The Society’s 3rd Open Competition took place on Wednesday 22nd January judged by Richard Speirs, DPAGB, BPE2*, APAGB, a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge from Wetheral. Richard said how much he enjoyed receiving and judging the images from Keswick because of the excellent quality of the work submitted.
The judging commenced with the thirty-four prints that had been entered. The prints were given a score out of twenty and, before awarding the mark, Richard discussed each image, commenting on the good points and occasionally suggesting where improvements could be made. Four prints received a top score of twenty and two of these were by Ronnie Gilbert. Ronnie’s prints were ‘Leopard in Candalabra Cactus Tree’
and ‘The Evening Mud Larks’, the latter a beautifully lit action shot of two horses splashing through shallow water and fast heading towards the photographer!
Marilyn Woodthorpe was awarded a top score for her amusing image of a Dalmation pelican titled ‘Cheeky Pelican’.
Carol Minks also received top marks for ‘No Fishing!!’, a beautiful image of a kingfisher perched on a wooden sign bearing the words ‘No Fishing’ This image was selected by the judge as his overall winning print. He commented on the beautiful plumage of the bird set against a lovely subdued background, the whole enhanced by the presence of a long branch bearing numerous red berries.
Four images received scores of nineteen and there were ‘The Luskentyre Ponies’ by Sue Rugg, ‘Giant River Otter Eating Catfish’ by Keith Snell, ‘Me First’ by Alan Walker and ‘Eagle Confrontation’ by Julie Walker. The prints awarded scores of eighteen were ‘Dipper Dipping’ by David Rayment, ‘Afraid’ by Sue Rugg, ‘Thirsty Jaguar’ by Keith Snell and ‘Sunshine and Shadow’ by Ken Rennie.
After a break for refreshments, it was the turn of the digital images to be judged. Two images achieved a top score and these were ‘Muddy Buddies’ by Sue Rugg and ‘Young Leopard Injured by a Porcupine’ by Alan Walker. Sue’s image was of two women competitors in an obstacle race struggling to free themselves from copious amounts of mud but still managing to look as if they were enjoying themselves!
Richard chose Alan’s beautifully lit young leopard with a partly embedded porcupine quill as his overall winning digital image.
Three images received scores of nineteen and these were ‘Under Attack’ by Julie Walker,
‘Across the Mersey’ by Sue Rugg
and ‘Stripping the Bullrush’ by David Woodthorpe.
The digital images scoring eighteen were ‘Barnacle Goose’ and ‘Arctic Reindeer, both by Carol Minks, ‘I’m Hungry Too’ by Julie Walker and ‘Tree Sparrow’ by David Rayment.
All the entered images can be viewed on our gallery page: