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Keswick Photographic Society’s annual Portfolio of the Year competition was held on Wednesday 11^th April. This was the final internal competition of the season and it was judged by Gerald Chamberlin DPAGB, EFIAP, from Morton Photographic Society in Carlisle and a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge. The competition was divided into two sections: Prints and Digital Projected Images. Within each section, members enter 3 images, each in a different photographic genre. Entries are marked out of twenty and an award is given to the member achieving the highest combined score in each section. Fifteen members entered the competition, giving a total of forty-five prints and forty-five digital projected images for scoring.

 

The print entries were the first to be judged and included the following photographic genres: natural history, landscapes, weather, creative, sport, the hand of man, transport, people, portraits, abstracts and patterns, Before awarding a mark, Gerald discussed each image, in some cases suggesting where improvements could be made. The winner of the print section of the Portfolio of the Year competition was Alan Walker with a superb total score of fifty-eight out of a possible sixty. Two of Alan’s prints achieved top scores and these were: ‘The Story of the Fox and the Vole’ and ‘Back Stage before the Farewell Gig’:

In joint second place with scores of fifty-four were Julie Walker and David Woodthorpe and in joint third place were Ronnie Gilbert and Keith Snell with scores of fifty-two. In addition to Alan’s two top scoring prints, notable prints which achieved scores of nineteen were ‘Young Grizzly in Clover’ by Ronnie Gilbert:

‘Siberian Jay’ by Tony Marsh:

‘Autumn Beauty’ by Julie Walker and ‘Hare Brakes’ by David Woodthorpe:

After a break for refreshments, including some delicious cakes cooked by Marilyn Woodthorpe, the second half of the evening was devoted to the projected image entries. As with the prints, there was a wide range of photographic genres represented. The joint winners of the digital projected image section of the Portfolio of the Year competition were Richard Jakobson and Julie Walker, both of whom only dropped four points to achieve excellent scores of fifty-six. One of Richard’s projected images, entitled ‘Power on the Horizon, received a top score of twenty. This showed a very dramatic view of distant wind turbines out at sea under a threatening stormy sky:

In second place with a score of fifty-five was Alan Walker, closely followed by Ronnie Gilbert and David Woodthorpe in joint third place with scores of fifty-four. Within the projected images section, an image by Rosamund Macfarlane, entitled ‘Backlit Puffin’ was awarded a top score of twenty:

Seven other images received scores of nineteen. These were ‘Langdale’ by Julian Carnell:

‘Eagle Hunter and His Eagle’ by Ronnie Gilbert, ‘Deadvlei Milky Way’ by Richard Jakobson,  ‘Girl with Tattoos in the Red Hat’ by Alan Walker and ‘Sprinting Hare’ by David Woodthorpe, ‘Dreaming of Leaving’ and ‘Buachaille Etive Mor’ both by Julie Walker:

David Rayment thanked the judge for all his hard work judging the images.

This was the final indoor meeting of the season, although there is a three-day Society outing to Edinburgh taking place this week. Our next season begins on Wednesday 5^th September at The Friends Meeting House, Elliott Park, Keswick, CA12. You will be most welcome to join us.

Tricia Rayment

For tonight’s meeting we welcomed back David Stout EFIAP PPSA DPAGB of Whickham Photographic Club, Gateshead. David, who judged one of our internal competitions at the start of the season, was revisiting to give a projected digital presentation titled “From Casablanca to California”. This was a photographic tour over two continents from North African Morocco to the North American states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Nevada and California.

This proved to be travel photography of the highest order with exquisite images of very varied subject matter, brought to life by an engaging and entertaining commentary. Each photograph conveyed the uniqueness of the location and gave a visual insight into the character of the place. This was achieved by showing the inhabitants, whom David had persuaded to be photographed, and the urban or rural environment which defined life in the areas visited.

In Morocco he showed us the architectural splendour of the royal palaces as well as street scenes which revealed the practices of the people in everyday life. Interspersed with the scenery, he captured insightful portraits of the inhabitants.

A Berber elder tribesman or a young girl dressed in a traditional niqab. As David explained, his success in securing these candid portraits, normally so difficult to get agreement for, was down to a courteous approach combined with a few words of local dialect and a good deal of brass-necked charm! The landscape covered everything from desert scenes to the complex environment of a tannery with its myriad of processing wells.

Moving across the Atlantic to the USA brought a huge contrast in the imagery on show but with the same photographic attention to the details of place and peoples. We were taken on a road trip extraordinaire as we moved southwards from the volcanic and mountainous national parks of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, through the mystical rock formations of the Bryce and Antelope canyonlands, to the desert dunes of Death Valley and the iconic mountain scenery of Yosemite in California.

Our journey through this rural spectacular was mixed with the urban splendour of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, the glitzy excesses of  the Las Vegas strip, the eerieness of gold-mining ghost town Bodie  and in David’s final destination, San Francisco, the starkness of the Alcatraz island prison and of course the Golden Gate bridge. All of these destinations were illuminated by the quality and the perspective of our visitor’s photography and his revealing and witty anectdotes which brought them to life. His photographic tour de force was greeted with enthusiastic thanks by the members at the end of the evening.

Although our formal meetings of the season are now ended, we will report on our informal photographic club sojourn to Edinburgh and district on 17-19^th April. This will be followed by  an exhibition of photographic prints of our members at the Northern Photographic and Video Show to be held at the Rheged Centre, Penrith, on the weekend of 12-13^th May. Attendees are most welcome to visit us at our stand, where members will be happy to provide advice on photographic equipment and techniques and to talk about our activities and the attractions of membership of the Society.  The next season will start at 7.30 on Wednesday 5^th September at our venue of the Friends Meeting House, Elliot Park, Keswick, CA12 5NZ. This will be the AGM of the Society together with a social evening with buffet to welcome new and continuing members and, as always, visitors are most welcome to join us.