Rosebowl Round 2: Amanda Wright reports

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Thursday 5th December saw EHHPS hosting the 2nd round of this season's Rosebowl Competition, ably if not occasionally contentiously judged by Alan Taberer from Imagez.

In all my years as Competition Secretary for EHHPS, this round was one of the more stressful to organise. Originally we were supposed to be four clubs but sadly Kidlington decided to drop out of the Rosebowl this year leaving Leighton Buzzard, Banbury and ourselves to battle it out. 

An unfortunate combination of Comp Sec holidays, lost emails and mis-communications meant that the usual two week preparation period went down to the wire. However, the show must go on, and with the usual excellent support of Rick and Burgess, all worked flawlessly on the night.

Alan was understanding, and gave us an entertaining and unpredictable nights judging.  He held back 11 of the 45 images, 6 of which were from EHHPS and 5 from Leighton Buzzard and as is always the case with so many images held, it was tricky to call it.

The results were

  • 1st EHHPS 266

  • 2nd LBPC   261

  • 3rd Ban      244

Ealing's top scorers:

Scoring 18

  • See No Evil by Paul Mason

  • Nothing On The Telly by Kris Mason

  • Hide And Seek by John Clare

  • Abandoned Dreams by John Clare

Scoring 19

  • Valencia Vulture by John Clare

  • The Artist by Paul Mason

Scoring 20: (there were 5 awarded)

  • Kasbah Encounter by John Clare (this image was also awarded one of the two allocated stars)

  • Crouching Leopard by John Alexander

Very well done guys

(Amanda Wright)

NWFed Round 3: Amanda Wright Reports

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Thursday night (21 November) was the 3rd and final round of the NWFed once again against Amersham and Stoke Poges, hosted by us and kindly judged for us at short notice by Mark Buckley-Sharp, standing in for Paul Burwood who was unable to attend. Mark explained to us the methodology behind his judging style, looking for the technical aspects, composition and story the author was trying to portray. He also explained how he always only selects two 20's when judging this competition which will therefore automatically provide the two allocated stars and at least one 15 from each section to help him judge his scale. I couldnt help feeling though that subject matter played an important role in his decisions on several occasions.

We started the evening with the prints, 5 from each club and we didn't do too badly as we were awarded 3 19's. Sadly though we did get the 15 (very unfairly I thought). Amersham were awarded both 20's ergo the two stars.

Final print scores:

  • AME 92

  • EHH 89

  • SPCC 86

Our top scoring prints were

  • Mimi by Paul Mason 19

  • Quiet Misty Morning by Annie Hackett 19

  • Valencia Vulture by John Clare 19

In the PDI section, despite holding back 3 images, two by EHH and one from Amersham, Mark still only awarded two 20's but this time we got one! Sadly though we also once again were on the recieving end of his 15!! 

I can say though on this rare occasion that we beat Amersham by 2 points.

Final scores for PDI's

  • EHH 89

  • AME 87

  • SPCC 86

Our top scoring PDI's:

  • Up In The Clouds by Annie Hackett 19

  • Kasbah Encounter by John Clare 20 and a Star

Putting together the scores from all the 3 rounds the final result was

  • 1st Amersham 581

  • 2nd EHHPS 569

  • 3rd Stoke Poges 530

So Amersham will go through to the Semi-Finals with their opponents TBC; they are a tour de force and we wish them well.

Congratulations to all our top scorers throughout this hotly contested competition. We achieved a good number of Starred images across the 3 rounds which will get a shot at Best Image of the NWFed Competition on Final Day in February next year in the separate 'Starred Images' Competition

EHHPS Starred PDI's

  • Carpet Of Light by Kris Mason

  • Piece Talks by Paul Mason

  • The Sweet Spot by Rick Beresford

  • Kasbah Encounter by John Clare

EHHPS Starred Print

  • Abandoned Dreams by John Clare

Until then.....

(Amanda Wright)

Rosebowl Round 1: Amanda Wright Reports

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On Wednesday evening Field End hosted our first round of this season’s Rosebowl Competition held both in person and via Zoom. I saw Dennis and Emmanuel made it to the Zoom version but as I was also on Zoom I’m not sure if anyone from EHHPS attended in person.

