Tag Archives: competition

Competition: Knockout

Wednesday 17th November saw our annual Club knockout competition, where pairs of images are displayed against each other and members keep one in and knock out one, finally culminating in just one remaining image.

Under normal circumstances the knockout is one of the most fun nights of our calendar with lots of ribbing and banter, however Covid has scuppered the usual run of things so the competition was carried out via Zoom. To vote, members had to raise their hand for their chosen picture and banter was unfortunately missing as we all had to mute ourselves so that the titles etc. could be read out (some club members would say that muting me is one of the perks of Zoom and they wish they could do it in real life 😆).

Eventually, only 4 excellent images remained and it was incredibly difficult to choose between them. ‘Grey Seal Pup’ by Gordon Mills, ‘My Family’ by Russell Millner, ‘Sea Channel’ by Jeff Bagnall and ‘Shambles of York’ by Ann Dallaway. Our congratulations to Russell whose gorgeous image of a family of polar bears was chosen by the Club as their winner, while Gordon’s ‘Grey Seal Pup’ was runner up.

The evening was technically difficult event to run, with half our members attending from home via Zoom while half attended in person at the Community Centre watching Zoom on a big screen, and images having to be removed from the competition after each round and a track kept of the scores. So huge thanks goes to Jeff for managing to juggle everything and Gavin for helping with the scoring.

Next week we will be visited via Zoom by Roger Hance FRPS, DPAGB, AFIAP, BPE5*, a multi award winning photographer with a special interest in Natural History. The theme of Roger’s talk is ‘Photographing wildlife in your garden’ and most of the images in the talk were taken during the initial lockdown in the Spring of 2020. In addition to showing some of his successful photographs, Roger will explain how to attract wildlife into your garden, including how to use hides, and how the shots were set up to obtain the best results. Guests and new members are welcome – please see our membership page for details of how to join in.

Competition: L&CPU Annual Knockout 2021

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Each year, our Federation which is the Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union (L&CPU) hold a Knockout competition. Up to 8 images from each Club can be entered, though usually only 4 are used by the Federation due to the high numbers of images sent in, so as a Club we have to decide which of our 8 images should be shown as the first 4. These 4 images can be on any subject but must be by 4 different authors. The images are then either kept in or knocked out during several rounds of judging, culminating in the final round of highest scoring pictures.

On Saturday 13th November 2021, Kendal took part in the Knockout for only the second time and I am beyond thrilled to say that we came joint 2nd out of 42 Clubs 😮 and double 😮. Congratulations to Jo Knight, whose image ‘Queen Bee’ made it to the final judging round.

Below are the 4 images which were used by our Club. Seamus Bryans’ ‘Batman’, Jo Knight’s ‘Queen Bee’, Jeff Bagnall’s ‘Bir Hakeim Bridge’ and Russell Millner’s ‘Polar bear at sunset’.

We would also like to thank Dylan Reynolds, Maureen Smith and Gordon Mills whose excellent images were part of the Club selection but unfortunately not used by the Federation in the competition due to the volume of images received.

There are some superb and very successful Clubs within the L&CPU federation and it’s a huge achievement to have come 2nd out of 42 Clubs in this regional competition on only our second entry. Massive congratulations to the authors of the entered images! I’m off to celebrate with a brew and a Twix 😁.

Competition: Song Titles

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North Fylde Photographic Society returned for a second visit this season, with Paul King CPAGB judging our Members’ Evening PDI competition on Wednesday 27th October via Zoom. The set theme for the competition was ‘Song Titles’ and although we were expecting the winners to sing us a few bars, every cat in the neighbourhood was thankfully spared the ordeal 😁.

With over 90 varied and diverse pictures in both colour and monochrome Paul had a tough job which must have taken hours ahead of the competition to analyse, so our thanks go to him for all his dedicated hard work.

Starting this blog post in reverse order with the results of the Advanced League (colour), big congratulations go to Russell Millner for ‘You can’t catch me’, who shared the top spot with Dave Nelson’s image ‘Cold as Ice’. It was Russell’s night, though, as not only was he chosen as overall winner he also scooped joint second place for his images ‘Arctic Dreams’ and ‘Into the Light’. Well done Russell!

