This weeks session saw the first round of our Projected Digital Image competition. For us this year, probably like most other clubs and societies up and down the country, we started our annual competitions being viewed and judged on-line using Zoom. In some respects this can be better than in our normal Parish Rooms venue - there are no physical obstructions and no heads 'bobbing' about in front of you obscuring the view of the images. But this does present a bit of extra work for the competitions organiser (i.e. me!) and the judges themselves.
Previously I would pull the images together using a well known piece of PhotoComp software and present them on the prescribed Tuesday evening. The judge would turn up, have a chat with members prior to the evening starting, give an (official) introduction of themselves and start critiquing the images - hopefully giving each member their expectant score! Having deliberated over the intermediate section before the coffee break and now hoping not to have upset too many people because they have to make small talk with them. But our society is a friendly one so we take all the criticism constructively and try to learn form it. Then on to the advanced section.
However, over Zoom this is not all possible. For starters, I have to package the images up well in advance and send them over to the judge so he or she can view the images at the proper resolution prior to the (official) judging in front of the members. On-line connections, excellent though many are, can be quite questionable when it comes viewing high resolution images. And Murphy's Law will dictate that on this occasion the judge will have the most diabolical internet connection when ordinarily they have the worlds fastest speed.
Now to the actual judging. For this round we had the pleasure of welcoming Diane Seddon to pass her critical eye over our images - 40 from the intermediate section and 50 from the advanced. With this being an 'open' round there was no restriction on the genre and images could be either colour or black and white/monochrome. And so it was, we had flower close-ups, insects, birds, animals, landscapes, seascapes, buildings, sport, people, abstract and more. The critique was very good and helpful, although for some not exactly what was hoped for but it's the judges eye we have asked for and it's the judges eye we get. Having said that, when you follow the judges comments and look at the image again you can see where they are coming from.
At the end of it all we had one winner with 20 points in each section and a string of 'held backs' scoring 18 and 19. These can be seen on the competition post by following the link on the right.
That just leaves me to congratulate Alan Hurst for winning the advanced section with his image entitled 'Fractured Fantasy' and Chris Keenan for winning the intermediate section with her image 'City Night'. I just hope that nobody suffers seven years bad luck as a result of Alan's shot - he tells us the mirror breakage was purely accidental. Chris's image is of Nottingham city centre with the effect being created in Topaz Studio using the impressionist adjustment. Well done to both.
My images in this competition? Well, I think they fall in the 'could do better' category - which is probably a fair assessment when compared to so many other excellent images.
15 October 2020