The Rosebowl is an all PDI Competition with three rounds each of which is with 3 or 4 clubs which are different in each round. Each club submits 15 images two weeks before the actual round and images can be re-used in each round if preferred. The top 12 clubs after  all 3 rounds are completed compete in the Rosebowl Final in Spring next year.

Our first round was held against Hemel Hempstead PS, Oxford PS as well as Field End PS so there were 60 images in total and was judged for us by Damon Guy who organises the Judges Training Sessions where he also trains our judges to be so he knows a thing or two about judging.


By half way Damon had held back 7 images and EHHPS were neck and neck with Field End, behind Hemel although they hadn’t had any held back and ahead of Oxford but they had three held back so as always it was impossible to call. 

By the end of the judging there were 14 held back, 3 by EHHPS, 5 by Oxford and 6 by Field End so I was a tad concerned.

The Final Scores were pretty close in the end with only 3 points separating 1st and 2nd and 3rd

  • 1st Place Field End 260

  • 2nd Place Oxford PS 257

  • 3rd Place EHHPS 254

  • 4th Place Hemel Hempstead 247

Our top scorers on the night were

  • Hide And Seek by John Clare 20

  • Eye Contact by Mike Lloyd 18

  • Crouching Leopard by John Alexander 18

Very well done guys

EHHPS are hosting Round 2 on 5th December where we will be hosting in person and on Zoom to Banbury, Leighton Buzzard and Kidlington

(Amanda Wright)

NWFed Round D2: Amanda Wright Reports

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Last night (Monday 21st October) saw the second round of the NWFed, hosted and very well attended by Amersham with Andy Smith the Comp Sec from Stoke Poges, Paul Mason, Dennis and myself from EHH. It's fair to say the hall was pretty full. Peter Prosser was our judge for the night who kept the mood light hearted and enjoyable. 

Each club submits 5 prints and 5 PDI's in both the second and third round so it's not too long an event.

Images throughout as pointed out by Peter were of a very high standard but EHHPS didn't do too badly at all considering we're up against the might of Amersham.

Prints were judged first and Peter held back 7, 3 from Amersham, 3 from EHH and 1 from Stoke Poges. Up to this point we were neck and neck with Amersham but out of the final 3 x 20's we scored just one which was the fabulous See No Evil by Paul Mason, very well done Paul, with Amersham clinching the other two and those also being awarded both available stars.

Our other high scorers from the held backs were Naked Flame by Kris Mason 19 and Satellite and Dish by Rick Beresford 18

Final Print Scores were pretty close though for us

  • Amersham 93

  • EHH 91

  • SPCC 82

After the coffee break we had a run through of the 15 PDI's of which Peter once again held back 7 although this time Amersham had 4, we had 2 and SPCC had 1 so I wasn't quite so positive about this round.

Our 2 held backs were Vintage by Paul Mason 19 and The Sweet Spot by Rick Beresford which scored 20 and was awarded one of the 2 available stars. Very well done Rick! The 3 x 20's awarded in this round were in the end evenly spread between each club so once again results were pretty close

Final PDI Scores

  • Amersham 92

  • EHH 89

  • SPCC 84

Final Overal scores

  • 1st APS 185

  • 2nd EHH 180

  • 3rd SPCC 166

Close but no cigar and with the running total showing a difference of 11 points between us and Amersham it's a tough ask for Round 3 at ours on 21st November but not unacheivable.

(Amanda Wright)

Northwest Fed Round 1: Amanda Wright Reports

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Last night, Tuesday 1st Oct, saw the first round of the NWFed with our group (D) this year consisting of Amersham, Stoke Poges PC and EHHPS. Stoke Poges were our hosts and the competition was ably judged by Martin Patten. Not such a great draw for us as he had been at The Ron Wake Competition just over a week ago in Harrow and had therefore seen all our images, as I had entered the same prints into both competitions. 

The atmosphere was lighthearted and friendly with Terri Adcock, the NWFed organiser and Martin’s partner and a small number of Amersham members in attendance too.

We started the evening with prints 6 from each club so 18 in total and Martin’s comments were mostly pretty fair and accurate I thought. He held back 4 prints, 3 from Amersham and one from EHHPS, Abandoned Dreams by John Clare which went on to score a 20 and was awarded one of the two allocated stars. The other star went to Gillian Morgan of Amersham for Racing Through The Sea.

Final scores in the prints were

  • Amersham 111

  • EHHPS 107

  • SPPC 96

In the PDI competition, again 6 PDI’s from each club, we also did rather well in that of the 4 PDI’s Martin held back 1 was from Amersham, 1 from SPPC and 2 were from EHHPS. Both Ealing’s images went on to score 20 and both were awarded a star. 

  • Carpet Of Light by Kris Mason 20 and a star

  • Piece Talks by Paul Mason 20 and a star

So of the four stars top awarded across the evening we were awarded 3 of them!! Despite this though it wasn’t quite enough for us to beat the mighty Amersham.

Final Scores in the PDI’s were

  • Amersham 106

  • EHHPS 104

  • SPPC 96

Total scores then

  • Amersham 217

  • EHHPS 211

  • SPPC 192

(Amanda Wright)

The next match involving EHHPS takes place on 21st October in Amersham.  If anyone has anything for consideration, please let Amanda know.

Jenny Fenton Featured in Outdoor Photography

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Once again, an image from Jenny Fenton graces the pages of Outdoor Photography magazine..

Author: Jenny Fenton

“I like to create my floral imagery by using abstraction. I layered three images, two of alliums and one of my own stock textures. I also experimented with exposure compensation and selective focusing.”

Olympus OM-I with 6omm macro lens, ISO 200, 1/20osec at f/3.5, focus stack of three images

Ron Wake Memorial: Mike Lloyd takes the Trophy

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The Ron Wake Trophy Interclub print competition took place at Harrow Camera Club on Monday 23rd Septembr. EHHPS members in attendance were Amanda Wright, Dennis Durack and Kristin and Paul Mason.

Amanda Wright Reports:

Last night (Mon 23rd sept) saw the annual Ron Wake Trophy Competition which has changed format over the years, having started in 1968 with 10 clubs participating and the quota set at 48-50 prints. Last night we were down to just four clubs with a total of 39 prints submitted, quite a sad sign of the times.

Our judge for the evening was the very competent and extremely fair Peter Cox from Tring who started the evening by explaining that he was looking for something creative and unique and where he would be excited by colours shape and form. He didn’t disappoint.

By the break I have to admit it was starting to feel like the 'Watford Show’ as expected with 8 of the 11 images held so far being by them and a quietly confident Martin Patten and I discussed that we both barely disagreed with Peter's remarks. I also had a quick chat with Peter during the break who told me he was conflicted between the technical quality of many of the Natural History images he had held back and the creativity of others. He was after all looking for something unique, and the birds and animals whilst fantastic shots, didn’t quite hit the mark.

By the end of the evening though it felt a little like David versus Goliath and Watford must have thought they had it in the bag with 9 prints held back, Field End 2 and EHHPS 2. Harrow didn’t have any held sadly.

Commendeds were awarded:

  • 4 to Watford

  • 1 to Field End 

  • 1 to EHHPS - very well done Paul Mason for The Artist

Highly Commendeds were awarded

  • 4 - all to Watford

Places:

  • 3rd Place went to Watford

  • 2nd Place to Field End

  • 1st Place to Mike Lloyd from EHHPS for On Brighton Pier

A fantastic result  which means we have won the Ron Wake two years running with Paul winning it last year, very well done! We’ve only won it 5 other times since 1968.

(Amanda Wright)

First Place: On Brighton Pier- Author: Mike Lloyd

Annual Awards Evening: Results 2023-24

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Following the AGM on 13 June, the winners of the Monthly Aggregate Competitions were announced by Internal Competitions Secretary Emmanuel. This season saw a changed format, with Print and PDI results being combined. An author’s top 10 scores from the 4 Print and 12 PDI competitions were totalled, for a maximum of 200 points. In addition, we inaugurated the ‘EHHPS Photographer of the Year’ award, based on a weighted total of all externally judged competitions.

Results - Monthly Aggregate Competitions

Print Open

Open

First : Annie Hackett (196 pts)
Second: Jenny Fenton (193 pts)
Third: John Alexander(188 pts)

Print Set Subject

Set Subject

First: Paul Mason (198 pts)
Second: Emmanuel (192 pts)
Third: Kristin Mason (188 pts)

Print Portrait

Portrait

First : Paul Mason (196 pts)
Second: Mike Lloyd (194 pts)
Third: Kristin Mason (190 pts)

Results - EHHPS Photographer of the Year

First : Paul Mason
Second: Annie Hackett
Third: Emmanuel

The basis for calculating the outcome of this award, based on a weighted total of all externally judged competitions over the year, can be seen here

AGM: New Committee Elected

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At the AGM on 13th June, the 2023024 Committee stood down but all offered themselves for re-election.