Russell’s success continued in the Advanced Mono section where he was awarded first place with his image ‘Under a big sky’, with Dave Nelson’s ‘Jet’ in second place with 19 points.

The Club Colour section was strong with some great conceptual ideas for Song Titles, and our congratulations go to Phil Drayton who was awarded first place with his creative picture ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Second place was shared between Gordon Bramwell with ‘Free as a bird’, Kim Rigg with ‘Ice Ice Baby’ and Liz Bagnall with ‘Please release me’.

Last but not least is our Club Mono section, where 20 points was shared between Kim Rigg with ‘The Boxer’ and Peter Kennedy with ‘Walking in the rain’. Peter was also awarded 19 points and second place with his image ‘Pedal your blues away’, which was jointly shared with Martin Rowe’s ‘Black Rose’. However, our congratulations go to Kim whose Boxer picture was declared by the judge as overall winner.

Next week club member Jo Knight is once again diving into the often bewildering world of Photoshop, this time focusing on colour. Her previous tutorials have been aimed at beginners, but as the Club is made up of a range of abilities this time she will be including slightly more complex techniques which she hopes will include useful editing tools for all members of the Club. Guests and new members are always welcome – please see our membership page for more information. See you all on 3rd November!

Members’ Achievements: IPA

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Club member Jo Knight has been awarded in the 19th International Photography Awards which “conducts an annual photography competition for professional, non-professional, and student photographers on a global level, creating one of the most ambitious and comprehensive competitions in the photography world today. The IPA recognizes photography’s leading talents who are creating, shaping and defining the world of photography.”

There are many diverse categories within the IPA, ranging from Advertising through Editorial to Fine Art and Nature and sub categories within each section, eg. Nature/Macro, Fine Art/Portraits, Editorial/Press and Advertising/Beauty, so opportunities exist for photographers right across the spectrum, both amateur and professional.

When entering competitions Jo is usually classed as an amateur as she doesn’t make more than half her living from photography, however in the IPA the rules are slightly different and anyone who has been widely exhibited is classed as a pro, therefore Jo entered the professional category. Three of her images were awarded: ‘Gravity’ in the Fine Art/Still Life section, ‘Child Bride’ & ‘Lockdown’ in the Special/Digitally Enhanced section – click on each picture to see the image on the IPA website.

There were nearly 14,000 images from 120 countries entered in the 2021 IPA and the standard was world class. Pictures included a portrait of Barrack Obama and a creative photograph of Angelina Jolie, so for a Cumbrian photographer to receive recognition for not 1 but 3 photos is worthy of celebration. Our congratulations go to Jo on her achievement.

Competitions: Novice Cup & Oldham Mono

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Kendal Photography Club is part of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB), which has over 40,000 individual members all over the UK. PAGB affiliated Camera Clubs are grouped into regional Federations and Kendal PC falls under the Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union (L&CPU) which is one of the most successful Federations in the country.

Every year, the L&CPU hold competitions for individual camera club members in their region with images chosen by the author, and also for Clubs as a whole with images chosen by each Club’s committee usually from those which have done well in that season’s Club competitions.

It’s a huge honour to have an image picked to represent your Club at Federation level and if an image does well in a Federation competition it can be used in that Federation’s portfolio, used in inter-Federation competitions against other regions, used to represent the Federation in nation-wide PAGB competitions, or even to represent your country in global competitions such as the FIAP world cup. It’s a great way to get your name known by your Federation or even the PAGB and gives kudos to your Club.

Last year, Club member Russell Millner was awarded gold with his Bears on Baffin on his very first entry into the L&CPU Novice Cup, which is a Federation print competition designed for members without any photographic qualifications or distinctions, and goes to show that our Club members have as much chance of success as anyone else in our region.

It was, therefore, disappointing to see the low number of entries from our Club in the 2021 annual Novice Cup. We could have entered 12 images but we only had 10 entries, which meant that our combined score was low compared to the other Clubs who had all submitted the maximum amount of photographs.

A big “thank you” to Kim Rigg, Liz Bagnall, Phil Drayton, Ann Dallaway and Heather Mallinson who made the effort to enter and a selection of whose images are below, and to club Secretary Maureen Smith who helped with the printing of the entries.

