Thanks to everyone that came to my early session on backup last Tuesday – I hope everyone got something out of it. Any questions please feel free to ask me…
The main event last week was our first competition of the season. Firstly I’d like to say a huge thanks to Den and his able assistant Guy for running the competition – especially since it was Den’s first outing as competition secretary AND our first time using the new competition format of points rather than places.
I must apologize for the issues we had with picture quality on the projector – especially in the first half where somehow the prior work we had done on calibration had come “unset” and the colours were not as they should be. There has been a long and detailed discussion in the committee this week on how to move forward on the projector issue – the one thing we all agree on is that doing nothing is not an option. While the projector we are using is neither old nor cheap, if it transpires that the issues cannot be solved except by replacing it, then that is what we will do. However we need to be sure before we go down that road that it really IS the projector at fault, and not a calibration or software issue. We have plans to move this forward before the next (print) competition.
On to the competition itself, and I must say I was very impressed with the quality of images on display, at all three competition levels. Congratulations to all that entered. Since it was our first outing in “points” mode, we were not sure how much impact that might have on the running time (because the separate “pick the winners” phase of the judging is no longer required) – however, it was clear from last week that 103 images is too many – Den will be announcing ways to limit the entry for the next competition in due course. Of course, it is great that so many of you want to enter images, and we do want everyone to have a chance to do so.
I thought the judge’s comments were very useful – even if they might have come across as a little brutal at times, they were all very much well-intentioned and aimed at giving pointers to how to improve your chances of doing well in future competitions. Of course, it’s easy for me to be happy about the judge’s comments when I didn’t have any images entered…
Some of you have expressed surprise that one of the side-effects of our change to points rather than places is that names and scores for all entrants were made public (rather than just the “winning” entrants. While I appreciate that this is a difference from previous years, it was covered in Nick’s detailed discussions of the proposed change last year, and was voted on and accepted by members at the AGM. Personally I think it’s a good thing – regardless of the score that an image was awarded, if there is an image I liked then I want to be able to congratulate the photographer personally (and/or say “That judge needs his eyes testing” if it did not get the score it deserved).
Enough about last week – this coming Tuesday we have a new departure for the club, a model night featuring canine models. There will be no early session, but help from 7pm setting up lights and backdrops is always appreciated. We will start shooting at 8:00 prompt.
The first half will feature miniature dachshunds and an Otterhound. The second half will feature Lester (and possibly one other of Ele’s dogs?). Please bring props to make it a great photographic opportunity for all.
It should be an interesting and fun evening. Hopefully we will not find out just why people say “never work with children or animals”…
Phew, a long one this week!
Richard