In addition, two members put themselves forward for election to the committee:

  • Annie Hackett

  • Nilou Darvish

Kristin Mason’s term as President came to an end after two years.  Burgess Taylor put himself forward for a new term as President and will, as is traditional, be supported in his first year by Kristin undertaking the responsibilities of Vice President, with a new Vice President being elected for the second year. Jane Arnold-Forster, at her own suggestion, has relinquished her role as Exhibitions Secretary, but will continue her responsibilities for BEAT.  Responsibilities for Exhibitions will be revised by the incoming committee in a manner which seeks to leverage the talents of the new members.  Similarly, the committee seeks to utilise our expanded membership to increase the profile of the club in the community with a view to revitalising our membership numbers.

In addition, Jacqui Sinnatt has offered to assist the committee in areas such as Programme and Exhibitions

 The 2024-25 committee was elected unanimously and comprises:

President: Burgess Taylor
Vice President: (year one) Kristin Mason
Secretary: Paul Mason
Treasurer: Dennis Durack
Internal Competition Secretary: Emmanuel Papadopoulos
External Competitions Secretary: Amanda Wright
Programme Secretary: Kristin Mason
Membership Secretary: Dennis Durack
Publicity Secretary: Paul Mason
Exhibitions Secretary: tbc
Webmaster: Burgess Taylor
Jane Arnold Forster: BEAT liason
Nilou Darvish
Annie Hackett

Responsibilities will be revised by the new committee.

EHHPS Visit to Cheltenham 2024: Amanda Wright Reports

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What a fantastic trip we had to beautiful Cheltenham for our second “Battle” (their term for external competitions), hosted by our good friend, EHHPS member and CCC Chairman John Clare. Our first stop was the very lovely Waterperry Gardens, just outside Oxford which kept us occupied for a couple of hours, then in the evening John and his wife Maxine generously hosted Paul, Kris, Ania and myself with a fabulous evening meal.

On Tuesday John had meticulously planned a day out for us all on some very fine steam trains, having previously recce’d the route from Cheltenham Racetrack Station to Broadway Station to make sure everything ran smoothly and we were able to get the most out of the day which we certainly did. One member of CCC Andy, even turned up in costume which led to some very interesting and amusing photo shoots, with the guards and firemen taking in the “paparazzi’ style spirit and happily posing for us, seemingly enjoying the attention. Expect a lot of train themed images to come.

After a fabulous Thai meal at The Giggling Squid it was time for battle to commence. The evening was judged for us by the very confident and popular Louise Hill MPAGB of the infamous Smethwick PS (check out their website smethwickps.co.uk) who always do very well in National Competitions. It very quickly became apparent that her preferred style of image was grungy and gritty portraits and birds and that a keyline was required on all images regardless of whether there were dark edges or not - a practice we ditched as a Federation many years ago as it was considered dated. Her scores were, however, very evenly balanced as she awarded 5 x 15’s, 7 x 16’s, 7 x 17’s, 9 x 18’s, 6 x 19’s and 6 x 20’s. Sadly though all 6 20’s went to CCC!

Our top scorers on the night were with 19 were:

  • A Moment of Peace by Annie Hackett

  • An Anxious Wait by Mike Lloyd

  • Catherine Wheel by Paul Mason

  • Lady of The Manor by Paul Mason

And with 18

  • Cloud Forest by Annie Hackett

  • On Pointe by Dennis Durack

  • It’s About Time by Emmanuel

  • Homage To It by Emmanuel

  • Red Kite by Rick Beresford (Rick I checked out Louise’s Gallery where she has a red kite, yours is better I think)

  • The Sweet Spot by Rick Beresford

Well done all

Final Scores were

  • CCC 358

  • EHHPS 344

We spent Wednesday exploring Cheltenham, mooching around the antiques and a favourite gift shop in Winchcombe and finally enjoying an outdoor pub lunch at The Hollow Bottom in Guiting Power. What’s not to like?