Oldham Mono

Each year, Oldham Camera Club invite all the clubs in the L&CPU Federation to enter a monochrome competition, which is usually a print competition but this year changed to PDI and held via Zoom due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.

Judges who visit our club often comment on the strength of our monochrome pictures and again it was disappointing that there weren’t more entries from Club members, so our thanks go to Russell Millner, Derek Mackie, Maureen Smith, Jeff Bagnall, Gordon Bramwell and Peter Kennedy for taking the time to submit images, a selection of which are below:

We did well as a Club in last year’s Federation competitions coming mid way down the leader board despite our region containing some of the most successful Clubs in the country, so although we’re small we have the potential to pack a punch and I hope that next year we see more members submitting entries into Federation competitions and helping the Club to succeed.

Competition: Open

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Our first Members’ Evening competition took place on Wednesday 29th September and had an open theme. Judges for the evening were club friends Dave Bibby & Paul King of North Fylde Photographic Society, who delivered the scores and comments from their members who had their work cut out wading through our 93 entries!

We began with the Club mono section, and our congratulations go to Kim Rigg who scored 20 points with her image Askham Fell Pony, while 19 points was shared between Alvina Labsvirs with Loughrigg and Elaine Elrick with Textured.

Next up to be judged was the Club colour section, where Kim Rigg continued her winning streak with Me and My Mouse. Coming joint second with 19 points was Phil Drayton with Barbary Macaque Playing, Ann Dallaway with Mary Eric and I, Bill Lowis with both Bluebell and Working Hard, and Elaine Elrick with Winter Sun.

We then turned to the Advanced mono section, and big congratulations go to Jeff Bagnall who scored a double 20 pointer with his images Starling Family and Gear Wheels. Joint runners up with 19 points were Dylan Reynolds with Embrace and Russell Millner with Photographer and Starlings.

We ended the evening with the Advanced colour section, won by Jo Knight with Trio of Tulips who also shared second place and her image Evacuee with Jeff Bagnall’s Sea Defences.

Next week we’re very much looking forward to welcoming guest speaker Caroline Preece whose Zoom talk is entitled ‘Tools not Rules’. We recently had an evening on the rules of composition, but Caroline aims to get us thinking in a different way about photography and composition, using psychology to empower people to make informed decisions as opposed to worrying about rules and whether to break them. Guests are welcome for a small fee, please see our membership page for details and to book a place.

Annual PDI Trophies

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The Annual PDI was our final competition for this year, taking place on Wednesday 31st March via Zoom. Our judge for the evening was the excellent Richard Speirs DPAGB APAGB BPE2* of Morton Photographic Society, who is always entertaining and offered experienced, constructive critique of the images. There were 3 sections: Nature, People & Portraits, and Open with all club members competing equally.

The People & Portraits section contained some wonderfully diverse photographs, with three images receiving top marks: Seamus Bryans’ Summer Haze & Portrait of a Young Man, and Jo Knight’s The Enemy Outside. Congratulations to Seamus who was awarded the trophy for his beautifully lit studio portrait.

The Nature section was very strong, with two images receiving 20 points: Russell Millner’s Family of Bears on Baffin and Jo Knight’s Displaying Black Kites. Russell was this year’s deserved trophy winner with his stunning Polar Bear shot.

Our final section was Open, which contained both colour and monochrome images. Again, three pictures were awarded top marks: Jo Knight’s Beneath The Waves & Life Behind Bars, and Phil Drayton’s Castle Star Trails. Well done to Jo who was awarded the trophy for her detailed creative picture of life caged.

Not for the first time this year the judge commented on the quality of Kendal’s images and how diverse a subject matter we cover. There really were some excellent photographs and we should be rightly proud as a Club of our achievements this season.

Members’ Evening Trophies

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Over the season our club has 6 Members’ Evening competitions and the scores from each of those are added together to give an overall winner for the year. The 2020-21 winners have just been announced and big congratulations go to the members outlined below 🏆

CLUB COLOUR – winner Ann Dallaway

CLUB MONO – winner Kim Rigg

ADVANCED COLOUR – winner Dylan Reynolds

ADVANCED MONO – winner Maureen Smith

This concludes our Members’ Evening competitions for this season and we would usually have a presentation of the various trophies, but of course Covid has put paid to that. In addition, this year we tried something different by splitting members into 2 leagues in the form of Club and Advanced so stay tuned for how the trophies will work!

L&CPU Club Annual Competition

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The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain is divided up into area Federations and Kendal Photography Club is part of the Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union (L&CPU) Federation. Each year, the L&CPU hold an Annual Club PDI and print competition where Clubs from within the Federation submit individual images from their members, the scores from which are added together to give an overall score for each Club.

The PDI Club Championship took place on Saturday 20th March via Zoom (any Club member could log on to watch the judging) and contained 2 sections: Open and Nature.

The event began with the Open section, which had over 600 entries from 40 Clubs, a wide variety of genres and a mix of both colour and monochrome. Our judges for the day were Phil & Gwen Charnock of Wigan 10.

The overall winning Club in the Open Section was Oldham Photographic Society, but we were delighted to come joint 11th out of 40, sharing our place with Alsager Camera Club 😀. This is a superb achievement considering this was our very first entry into the Championship! Well done to Jo Knight whose image Ophelia was one of only 9 images in the competition to score the maximum 20 points.

We had a short lunch break and resumed judging at 1pm with the Nature Section. The standard in nature competitions is exceptionally high and unfortunately we didn’t score quite as well as we had in the Open, coming 25th out of 40 clubs. However, in my opinion it is the toughest of all photography genres and we have traditionally been more of a landscape orientated Club. Well done to both Dylan and Jo who achieved our highest points for their images with a very respectable 17.

I am thrilled to report that overall we came 18th out of 40 Clubs, which for our very first entry into the Championship is a brilliant achievement! Thanks to the organisers for their hard work in putting our submission together – all the individual image scores are in the Members’ Section of our website.

Competition: Macro

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Our final competition took place on Wednesday 17th March and had a set theme of Macro. For the Club League (beginners & intermediate) all aspects of close-up photography were allowed, whereas the rules were more strict for the Advanced League in that images should be as close to true macro 1:1 magnification as possible, whether achieved with a macro lens or by cropping in post production.

Our judge was long time friend of the club Paul King CPAGB from North Fylde Photographic Society, who gave some excellent tips and critique throughout the evening though was arguably lenient in allowing a photograph of the Moon to be classed as “macro” 😆.

We kicked off with Club colour, where four members were awarded 18 points: Cathy Cath with Butterfly on Buddleja; Kim Rigg with Pollen Laden Hellebore; Martin Rowe with A Busy Bee and Phil Drayton with Garden Bumble Bee. No second place was awarded, which left our 20 point winner Phil Drayton with his tack sharp image of a Fly – congratulations Phil!

Next was Advanced colour, with 3rd place and 18 points being shared by: Dylan Reynolds with Hugs; Jeff Bagnall with both HD TV Pixels & Cellar Spider with Egg Sack; Russell Milner with Helvellyn and Simon Raven with Zipped. Second place and 19 points was shared between Simon Raven with Only A Tenner and Dave Nelson with both Flamenco Dancer & Looking At A Peacock’s Eye. Congratulations to our well deserved 20 point winner Dylan Reynolds with his impressive 4th Instar Comatus Jumping Spider.

Following a short break, the competition continued with the Club Monochrome section where 3rd place and 18 points was awarded to Phil Drayton with Tree Bumble Bee. Second place and 19 points was shared between Cathy Cash with Woodlouse and Martin Rowe with Watch Detail. Big congratulations to Martin who also scooped the winning 20 points with Oak Leaf!

Last but not least was Advanced monochrome, with 3rd place and 18 points being shared between Maureen Smith with Veins and Simon Raven with Just A Drop. Second place and 19 points was awarded to Jeff Bagnall with Polymer £20 Note, and a huge well done to Jeff who was also our winner with 20 points for his beautifully detailed Fob Watch.

Next Wednesday we are treated to a Zoom evening with Roy Carr, whose talk is entitled ‘From very near, to not so far’. Club members are reminded that the deadline for entries into the Club’s Annual PDI competition is this Sunday, March 21st and to please submit your images on time and sized correctly.