Our second competition of the 2023/24 season took place on Tuesday 5th September, with a packed Hall. This round had an 'Open' theme and the judge was Pauline Martindale.
Our Chairman, Nick Bowman, introduced Pauline Martindale, on her first visit to our Society, and revealed that they would soon be working together at the Lea Valley ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
Print Judging Round
Seventeen members presented prints in the first half of the evening.
Pauline seemed particularly drawn to colourful images and was a bit more discerning when a photographer had opted for monochrome, particularly if images became too dark. Pauline also remarked on a few images which she thought could be better cropped.
Six images were held back and two of these images were awarded the top mark (20):
'Solitary' by Sonny Doonga (20)

'You just keep me hangin' on' by Deborah Smyth (20)

DPI Judging Round
Twenty-nine members entered the DPI competition in the second half of the evening.
Pauline Martingale again expressed a preference for colour, wondering if some monochromatic images would have been better in colour. Again, she expressed a preference for cropping some images. Pauline also remarked upon the lighting in some DPIs and the connection that some photographers had made with their subjects.
Eleven images were held back and, of these, six photographs were awarded the top score (20). Pauline said that she would not normally give so many top marks but she had been impressed by the calibre of the submissions.
'Taking a rest from the crowds ahead' by Sue Judd (20)

'Belice Valley, Reconstructing the reconstruction!' by Sarah Cartwright (20)

'The Music man' by Terry Fallis (20)

'The Crew' by Hilary Barton (20)

'November Sunshine on the West Coast of Scotland' by Matthew Taylor (20)

'Early Morning in May' by Ian Winning (20)

Finally
You can see all the entries for this second round of the 2023/24 season of our internal competition in the Galleries section of this website.
The results of the session, the breakdown of scores by the judge and the cumulative totals for the new 2023/24 Season are all accessible to members in the documents section, or via the links on the Internal Competitions Page of the Society Website.
Thanks to Dennis Law & Debbie Smyth for managing the IT and image projection, & to Colin Page and John Murray for handling the Prints.
Dan Waller
Competitions’ Secretary