The Annual PDI Competition at Farnborough Camera Club allowed members to enter images in either the Open class or the Creative class. I chose to enter an image into each class. The judge awarded a combination of 1st, 2nd and 3rd plus Highly Commended in each class.
Curious in the style of Saul Leiter
Summary of judge’s comments
… thank you to the author for introducing me to Saul Leiter, he is not a photographer that I have been familiar with , I instantly looked him up because I really enjoyed this picture.
… there is so much to this picture to saviour and it is where to start!
… I think you start with the quizzical look of the guy with the sunglasses on, I think it is a shame that he has got sunglasses on, I think picture would be stronger if we actually saw his eyes but that is neither here nor there!
… we start in the image from him and spread out, I’m sure that it is a telephone box that you have used to shoot through , I mean it is the classic combination of the windows size that you seen there , Like that, I’m getting that context .
… But equally what I like is all these other little cameos that are taking place and wherever you look you see either looking through glass directly at somebody who isn’t quite in focus, because the focus is on the chap we spoke about right at the beginning or we are looking at some kind of reflection of people because we are shooting through the glass
… I think that this is a great idea, and its success
… there two very white potions in th image., I find that the oriental lady in the foreground, could possibly be toned down just a little a bit because I am still drawn to that portion, to that very bright white T Shirt on the left hand side of the guy with the quizzical look …but equally I think that this is a really interesting picture and I’d like to hold this back
Piccadilly night bus
Summary of judge’s comments
… I like the way that you have framed the bus so well beneath the subway sign, and I also get the impression that maybe you are coming out of the subway, so you have chosen a slightly lower viewpoint, which also I think is successful
… I think it is successful here in the image that it is an iconic London landmark the curve of Regents Street , it is working well,
… we read the picture because we see the bus is going away from us , we actually see its tail lights coming into the picture
… I like the way you have used here the stroke line
… if I was going to be critical about this image I would suggest you could easily crop those two figures on the left hand side out of the picture , they are reality and and I know we have the reality of the street but we don’t have many other people in the picture but because of the slow shutter speed and they were stationary they have become very clear in the picture and i think the picture would be stronger without them, but even as it is I have held the image back
Judge’s Summaries of held back images
‘Curious in the style of Saul Leiter’ was placed second in the Open Class and ‘Piccadilly night bus’ was held back but didn’t get a place or a Highly Commended.
Summary of judge’s comments on ‘Curious’
… because of its originality this image is curious. I honestly think I might have been considering it for 1st place had the figure in the bottom not been so bright
… I enjoyed looking at at the image I still enjoy looking at it and that is what I want from my pictures
… second place
Original Images
Curious in the style of Saul Leiter
No processing on image.
ISO100 87mm f/4 1/500 sec
https://www.ianhardacre.com/inspired-by-saul-leiter-in-london-in-march-2022/+
Piccadilly night bus
ISO 100 42mm f/8 0.6 sec