Our first competition of 2025 was our third PDI league competition and there was a lot to play for. As expected the standard was very high which gave judge Tillman Kleinhans ARPS EFIAP/g DPAGB BPE5* Hon LCPUa difficult task. He took his time to deliver some thoughtful and constructive advise on the 63 images, before revealing his marks.
In the Colour General section, Paul Hill’s delightful landscape of ‘ Kelly Hill Tarn’ took the top marks. Tillman told us it should be printed off and framed. He loved the warm tones in a paroramic format. The layers and mist gave it a peaceful atmoaphere and the gentle
clouds topped it. Ian Whiston’s unusual photograph of children ‘Carrying Water for School’ scored 19. Tillman liked the story the travel image told and the children’s expressions added to its success. Wallace Baxter was also awarded 19 for his well caught cricket action shot of a batsman being clean bowled called ‘I can’t look’. It was perfectly timed with the ball in the right place. Truly a moment in time. It was good to see another landscape scoring good marks, when John Royle’s ‘A late amber afternoon’ score 18. Tillman thought it had good balance and could have made two photos, above and below the horizon. He likes the warms tone of the layers and the focal point gave the eye somewhere to rest. Paul Hill popped up again to score 18 for his ‘Nearly there’ which showed a hardy walker climbing a snowy hill. Paul deserves his marks just for going there to take the photo. The third 18 was awarded to Kath Hill’s ‘All over him’ which caught two competitive superbikers head-on and close together. Tillman liked their shape and thought it was a great action shot.
There were 22 images entered in the Mono competition. Kath Hill’s cracking action photo ‘In the zone’ of a canoeist scored 20. Tillman told us Kath had used just the right shutterspeed to freeze the canoeist, but allow some blur in the water. He liked the expression and tonal range. Stephen Coyne’s fine study of an owl, ‘Out on a limb’ scored 19. Tillman thought it was a clean image and the owl stood out from the dark background. Peter Robinson’s angled photograph of a ‘Spiv’ also scored 19. Tillman enjoyed the man’s expression and the story it told. Keith Mulliner’s lady rugby action photo, ‘Two on to one’ scored 18. Tillman liked the tri-angular composition and the players expressions. the other 18 was awarded to Stephen Coyne, for his excellent portrait of ‘The mean gunman’. The re-enactor had a serious expression with strong eye contact which is always a plus.
Once again our nature images were top draw, making Tillman’s task of separating them very difficult. He admitted that he doesn’t like awarding scores! Stephen Coyne took the honours with his wonderful images of a ‘Great horned owl calling’. Tillman told us that it calling, gave it something extra. It stood out from the background and a good base in the foreground. Keith Mulliner’s well caught ‘Starling interaction’ scored 19. The two birds were having a mid air disagreement and Keith had captured it perfectly. Ian Whiston also score 19 for his ‘Cheetahs with tommie prey’. Tillman enjoyed everything about this. He told us the soft light added to the real atmosphere and the simple colour pallet made it natural. Ian also scored 18 for his raw nature photo of a ‘Lion protecting his giraffe kill’. Again Tillman liked the colours, composition and that it was real.
Well done to all of the winners. the results can be seen on our results page.