Weather was the subject of one competition for photographers

AT the recent Zoom meeting of Sileby Photographic Society, members had the opportunity to enter either the Panel Competition and or the Thematic Competition. The judge for both Competitions on this occasion was David Kissman, BPE1.

The Panel Competition was open to digital images in panels or sets of three or four images which, when combined, would form one image for projection. Each entrant was allowed to submit up to four panels of images.

David laid down his own brief when judging this competition. This included taking due note of the quality of photography, did the panel fit together well, the overall impact of the panel and was it pleasing and well balanced to look at? That criteria having been met, David proceeded to provide constructive and helpful comments for each before deciding that the following members had the edge over their colleagues.

First place by a whisker was awarded to Richard Storier for his panel ‘The Old Forge’. Gianpiero Ferrari’s excellent panel ‘Fly Agaric’ took second place and his delightful panel of ‘British Orchids’ came third.

‘Weather’ was this year’s subject for the Thematic Competition, and entrants were able to submit digital images, in either monochrome or colour, up to a maximum of four images each.

David said: “Weather had to be the dominant feature of this competition, and not necessarily the quality of the image, and for each he asked himself the question ‘first and foremost, did I think of weather when first viewing the image?”

There was an ample selection of various images portraying the author’s version of the subject. From snow, rain, mist, rainbows, trees swaying in the wind, low clouds, storm clouds, rough seas, black sky, wet streets, crashing waves on the shoreline, water spray, frosty mornings, you name it, most elements had been included. Presented in either monochrome or colour, perhaps it was the monochrome images which offered the strongest atmosphere and caught the judge’s eye.

Richard Storier was awarded first and second places with ‘Rays of Glory’ and ‘Brocken Spectre’ respectively, both images captured on camera whilst on a recent visit to the Faroe Islands. Malcolm Coulton clinched third place with his aptly titled image of ‘Weather’!

John Hoogerwerf , President, offered his congratulations to all those who were mentioned in despatches, and also to David for his helpful and constructive comments on all subjects placed before him, adding that the standard of photography had been very high.

This year, the Annual Exhibition is available to view in virtual form and this can be found by visiting the Society’s website and clicking on Annual Exhibition 2020. This has been extremely well put together, primarily by Colin Machin with input from members, and is well worth a look.

The next Zoom meeting will be held on Monday, 30th November, when guest lecturer, Chris Upton, will present digital images entitled ‘Thoresby, the End of the Mine’.

Anyone wishing to become a member of Sileby Photographic Society, enabling access to the weekly Monday evening Zoom meetings, should visit the contact page of the SPS website, https:// silebyps.org.uk/ when further details will be issued. The programme for the current photographic year is also available to view.