Members had the opportunity to share their opinions on photographs submitted for consideration on–line in the first competition of its kind organised and led by Dave Higgins, the club’s general secretary. Members had entered two images each. These were then available on the club website where members could view them, consider their attributes and give each one a score out of 20.

Scores were submitted before the start of the evening. The aggregate scores would then lead to the announcement of the overall winner at this week’s meeting. Monday evening then enabled members to share their thoughts on each image. There was again a great deal of discussion about each one and the score allocated to any one image reflected the wide ranging opinions held by members. For example, an image taken at Thorpe Perrow met with full approval from at least one member scoring the maximum of 20 but someone else only considered it to be worth 13!

Jim Hastie’s image called Nearly Spring Again was of a chirpy robin singing against a faded background of unobtrusive twigs giving the bird context and contrast which enabled the full splendour of the tones within its coloured chest to be appreciated. Jim’s image took third place.

Bursting With Food, which was placed second, was a close up detail of a pollen laden bee enjoying the bounty of nectar available from a sunflower. Congratulations to Carole Smith for this image with a score only five points behind that achieved by the winning image which belonged to Ken Proudley.

Ken’s image was called Thistle at Sunset. Against the late evening glow of the sun, Ken had captured the moment of dispersal as seeds were leaving the parent plant. Their fine hairs were caught in silhouette. The balance of the image within the frame against the dusky pink glow of the evening sky was clearly much appreciated by members.

Congratulations to Ken for providing the winning image for the first competition of its kind to be held by the club. Many thanks to Dave for making it all possible.

Next week, members will be travelling to Ripon Camera Club’s venue to take part in A Digital Image Battle with their members.