| Well,
what a cold start to the year local amateur photographers
had when they gathered at Bittaford for the first meeting
of the Ivybridge & District Camera Club’s
2010 season! All across Devon the snow fell heavily
during the afternoon of January 12 and it looked as
if no meeting would be held. By evening though, the
snow had turned to rain locally and the thaw looked
to begin, enabling just twelve members to make their
way through the deep slush and hold the first of the
year’s National Lottery Digital Shield League
competitions.
There was a substantial
entry of 58 digital images, sent by email just before
Christmas, and a good evening’s entertainment
was enjoyed looking at the projected photographs. Competition
Secretary Alan Davey decided that the reserve rule did
not need enacting and so all three entries by each member
were allowed. Self-voting was used as planned, so luckily
no judge was obliged to travel through the bad weather
to appraise for us. Marking the twelve score sheets
did not take long so we were able to have a good critique
session afterwards with every image being evaluated
by the group. We have the entries stored on the club
computer and hopefully a new viewing date will be arranged
soon, when more members can enjoy them.
First place was gained
by David Rayner from Ivybridge with Southern
Hawker Dragonfly, a delicate close-up study
of a dragonfly drying out after emerging from
its exuvia. Second place was shared between
two members with equal marks. Woman in Black,
a well-composed and intriguing monochrome portrait
from new member John White of Cornwood shared
the place with Homeward Bound, a delicately
presented fishing ship with swirling gulls by
Bruce Thomas of Ugborough. Third place went
to John Palmer of Harberton with Mist at
Sunrise, a solitary-tree dominated landscape
back-lit by a misty morning sunrise.
There is just one other
meeting in January and that is a Merit Competition
on the 26th.
However, February brings
a new era to the club and we officially start
meeting three times a month. The first meeting
is on the 2nd when David Rayner will give a
talk entitled An Introduction to Raw Processing
followed by a group discussion. Visitors are
always welcome to club meetings and we meet
at Bittaford Community Hall from 7:30 PM, normally
on the first, second and fourth Tuesdays in
the month. Our programme, members’ photographs
and much more are all available elsewhere on
this website.
|
|
| Winning
entry from David Rayner, taken on a pond in his
garden. To get the shot David had to attach a
close-up lens and lay on a scaffold plank stretched
across the pond, waiting for the right moment
when the dragonfly stopped vibrating! Amazing
to think that all that dragonfly came out of the
little exuvia. |
|
Joint
second was The Woman in Black by John
White |
|
Homeward
Bound by Bruce Thomas also made joint second |
|
|
Mist at Sunrise from John Palmer
took third place |
|
