Category Archives: Competitions

Competition #1 – October 3rd 2023

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Our first competition of the new season had set subjects of “Open” and “Abstract” with the latter provided opportunities for a range of interpretations by both entrants and the judge.

Martin Cooper from Yate judged the prints first and the projected images followed after a short interval. He provided comprehensive critiques with several suggestions regarding how the image might have been captured from a different perspective and presented in an alternative way to further enhance its impact and appeal.

The winning Abstract print was “Gridballsmoke” by Jim Bullock and Dave Garmont won the Open prints with “Jay in the woods”. Bob Philpott won the Open section with a butterfly image “Small copper” and Peter Hodgson won the Abstract section with “Mickey Mouse bubbles”

Our next meeting is a Members Evening where images, ideas and photographic issues can be shared and discussed in an informal environment.

  • Small Copper
  • Mickey Mouse bubble

Competition Evening – March 7th 2023

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We hosted our annual Battle with Cricklade Camera Club which was judged by Peter Weaver from Hanham Photographic Society.  Each Club submitted 30 open subject images and half were viewed before a short interval and the remainder thereafter. Each image was scored out of 20 points and scores ranged from 14 points to a couple of 20 point maximums.
At the halfway stage Cricklade had opened up a lead and they never gave this up during the second half to run our winners on the evening and take the cumulative battle scores to 3-2 in their favour.
After the competition, we discussed the various photography training workshops which Cricklade have set up over the spring and summer, to which we were invited to attend.  These ranged from critiquing images, PhotoShop, camera basics, mounting images as well as some specific genres like landscape photography, bird photography etc.

Competition Evening – February 7th 2023

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Our third and penultimate round of competitions for the Mayor’s Cups for prints and projected image was judged by Sandie Cox, who is well known to the Club from previous visits both as a judge and a speaker.

The competition subjects were Open and Rural and with the wide definition of the latter subject, some of the images entered into the Open competition would also have fitted well into the Rural category. Several images depicted cold, frosty and foggy scenes indicative of some of the recent weather conditions that we had experienced.

The print competitions received a modest number of entries from the small but enthusiastic core of print photographers and were judged first, with both the print on display and a digital image of the print projected alongside to improve the viewing capability for the audience. The winning open print was Barbury ground squirrel by Nigel Walkley with Stanton park lake from Dave Garmont taking the Rural first place.

Barbury Ground Squirrel

Stanton Park Lake

As expected, the projected images attracted a healthy number of entries and occupied most of the evening’s judging activity. The winning Open image was ‘Waiting for the rain to stop’ by Jim Bullock who also took first place in the Rural category with a composite image taken by mobile phone ‘ Misty vale at first light’.

Waiting for the rain to stop

Waiting for the rain to stop

017_015_Rural_Misty vale at first light

With our final competition in April, the league tables are competitively poised and it’s still all to play for!

 

Competition Evening #2 – November 29th 2022

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Our second competition of the season included an Open section and a themed section of “Shadows”.  It was very competently judged by Peter Orr ARPS who gave detailed and constructive feedback on the images and also added background information, particularly for the wildlife images on show. Both sections attracted a healthy number of entries with widely differing interpretations of the subject matter. Prints were judged first and a digital projection of each print was used for the first time. This enabled the audience to have a better view of the print content but it was the physical mounted print that was being judged. 

The winning print entries were as follows:

– Open Prints “Stag” by Nigel Walkley

Prints Open "Stag"

Prints Open “Stag”

– Shadows Prints “Shining example” by Nigel Walkley

Prints Shadows "Shining example"

Prints Shadows “Shining example”

After a short break, the projected images were judged and the winning entries were as follows:

– Open DPI “Rust in pieces” by Dave Bound

Open Prints “Rust in pieces”

– Shadows DPI “Colourful shadows” by Peter Hodgson

Shadows DPI "Colourful Shadows"

Shadows DPI “Colourful Shadows”

This concludes our formal programme and the final activity of the year will be the Christmas Dinner on December 13th which will be held at The Angel Hotel. It only remains to wish our Club and Facebook members Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year.

Awards Presentation Evening – June 14th 2022

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The recently elected Mayor of Royal Wootton Bassett, Councillor Pat Farrow was the guest of honour to present the awards to the winners of our Annual Competition for prints and projected images which spanned three categories; Action; Portrait and Open subject.  This is the first year that prints have been included since 2019 due to the pandemic and attracted a pleasing number of entries. The winning entrants were as follows:

Action Print   – Nigel Walkley   “Shake those feathers”

Portrait Print – Nigel Walkley    “Smile please”

Open Print    – Paddy Bohan     “Wild flower”

The projected image section attracted a healthy response with over 60 images which were evenly distributed between the three categories and dominated by one member’s entries

Action Projected    – Robert Slade   “Splash down”

Portrait Projected  – Robert Slade   “Hamster portrait”

Open Projected     – Robert Slade   “Christchurch college”

The best overall print was judged to be “Shake those feathers” and the best overall projected image was “Splash down”.

Best Print - N Walkley

Best Print – N Walkley

      

 

 

 

 

In addition to the Annual Competition, our Mayors Cup competition for projected images, which comprises four competitions throughout the season, was awarded to Robert Slade who received the trophy. 

