In the Herald - Saving the best until last

Date Published 
Wed 9 Mar 2022

This week Irvine Camera Club bring you the results of our final judged competition of the season, the concluding round of the Colour Prints.  Our judge, Robert Spence from Kilmaurs Photographic Club, knows a thing or two about the art of producing quality printed images.  Not only is Robert a long standing member of Kilmaurs, he is also a long standing member and secretary of the Scottish Photographic Circle, a society based in Glasgow which was founded in 1907 to promote pictorial photography in Scotland.

Before commencing his judging, Robert mentioned that the standard of photography and in particular the quality of the printing and presentation at Irvine Camera Club is extremely good for a club of our size.  High praise indeed!  The bar is now well and truly set for next season.

Of course, we always ask our judges to select their favourite photographs and ultimately to decide on an overall winner, but more importantly we value their constructive criticism, technical and artistic consideration of our work.  This is particularly important for those starting out in photography and, in the hands of a good judge, their comments can inspire and encourage members to improve and learn new skills.  Robert’s gentle and considered approach to his critique hit exactly the right tone and our members warmly thanked him for a splendid evening.

You can see here the photos that Robert singled out for his highest praise.  Beginning photographer, Chole Campbell, had both of her studio portraits “Mad Harley” and “The Lost Boy” Commended and she was selected as the Best Beginner on the night.  Continuing the portrait theme, Chloe’s mum, Michele was Commended for each of her sequence of studio portraits depicting young models with various props and costumes.   Not to be outdone by his wife and daughter, Alan Campbell was Highly Commended for his Icelandic “Sun Voyager” and also came in 3rd place with his natural history photo of a blue tit feeding it’s young.

Commendations were also awarded to Colin Duffy for his autumnal avenue “Falling”, Colin Houston for “North Shore” and Alison Love for “Snow Cap”

High Commendations went to Pete Heywood for “Simply Sparrow”, Alan Kempster for “On the Rochdale Canal”, Fiona Wallace for “Oh the Crinan Canal for Me”, Tracy Ross for “Getting to the Point” and myself with “Goldcrest Gymnastics”.

Fiona also came joint second with her clever still life come dog portrait “Fowl Play” and I shared joint second place with her with my snowy Arran beach scene “A Winter’s Tale”

At the end if of the evening I was very proud to have had my Anglesey seascape print “South Stack” chosen as the overall winner by Robert.  It is a particular favourite of mine from this year and I was chuffed to see it do well. 

Until next week, take care, stay safe and enjoy the light!