Written by Last night saw the first of the season’s major competitions at Dunchurch Photographic Society, with the Gerry Coyle Memorial Trophy for the best colour print.
Our judge for the evening was Jayne Hutchings from Lutterworth Camera Club, and she certainly had her work cut out. A mammoth 63 prints had been submitted, giving Jayne the Herculean task of working her way through a remarkably strong and varied field.
The standard of the entries was quite exceptional. One of the great pleasures of a competition such as this is seeing just how differently our members approach their photography, and last night’s entries covered an enormous range of subjects and styles.
There was wildlife, street photography, landscapes, portraits and still life, along with plenty of images that were rather harder to categorise. From carefully controlled compositions to fleeting moments captured at exactly the right instant, there was no shortage of variety on the print stands.
With such a large entry, judging was never going to be easy, and Jayne took the time to give each image careful consideration, offering constructive comments and explaining what worked particularly well for her. As always, there was plenty for everyone in the room to take away from the evening, whether or not they had entered the competition themselves.
Eventually, however, one print had to rise to the top.
Huge congratulations go to Mike Smith, whose stunning photograph of an iceberg was selected as the winner of the Gerry Coyle Memorial Trophy. It was a beautifully captured and presented image and a very worthy winner from an exceptionally strong field.
Congratulations also go to everyone who entered. Producing a competition-quality print takes considerably more effort than simply submitting a digital file, and to see 63 finished prints on display was a fantastic sight and a wonderful reminder that print photography remains very much alive and well at Dunchurch.
If this is the standard at the first major competition of the season, we are certainly going to be in for an interesting year!