Henrietta Byrne LRPS DPAGB was welcomed by President Keith Roberts on her first visit to the club. She had come to judge the annual print competitions: the open, monochrome and portrait. All the prints had been given to Henrietta before Monday so that she could study the merits of each in detail. Her response to each image was delivered with real knowledge of the different elements of a good photograph and with respect and appreciation of the intentions of the photographer. The standard of the photographs submitted was particularly high in all respects from subject capture to print and mount quality.

Judging the portrait entries first, Henrietta gave third place to Keith Schubert’s Mustapha where she appreciated the controlled exposure capturing the highlighted features of this Moroccan gentleman against the dark background. In second place was Lizzie Stewart’s, Percy. Percy had the well-worn face of an older man who had spent his life outdoors. First place was given to Tom Sawyer’s My Big Boy. This was an impressive image looking up towards a beautifully lit chestnut horse. Henrietta liked the story the image told of the relationship between the figure holding the reins of the horse and the animal itself.

In the monochrome competition, Carole Smith’s Friend for a Day was placed third. This was a monument to the moment in the First World War when all hostilities ceased at Christmas time. The outstretched hands of a German and British soldier are seen reaching towards each other and between them lies the football - a striking image marking a significant moment in history.

For this competition, the photographers in first and second place in the previous competition had their positions reversed. Tom Sawyer’s Love my Pony took second place to Lizzie Stewart’s Blue Guitar. The former showed the strong relationship between a horse and its owner; Henrietta appreciated the great exposure and the excellent composition. Lizzie’s image of the guitar player’s fingers was a simple close up format capturing every detail from the shape of his nails to the sharpness of the strings. Achieving the end result required great skill on Lizzie’s part as a photographer.

Carole Smith took third place in the Open competition with Any Fish for Me? This was an image of a seal surfacing. Henrietta praised the palette of colour captured on the seal itself and the reflected sparkling light in and on the water. Carole also took second place with Windmills and Shadows. This was a photograph taken in Spain looking up towards windmills receding in size from right to left on a hilltop. Despite the bright light, the white walls of the structures showed detail and interest was further developed by the delicate tracery of the sails shadowed across them.

First place went to Peter Rushton’s Catching the Light, a beautiful Lake District image showing the dark fells in the background enhancing the velvet green fields at their base creating a great sense of vastness.

Congratulations to all those who entered images for these three competitions and particularly to the three winners.

Next week, the evening is called Nostalgia. A chance to turn back the clock from the digital era to that of slides.