John Scaife stepped in to judge our most recent print competition, but it was good to see fellow judge Keith Spicer, who could not officiate on this occasion, accompanying him, and enjoying the hospitality at our venue, including the lemon drizzle cake that got a special award! Whilst some members are still struggling to provide prints for competitions, entries were down on what is usual, but the quality of those that were entered was high, and with few exceptions the presentation of them was good.

John is a popular visitor, and always gives considered feedback with regard to possible improvements to composition, colour and crops. Keith was also very knowledgeable about calibration of screens to ensure faithful rendering of photographer’s intent. Members benefitted from their combined expertise, and engaged in some fruitful discussions that the extra time due to fewer submissions gave us.

Both eventual winners were minimalist in style-Tony Nineham with his “Wanaka Tree at Dawn” was admired for his subtle colours and creative use of an unusually coloured mount, whilst Suzanne Ladd’s mono “Seedhead” was appreciated for its attention to detail and simplicity. John agonised for some time between the first and second placed mono images, and spent time explaining his eventual preference. There was much further discussion over Suzanne’s colour entry and Janice Cuer’s mono effort, both of which featured reflections, water and dramatic skies, elements that could be and were interpreted in different ways and orientation that merited much closer inspection.

John was warmly thanked for his time and his attention to details when judging, and we look forward to his next visit. Results of this competition are as follows:

Colour: first place, “Wanaka Tree at Dawn” by Tony Nineham; second, “Underneath the Wave” by Jill Toman; third “Jay” by Diana Walker. Tony was again amongst the honours being commended together with Christine Cilia La Corte, and Jill Toman was also highly commended

Mono: first place, “Seedhead” by Suzanne Ladd; (a very close) second was “out In Front” by Jenny Short; third, Riding the Wet” by Tony Nineham. Jill Toman was again highly commended and both Tony and Suzanne were commended in this class.

Entries for this year’s Witcombe Trophy were collected to be judged by our Hon. President Margot and next week we look forward to a Zoom meeting with Chris Biggs giving a presentation about Bristol Harbour.

Jenny Short