This is the second of four individual digital image competitions that replaced the Bracknell Club’s Print League. This is an open competition with up to two entries allowed. Club members were asked to submit one or two sentences as an accompanying statement to their image.
Certificates will be awarded for 1st place (Gold), 2nd place (Silver), 3rd place (Bronze), two Highly Commended and two Commended.
Playing on the beach
“I enjoyed watching this Dad playing with the child, dodging waves and having fun on the beach. I wanted to capture their movement and their reflections on the wet sand.”
Interesting that we’ve moved straight away the first three images are black and white , I am just wondering if this is harking back to if it is black and white then it imbues it with a slightly more artistic quality – no idea, so maybe it is just the way they’ve fallen [in order]
Nice image, I would love to see just a little bit more of the reflections that you saw and maybe it is a little too centered in the frame and if we could have had just a little more detail or something in the reflection down the bottom that might have helped.
I think that might have helped if our viewpoint was slightly lower, I guess you are most probably, if you are not on pier, you are obviously on a raised viewpoint and I think maybe a slightly lower viewpoint might have helped
The other thing which I am slightly finding a little frustrating is the two characters are a little soft, I think there is a bit of clarity to the girl but there is a softness to Dad and we this lovely sharp edge run off the waves running down there and would just love to have seen a little more clarity or sharpness to him.
I know that we get movement in her boots and his foot and what hasn’t helped is that you are capturing the moment and that is not down to you or not your fault, is that Dad has got his hands in his pocket
The fun is sort of lost, I get a real sense of fun and excitement from her, hands out in mid stride but he has his hands in his pocket, you almost want him to hold his hands or his arms out ready to almost reach down and grab her and swing her around or something like that. There is a slight lack of animation on his part.
So I hope that you took a few more shots and maybe go back and re-visit the other shots that were there and see if there is a tiny bit more animation from him rather then just this upright stick figure, which is a bit of a shame
There is still nothing wrong the shot I mean it is enjoyable but just not quite because of him.
Looking for souvenirs
“This image crystallised for me the loneliness that COVID was inflicting on all of us. The couple paused at the window and were reluctant to go inside, instead just stood and looked at the souvenirs”
Judge’s comments
… I am finding these statements really interesting, I possibly would have not read the reluctance of not going inside it is almost for me they are window shopping anyway and they’ve got masks on and so it is interesting how these statements change our perception to the image itself or did we just maybe tweak this statement a little so there is a bit of post rationalisation going on thereBut it is quite a pleasant shot, I am finding the third character a little distracting , I think he weakened the image a little for me , I’d love to have seen this shot without him, most probably never going to happen and he’s going to wait there longer than they are , he most probably is looking, [so] what’s he looking at? is he looking at the [deleted] postcards is he? He is looking at something there, I wonder if he was waiting for someone inside?
So because he is distracting and weakening the image I am wondering if again at the time of shooting if we might have just quickly taken one step to the right, re-framed so [that] we excluded him but included more of the window so that’s our framing there, just by taking one step to the right [then] I think we could have created a gap just around there between the two sets of characters
So almost there but not quite
The original images
‘Playing on the beach’:
ISO 100 105mm f/11 1/125 secs
‘Looking for souvenirs’:
ISO 400 65mm f/4 1/125 sec