This was the fourth round of the PDI Trophy Competition at Farnborough Camera Club in the 2023-2024 season on the 22nd February 2024. There were no restrictions on the images to be submitted.
Admiring the Degas
This exhibition at the Royal Academy of Impressionists on paper was very busy on the day that I attended. I used my iPhone to not only capture the drawings but the other visitors as they admired the drawings.
Summary of judge’s comments
… [] these sort of images when the light is not on your side, going to monochrome means that we are not distracted particularly as we would have been by the people in the background anand probably by some bright light or coloured lights
… but we can see them giving applause and clapping
… I like the angle that the photographer has managed to capture with the saxophone coming down there
… it is a pity about the person on the background all our attention is on there but because of some bright elements in their clothing I am just seeing some detail there that is just distracting me and just lost the bottom of the saxophone, it is just such a strong element in this picture, I would just like to see a little bit more at the bottom of the picture
… but I do think the mono works really well with the, and given the lighting you had, it has been captured very very effectively
Smooth Jazz
Our table at the Pizza Express in Soho was at the side of the stage. Opportunities of taking images her were rather more limited than when we had tables centre stage. I used my APS-C EOS R10 for the event.
Summary of judge’s comments
… []
… so we have got the person looking at the Degas on the wall
… I am not getting a great sense of appreciation he is just stood there looking at it, quite dark, we can see his head almost a silhouette
… it does mean that we have got a lot of space round the Degas
… it is not really grabbing me this one
… it has been nicely processed, the picture is quite sharp, he is quite sharp around the head
… the person is not reacting to the art that they are looking at
… but the exposure is fine, there are no blown highlights on the wall
… it works, it works quite well
The scores
There were 28 images in this round in the Advanced Division. “Admiring the Degas” scored 7 and “Smooth Jazz” scored 8.5.
The original images
Admiring the Degas
Smooth Jazz
