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Ivybridge
& District Camera Club’s Merit Competition,
held in the last few days of January, resulted in so
many entries that the recently-elected Competition Secretary,
Alan Davey had to invoke the Reserve Rule and withdraw
one third of the entries to make it practical for the
judge to comment constructively on the night. Many camera
clubs don’t have this option and sometimes judges
have to rush though the critique, unable to spend time
reviewing interesting or worthy pictures.The
competition was for the set-subject of ‘Ground
Level’, which many on the club committee thought
would prove a natural restraint on the number of entries
and so avoid having to withdraw entries! Entry points
were still awarded for the removed photographs.
Portrait photographer
and lecturer, Ken Holland from Teignmouth kindly judged
the competition expertly and with humour. His dissertation
on an alternative black & white printing method
was enlightening too.
The Monochrome
Print section of the competition was won by David Rayner
of Ivybridge with Houses out of Time, a close-up
of a back-lit translucent seashell with Burgh Island
Hotel and the 14th century pub in the distance. Tony
Clements, also from Ivybridge, gained second place with
a ground level shot of a garden walk entitled Pedestrian
Roundabout, while Alan Bishop of Liverton took
third place with Boardwalk, a low-level shot
of a jetty reaching out to sea. Fourth to sixth places
were awarded to Neil Doggett, Keith Mullin and Gert
Landers.
Geoff Brimblecombe
of Ivybridge was awarded first place in the Colour Print
section with Hard Times, a down-and-out
drifter pictured at ground level with more than one
connotation, while Gone For Lunch, a disorderly
artist’s studio floor won second place for Margaret
Martin, also from Ivybridge. Club Chairman Keith Miller
took third position with On the Ground, a dynamic,
dirt-flying motocross rider and bike moving almost horizontal
to the ground. The judge bestowed fourth to sixth places
to Keith Mason, Keith Miller and John Palmer.
On the second
of February David Rayner gave a talk called An Introduction
to Raw Processing as a basic primer for those interested
in using this potentially higher-quality format for
taking their photographs. After a break members were
pleased to review the digitally projected images for
an earlier competition - which many had missed because
of the snow and ice in January.
A week later
Ivybridge Camera Club held the fifth leg of a multi-club
digitally projected image competition. Clubs from as
far away as Cleveland and Essex take part, with the
entire organisation and image collection accomplished
via the Internet. Each club hosts one of the competition
legs and arranges an independent judge to mark the images
from all the clubs including their own. Professional
Photographer Max Danby judged this leg and his marks
moved Ivybridge up the league slightly, to miss third
place by just half a point. There are two leagues to
the competition and then a play-off later in the year
– which Ivybridge may host if it can make up that
extra half point. Individually, several Ivybridge members
have done rather well too, with David Rayner, Keith
Mullin and Keith Miller running average points per leg
of between 9.5 and 8.5 out of 10.
On Valentines
Day thirteen club members went to the Corn Exchange
at Exeter to support Ivybridge & District at a major
inter-club competition for clubs within the West Country.
47 clubs took part and nearly 1200 images were awarded
points by a panel of three judges on the day. Ivybridge
gained a respectable 19th place, battling against some
giant sized clubs in the region.
From the 1st
March until the 27th March the club will be holding
their annual exhibition at the South Brent Old School
Gallery and Library. The event allows local communities
to see a wide range of images, many of which are often
local scenes. Entry is free, so do come along and see
members’ photographs. Open during Library opening
hours.
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.
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