April 3rd saw us holding our members portfolio competition in which each of their three entries in each section (print and projected image) has to be a different photographic genre. This takes some of our members out of their usual comfort zone and provides a great variety of images. Our judge for this competition, Rob Hockney DPAGB, was from the far-flung reaches of the empire, namely North Cheshire, and was a very experienced judge from the Cheshire and Lancashire Photographic Union. The judgement of each image was made on a twenty-point scale and taking no account of the photographic genre depicted, the aggregation of the three scores by each photographer being assessed at the end as their portfolio score.
Rob set about his judging with 36 prints covering the diverse themes of natural history, landscape, urban scenes and portraiture and people. The images were taken in equally diverse locations, Kazakhstan, India and Japan perhaps being the furthest afield. Top scores of 20 were awarded to a beautiful monochrome study of a Scottish mountain hare by Julie Walker:
and an atmospheric seascape of breaking waves by Ken Rennie. Four scores of 19 were awarded: two to Ken Rennie for an informal portrait of a young girl in a lavender field and a group of snowdrops in the wild; to Tom Stenhouse for a delightful photograph of two very elegantly-dressed south-east asian ladies walking away from the viewer; and to Alan Walker for a wildlife image of three Dalmatian pelicans fighting over fish in a break in the ice-covered water. Rob awarded 18 points to five prints: four of these were landscapes, including two by David Woodthorpe of Path to Frosty Morn in a wintery glade and a night-time urban landscape featuring the illuminated Squinty Bridge across the Clyde; The Lone Tree by Keith Snell was a solitary tree in a snowy landscape in Yellowstone Park; Glen Etive Waterfall in a Scottish glen was by Alan Walker; and John Macfarlane had an action photo of a Stellers Eagle landing talon-first in the snow. The overall best of show print was Ken Rennie’s seascape:
He also took the Print Portfolio of the Year award for his three images, with David Woodthorpe and Alan and Julie Walker as the joint runners-up.
Forty-five images were submitted for judging in the digital section, covering a similar variety of subjects as the prints but with some still life and sports-oriented images too. Top scores of 20 were awarded to Keith Snell for an autumnal landscape shot of a raging torrent in Glen Orchy:
and to Ken Rennie for a studio-lit still life of a fruiting St John’s Wort. Rob awarded 19 points to just one image, that of an atmospheric landscape titled Derwent Mist Catbells by Heleen Franken-Gill in which the upper slopes of the mountain emerge mysteriously out of the lake cloaked in thick mist:
Two images were awarded 18 points: a wildlife image by Julie Walker of two Dalmatian pelicans, again Pelicans On Ice, but this time competing for a skating crab;
and a monochrome photograph by Alan Walker of a girl leaning backwards as she clears The High Jump. The overall best of show projected image was Ken Rennie’s still life of St John’s Wort, making it a double success for Ken in each section and showing that his renown in landscape photography is not the only genre he excels in:
However, the Projected Image Portfolio of the Year award was accorded to Julie Walker for her images of the pelicans together with a portrait of an ageing rock star in action (Still Rocking) and a winter landscape of elk does crossing the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park (Cold Morning On The River Snake). The joint runners-up were Alan Walker and Ken Rennie.
All the images entered in the Portfolio of the Year can be seen on our gallery pages: