Tonight's Digital Competition at Cambridge Camera Club

Hi

Well, not as grand as Damian's exhibition (which looks great, btw), but I managed a minor first this evening...both images placed in the internal digital image competition tonight. The limit is two entries, and I always enter two, but one does OK/quite well, and the other nothing (or both do nothing). This time, "Roman Vase" got a Highly Commended, and "Peek-a-boo" went one better, and got a Third place grading.





Also, rather than agonising over my choices for ages, I just banged these in, late on Sunday morning before leaving for the airport for a work trip. Little thought, but good result. Just goes to show, eh?

Ivan

First Projected Image Competition of 2008/9

Above, my two entries for the first of the (3 part) serial projected image competitions.

You may have seen them both before. Currently, Reculver is lying in about 15th on my flickr stream, and the white peacock around 4th. Therefore, I'll predict a grading for white peacock, and nothing for Reculver sunset.

We'll see..

Ivan

First of the Season

This is a link to the first presentation of the new CCC 2008/9 season which starts on Monday 08 September.



Looks like some nice, gritty monos, industrial landscapes, street scenes and working life - should be right up Gareth's street.



Last year's kick off was an awful presentation which owed more to substandard natural history photography than photographic merit. This one looks better on paper.



Here's hoping..

Ivan

Close, but no cigar...

Dear All

An eventful evening at the CCC Annual Digital Championship. First off, the event was heavily oversubscribed. So, what they do is lose the image you number as 5, then 4 (if need be) to make sure they have about the right number (ca.100) to allow the Judge to review in an evening. So, I lost the image of the woman and the rusty door bolt. That left the Eskimo pic of Abby in "People", and the Bike and Sunset Beach Walkers in "Pictorial".

Eskimo and Bike bombed out. I think he liked Eskimo more than the Bike, but neither got anything.

Sunset Beach Walkers beat off some stiff competition to win!! Fantastic result, as this was the largest section (45 entries?) and had some great entries. I was surprised it won, but I always thought it was a good picture.

The winners of each of the sections - therefore 5 images - go forward for the Digital Image of the Year. It came down to mine and a comedy horse/rider picture and...you guessed it...mine lost out! Apparently it was very close, and mine was described as the "runner up", although no such official accolade exists. Last year, I lost out at the same point to a frickin' sports picture of Rodger Federer, but this is harder to take A comedy horse and rider shot? Not something that could have been composed in advance; it was one of those freaky moments when something funny happened, and the expressions on horse and rider conspire to make a funny, well caught image. It does have bags of appeal and got a laugh from all in the audience, so this no doubt helps too. And the rider was a kid. But, image of the year...hmmm. Still, mustn't grumble. I won the "Creative" section last year, and now "Pictorial" this year. Doubtful I'll enter "Plants and Animals", so that leaves "People" and "Record" for next year!!

Gareth was disgusted with a lot of the judging, and has been all this season (with some notable exceptions). I tend to agree with him - it seems highly random and inconsistent. He said he won't enter any competitions from now on. However, he actually said that if Beachwalkers doesn't get anything, then he wouldn't enter anymore. Well, it did, so he MUST continue. Also, his image (bw) of his kids got a Commended in the People section, again against his predicition of getting nothing.

I am certainly not going to break my back to enter every one, but will keep entering from time to time and will be more regular at the Aperture sub-group meetings, where those going for photographic distinctions and the more experienced can meet to discuss images in a more relaxed setting. I'll give that a go for a while and see where it leads.

Gareth was cracking up at the inherent comedy in me losing to a comedy horse and rider picture. I can see the funny side alright, but my competitive part is quietly seething...

Ivan

2nd Print Competition Entries

Below are my entries for Monday's print competition at the Cambridge Camera Club. I can't make it that evening due to a work trip Mon-Wed, but Gareth will let me know what happened...

I held over the first image "Bath Crescent" from the last competition, submitting "Window and Chair" instead (which got a First), so fingers crossed for this one.


The next image is one from the potential Deal Pier portfolio. I have abandoned this portfolio, but this image was quite positively received on the blog, so I'm going to submit it.



You may have commented on these images before, but would welcome any thoughts, esp from Adam and Colin...

Cheers
Ivan

Possible Portfolio submission

This is my selection for a possible CCC competition portfolio submission. 5 images, in a defined order, on an easily identifiable subject. This one is Deal, in Kent. Not sure if it'll be a print or projected submission, but your thoughts on the images and order is appreciated.

Ivan

My selections

Below are my two entries for the next CCC Projected Image competition (to be held on 22 Oct)

New York Ferry Moment

This image was taken on the Staten Island Ferry in 2004. It was coming back to Battery Park (end of Manhattan), and as it was getting alongside the Statue of Liberty, I was struck by the almost reverential bowed heads of the two passengers in direct line of sight. I exposed for the Statue and sky, and with some further post-processing have accentuated the semi-silhouette feel, which is further enhanced by the dramatic sky. I like this image a lot, but realise it may not be to all tastes. Which brings me on to my next image...

Help

This image was made around the time of a similar work entitled "Shadowman". If you recall, Shadowman came 2nd in last year's CCC Annual Digital Championship, Creative section. This is similar in feel; mono again, and trying to create a feeling, engage an emotion. I was struck by the desolation of the tower block in question. The "figure" in the window is real, but I never noticed it at the time (this is a crop from a much larger image), and it looks like an old lady, but very skeletal and creepy! I added the "graffiti" underneath, to create the message. Love it or hate it, I think it's quite powerful.

Thoughts and comments welcomed. Still not to late to submit something else...

Ivan

Two from Three

1. Bath Cresent


2. Shove tuppence


3. Window and Chair

Your thoughts on which are the strongest two for the up-coming 1st print competition would be greatly appreciated. I have a potential two picked, but not sure at this stage.

Ivan

First Projected Image Competition - my entries

Image 1: "How Things Have Changed..."


Image 2: "Peak Heather and Barn"

With Image 1, I moved the old gent slightly away from the RHS, by creating a bit more wall - combination of cloning and painting shadows. This takes him away from the edge, which made for a slightly uncomfortable composition. I've also tightened up the composition, so he is more of a focus, and cropped out a dark LHS wall which added a distracting dark band to the LH edge. I've tidied up some of the cloning work to remove the circular table, and brightened up the old man's face a bit too, again to provide more focus.

With Image 2, it's a bit of an experiment to try something different with landscape. I've never really done any type of toning or sepia work, so it's a new thing, but I wanted to be trying something new, so that was the decision-making process. As for the image, I cropped it square and converted to black and white, then added a photo filter on top in CS. After some dodging and burning on a separate layer, I flattened, sharpened, and sized.

Let me know what you think? Competition is on Monday coming.

Cheers
Ivan

Interesting Metrics...and initial goals for the 2007/8 CCC Season

Remember I finished third overall in the 2006/7 projected image competition? Well, I scored 52 points for that third place. I knew Barrie Hatton (Club President) came second and Ann Miles (Programme Secretary and semi-pro photographer) came first, so I totted up their scores (sad, ain't I?) from the results on the CCC webpage...Ann had 104 points and Barrie 82, I was a distant third with 52.

Shows that in order to challenge this season, I do need to have both images scoring at each competition, as both Ann and Barrie regularly did. I ALWAYS had one image that bombed, with no score, and one that did quite well. Still, numerically I am half as good as Ann Miles, so being half of shit-hot is good enough for me (for now)!

This year, it's my goal to achieve at least a 3rd overall again, but with a higher score (realistic goal) or to come 2nd overall (less realistic). I also want to enter some of the print and portfolio competitions too. I'd like to also do well again in the Annual Digital Championship, but will be hard-pushed to improve on winning (and coming second too) in the Creative category. I think I'd like to enter in the Pictorial (i.e. Landscapes) and do well in that - entering the Creative section was a calculated strategy to use my relatively good photoshop skills to good effect in a category I knew would be less intensely fought. This turned out to be a good move, for my ego if nothing else!

I'll have a think about my CCC goals for 2007/8 and put them on the blog; last year, being my first season, I had no idea what to expect, and hoped to place in ONE competition. I did a whole lot better than that, which makes 2007/8 a bit tougher. A bit like Lewis Hamilton in his F1 rookie year...(sort of).

Cheers
Ivan

New Photos

Next season at Cambridge Camera Club (CCC), I will try to submit new images to competitions etc, as well as to this blog. I have done so recently (with the Shropshire and Peak images) but I need to take more to enter CCC competitions. It has been tough with Abby and general change in life responsibilities, so I won't beat myself up too much; just renew efforts to get up sometimes, or go out in the evening occaisonally, to try and take some new images. I suppose I could also take my camera to work, and try to get out at lunch again.

We'll see how I get on.

Ivan