This was the fourth and last round of the Print Trophy Competition at Farnborough Camera Club in the 2021-22 season. I had skipped the third round as due to Covid restrictions prints had to be submitted unmounted. Unfortunately I had only mounted prints. This final round was an open competition with two entries permitted.
Holy Island Priory
On our July 2020 tour with Robert Harvey we went to Holy Island and after walking around the harbour we crossed to see the priory from the nearby field.
Summary of judge’s comments
… when I first saw this in the rack it look pretty dark as the colours are so saturated, there is an awful lot of strong reds and blues there, the sky is almost a polarised colour, a really deep blue there
… [on] Holy Island we have a ruined abbey, we are looking at a ruined abbey with poppies in the foreground and the rest of it
… I am sure that there were other images here and I am not really sure if this is a strong image compared with what else was available
… you have got the front arch which is nice, then you’ve got the second arch behind it which is sort of just going into the side of the front one, and for me that doesn’t make a particularly good composition
… I hope that you would have walked right round this ruined church, whatever it may be, and then you could have found what exactly other images were there for you to take
… the poppies in the foreground , yes they are good and strong, nice colouring here, some of the poppies have yet to come out into flower and so you get the buds there just ready and the seed heads where they actually come out and drop their petals
…compositionly, it is right for what it is, you haven’t cut out any of the stonework , the actual stonework that have included is well portrayed, the poppies there is no right or wrong regards it there is only one that I could criticise and only because the one in isolation is against a blue background and the sky is close to the greenery and that is on that side the tallest one right on the corner there , that could have been cloned out but I am not worried about any of the other poppies but that one there on the edge is neither in nor out , I personally would have cloned it, a bit fussy
… the rest of it I have no problems with, I’ll go for an 8
Just talk to me
In August 2022, along with other members of the camera club we explored along the South Bank. Under the OXO Tower I paused briefly outside one of the cafes there.
Summary of judge’s comments
… brilliant title
… [laughter ] he is quite a character this chap, these shoes are not normally worn by men in their forties and fifties
… it is the modern thing to do, street photography , everyone is doing it, you’ll get speakers coming to your club to tell you how to do it right and this is a good attempt at street photography
… you caught these two , not at the best moment , you caught them, you made and an image of it
… they are in a cafe environment with tables and chairs all around them
… it tells a story and your title is to die for
… having said that we will go at 8
The scores
There were 25 images in this round in the Advanced Division.
‘Holy Island Priory’ scored 8 and ‘Just talk to me’ scored 8.
Original Images
‘Holy Island Priory’:
ISO 100 17mm f/20 1/60 sec
‘Just talk to me’:
ISO 400 35mm f/4.5 1/125 sec