Last week members of Irvine Camera Club visited Dalry Camera Club for a knock out competition. Each club put forward 16 photographs which were paired against each other and voted on by the assembled audience. With Dalry’s Harry Moules at the computer each pair of images was projected, and the most popular image decided by a show of hands.
The photograph with the least votes was then constructively critiqued by our two assessors for the evening, Bob Wark and Tracy Ross. Bob’s usual humourous and relaxed approach was balanced nicely by Tracy’s observational style. The pair did an excellent job of softening the blow to the unlucky photographer whose work had just been voted out.
The knockout proceeded through the rounds, with each pairing getting harder and harder to decide. Clear audience favourites were beginning to emerge. After arriving at the final 8 images we stopped for a refreshment break with a splendid selection of sweet treats laid on to tempt us. Fully caffeinated and having had a good chance to catch up with old acquaintances as well as to make new friends, we took our seats for the culmination of the evening.
Voting was close through the final rounds with lots of oohs and arrhs when the audience were given increasingly difficult choices to make. After much deliberation a clear winner did emerge which was David Bell’s superb photo of a puffin in flight with a beak full of sand eels. Although David was representing Dalry on the night it is rather appropriate that he is a member of both clubs!
With Irvine currently enjoying a surge in membership we limited our members to one photograph each in this competition. Even then we still had many more images than we needed, meaning that some members were disappointed not to be chosen this time around. As well as David’s winning image I have included several of Irvine’s fantastic images for this week’s paper. I hope you enjoy them.
If you would like to take your photography a step further and to meet up and share your enthusiasm with other photographers, please have a look at our website www.irvinecc.co.uk for all our details. Until next week, enjoy the light!