Mayors Cup DPI - R Slade

Mayors Cup DPI – R Slade

Finally, Honorary Life Membership was conferred to Bob Nunns for his long-standing contribution of service to the club in various capacities and a certificate presented.

Bob Nunns HLM Award

Bob Nunns HLM Award

After the formalities were over, members socialised with some refreshments and took the opportunity to chat with the Mayor who expressed a genuine interest in photography and enthusiastically explored members approaches to both seeing and successfully capturing images.

Annual Competition – June 7th 2022

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Our Annual Competition was judged by Ralph Snook from Bristol PS and featured prints after a two year absence due to covid restrictions, as well as projected images. Entries were received in three subject categories namely Action, Portrait and Open with each member limited to three entries for each category.

Print entries were judged first and attracted a good input with the Open category being the most populated. Once again some creative interpretation was used in the Portrait section which was well handled by the judge.   After a short interval, the projected images were viewed and not surprisingly attracted a very healthy number of entries which added to the challenge for the judge. The evening concluded with selection of the best overall print which was “Shake those feathers ” by Nigel Walkley and the best overall projected image was “Splashdown” by Robert Slade with both winners featuring bird images.

Presentation of trophies for all the winning entries will take place at an Awards Ceremony on June 14th at the Angel Hotel by Councillor Pat Farrow, the Mayor of Royal Wootton Bassett.

Competition Judging – February 1st 2022

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Our third and penultimate competition for the Mayor’s Cup for projected images was judged on Zoom by Bruce Hobbs from St. Agnes Photographic Club. The competition comprised two categories: an “Open” section and a “Water” themed section which was viewed first.

The judge gave both thoughtful and constructive feedback and noted the challenge of comparing those images that had a strong immediate impact with those that yielded more meaning the longer they were viewed. He added to the tension of the evening by holding back his winning selections until the end of each judging session.

The wining Water themed image was “Ripples” by Robert Slade and the winning Open image was ” Jay in sunbeam” by Dave Garmont.

Ripples

Ripples

Jay in Sunbeam

Jay in Sunbeam

 

 

 

 

 

Oue next meeting will be the Annual General Meeting on February 15th and held in The Angel Hotel ballroom.

 

Competition Judging – November 30th 2021

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Our second round of competitions which contribute towards the Mayor’s Cup were judged using Zoom Meeting by Keith Spicer from A1 Camera Club in Weston-super-Mare. We started the evening looking at the “Open” submissions and then after a short interval we moved onto the “Textures” competition.

Keith delivered considered and constructive feedback on our images which will have given members lots of food for thought and hopefully moved us all another step forward in our photographic journey.
His emphasis on the benefits of carefully planning and visualising the image that was being sought is a good discipline to adopt and gaining control over as many of the variable factors as possible enhances the likelihood of a pleasing outcome. His attention to detail was evident and the practical demonstration of some simple image editing tools and cropping ideas to improve the impact and narrative of some images was particularly helpful.
Keith’s helpful and supportive critiques made the evening all the more informative and thoroughly enjoyable.
The winning “Open” image was ‘Paragliders’ by Robert Slade who also won the “Textures” competition with ‘Bricks and Things’

Bricks and Things

Bricks and Things

Paragliders

Paragliders

Competition Evening – November 30th 2021

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Our second round of the Mayor’s Cup competition for projected images will take place at the end of the month using Zoom Meeting. Members and guests are invited to join the meeting at The Angel Hotel Ballroom (1st floor) at 7.30 pm.

The subjects are “Open” and “Textures” and the competitions will be judged by Keith Spicer from the A1 Camera Club at Weston-super-Mare

Summer Competition – September 7th 2021

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As part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations held over from last year, we are holding a digital image competition which is open to the public. Entry is free and the winning image will receive a £25 gift voucher. Both the winning entry and runner up will qualify for a year’s free membership of the Club

SUMMER COMPETITION RULES

General

  1. A maximum of 3 entries per photographer will be accepted.
  2. The deadline for submission is midnight on August 24th 2021
  3. Only those entries submitted by the published deadline will be eligible for entry into the competition.
  4. There are no time limits regarding the age of a photograph for the competition.
  5. ​In all cases, the original image(s) must have been taken using a photographic process and be the sole copyright of the entrant. Any modification of the original image must be made by the author or under his/her personal direction.
  6. ​The use of clip-art, downloaded textures, or elements from any other photographer’s images is not permitted
  7. The Judge’s decision is final.

Submission

  1. The preferred method of submission is by email to the address competitions@WoottonBassettCameraClub.org.uk.
  2. The images should be file attachments to an email, not inline or embedded in the email.
  3. A confirmation email will be sent to confirm receipt of each member’s entries. If no response is received within 24 hours, please contact Robert Slade at robertsladeuk@gmail.com.
  4. Emails must not be larger than 10MB total size.
  5. Entries larger than 10MB may be submitted via Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) sent to the above email address.

Format

  1. Images should be submitted as a file in JPEG format with a maximum size of 1920px wide and 1080 px high, so portrait images should be no more than 1080px high.

Identification

  1. Entries should be identified by naming each file with your submission number (1,2,3) followed by an underscore “_” (NOT a hyphen “-“), your name, another underscore, followed by the title of the image. Please do not use underscores in the name of the competition or the title.

For example: 1_John Smith_A Nice Picture.jpg

  1. File names which do not conform to this format will be rejected.