The entries for the Pat Riggs memorial Trophy Open Competition were judged by Richard Littlefair LRPS from Ripon Camera Club. He began, as most judges do, by making it clear that as a judge, his opinions were subjective; others viewing the same images could have a completely different response to any one of the images from which he had to choose one overall winner. His response to the first image was that if the quality of the rest was as high as this, choosing an outright winner would be extremely difficult.

The range of subjects provided by the seventeen entrants who submitted two images each made for an interesting evening. There was the humour of Allan Green’s Fancy Seeing You Viola: this a cleverly combined image of the body of a viola with the curve of the f-hole almost mirror imaging the curved neck of an elegant swan. There were also landscapes, game birds, glistening natural ice sculptures, a squirrel close up and much more.

Keith Schubert’s Shadows in the Sand was in contention. This was a simple but highly effective composition showing three tufts of slender reed like grasses casting equally slender long shadows across beautifully textured, richly coloured desert sand.

David Chambers provided two of the eventual three images that gave Richard much to consider before finally deciding which would be the outright winner. One of David’s images was the very first of the evening called Bronte Winter Landscape. Richard liked the pattern of fields and walls, the textures accentuated by the light dusting of snow. He liked the minute Lowry figure that just happened to be walking across one of the fields and the plume of smoke from an unobtrusive steam train, both highlighting that this was a living landscape. There was much to commend David’s second image in the competition. Richard liked the way the evening light caught train tracks that lead the viewer towards the approaching steam engine and its magnificent bank of smoke which brought a sense of drama to the scene.

However, it was to be David Warner who provided the winning image. David Warner is well known within the club as a great landscape photographer but his winning image showed that he can also take great macro shots. Clematis was the title of the close up of the centre of an individual clematis flower showing the purple tipped stamens curving towards its centre. Grains of pollen clung to the stamens. Richard liked the impact achieved through the shallow depth of field used to create an image pin sharp where it mattered most.

Congratulations to David Warner and many thanks to Richard for the consideration he had given to each image.

Next week, will be the first Online Open Competition in which members will view entered images on line, comment on their merits and provide a score for each. The evening will then provide an opportunity to share opinions, aggregate scores and so find a winning image.