You would think that, living in England, we would all be pretty clear about what constitutes “Weather”, since it dominates our conversations so much, but it was something of a bone of contention on Thursday in our February competition of the same name.

At the end of the day it is the judge that decides and Beryl Heaton had carefully considered her criteria before giving her decisions, but it left a few members, who had faithfully recorded calm and still conditions, somewhat mystified. In the end it was extreme weather that prevailed with the winning colour photo depicting lightning and the mono a frozen waterfall. There was much to celebrate in between; members had been creative and innovative in their interpretations, and this Beryl gladly celebrated.

Diana Walker won the colour competition with “Stormy Sky” and took second place also with her “Rainbow over Tobermoray” whilst Suzanne Ladd was third with “Cracked”. Bill Collett and Jenny Short were respectively highly commended for “Walking Home and “Iced Tea Anyone?” and Graham Nicholls and Lou Bailey were commended for “St Mary’s Church” and “Frosty Misty Sunrise at Priddy.”

Again the same photographer took first and second place in the mono competition- this time it was Jill Toman with ”Icicles on a Frozen Waterfall” and “Misty Morning over Chew Lake”. In third place Janice Cuer was successful with her dramatic “Storm Approaching” whilst Suzanne Ladd with “Icy Cold Cam Brook” shared highly commended with Diana Walker’s two images “Photographers in the Snow” and “Arctic Fox in a Snow Storm. The snow theme continued with Bill Collett’s “Still Snowing” which was commended.

All the images that featured in the awards can be viewed on our website. Next week the Audio Visual group that meet monthly courtesy of Paulton Rovers entertains us with some visuals and musical accompaniment.

Jenny Short