry of 24 images in this difficult subject Darrell chose Wallace Baxter’s atmospheric ‘Dawn in Venice’. Darrell liked the ambiance Wallace created and the inclusion of the moon added to it. Darrell noted that Wallace must have used a tri-pod for a long exposure to the render the buildings sharp and blur the gondolas.
♦ See the results of all our competitions visit our Results page here.
♦ To see the HET entries that Darrell awarded 17.1/2 or more to, click here.
♦ To see the Twilight entries that Darrell awarded 17.1/2 or more to, click here.