Hopefully more EHHPS members will be able to make it next year 😃

(Amanda Wright)

Rosebowl Day: Amanda Wright Reports

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Sunday 21st April was the Rosebowl Final where the top scoring 12 clubs from the three round matches (each round with different clubs) battle it out to take overall best club in the CACC. Although once again Stoke Poges didn’t enter the final so it was out of 11 clubs. It was fairly well attended with Rick, Dennis, Annie and myself and a couple of Northfields members were there too.

In the morning the Rosebowl Stars Competition was very ably judged by Naomi Saul ARPS DPAGB EFIAP BPE4 ASINWP APAGB from the East Anglia Federation who didn’t shy away from creative images and applauded all genres equally I thought, although she wasn’t giving marks to these images, just 3 Highly Commended and a Best Image, which was won by Neil Jackson of Field End with Morning Light In Newlands Valley.

Naomi also judged the second competition, The Phone Photography Competition and seemed to be extremely impressed by the quality achievable on a mobile phone. Here she awarded marks as well as 8 Highly Commendeds. The Best Image went to Ian Nock of Maidenhead for Sunset In The City. All the images from both these competitions can be found on the CACC website.

After the CACC AGM and lunch it was the Rosebowl Final Competition judged by Graeme Wales ARPS CPAGB BPE2 from the Surrey Photographic Association. As you can imagine several of the images in this competition were also in the Stars Competition so it was interesting to see them judged by someone different. I did pick up a pattern of leaning towards Natural History images for the top scorers so felt we were once again at a bit of a disadvantage. Our top score was 18 which went to 

  • Homage to It by Emmanuel

  • Lady Of The Manor by Paul Mason

  • Eastern Eyes by Dennis Durack

Very well done guys, he was very harsh on creative and portrait shots. Nevertheless, EHHPS came 6th overall and Northfields were delighted not to have come last! Yay!!

The 8 top scoring images can be found on the CACC website.

(Amanda Wright)

NWFed Final and Starred Images Competition: Amanda Wright Reports

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The final of the NWFed competition, together with the Starred Images Competition took place on Saturday 24th February, hosted by Watford. Here is Amanda Wright’s report:

I’m fresh back from Watford where Kris, Paul and I saw the final of the North-West Fed. As the organiser, Terri Adcock, had been away until recently many of us didn’t know who the two finalist clubs were - Amersham and Croxley - until this morning when we printed the scoresheet. 

Each club supplied 9 of their finest prints and 9 of their finest PDI’s and it is fair to say that judge Tim Morland from Kingston CC, had quite a tough task on his hands as the standard was indeed extremely high.

Tim held back 8 of the 18 prints, awarding three 20’s, all of which were from Amersham ,with final Print Comp scores being:

  • Amersham 164.5

  • Croxley 149

He went on to hold back 7 of the 18 PDI’s, awarding two 20’s this time, both being from Croxley. The final PDI scores were:

  • Amersham 152

  • Croxley 158

Total combined score:

  • Amersham 316

  • Croxley 307

So, fairly close.

After the coffee break The starred images were judged by Kevin Day

There were 24 PDI’s and Prints too, judged in two separate competitions. Much to Kevin’s relief, no scores were required - just a First Place and two Highly commended.

In the print competition Kevin held 5 back, with First Place going to David Manning of Leighton Buzzard with one of my favourite images of the year Tin Man Alley.

Both Highly commended images were from Watford: On The Naughty Step by Sam Jenkins and The Right Time Of Day by Mike Brankin.

We only had one print in which was Annie Hackett’s Winskill Tree but sadly it wasn’t held back for final selection.

In the PDI competition we had a bit more of a chance with 4 starred images:

A Moment Of Peace by Annie Hackett
An Anxious Wait by Mike Lloyd
Homage to It by Emmanuel
Eastern Eyes by Dennis Durack

Kevin held back 7 of the 24 images with Homage To It being the only chosen image from EHHPS.

Final placings were

  • First Place Samual by Sanjay Mistry from Harrow another of my favourite images of the year

  • Highly Commended Homage To It by Emmanuel, very well done Em, it’s a stunner!

  • Highly Commended Finnish Wolf in Cotton Grass at Dawn by Chris D’Netto from Imagez

Should you be interested I’m sure these images will be available to see on the individual club’s own websites but should be available on the NWFed website when it’s updated.

Rosebowl Round 3: Amanda Wright reports

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On Thursday 15th Feb. EHHPS hosted a third round Rosebowl fixture as a hybrid, with EHHPS in the hall at the Brentham, and judge Micki on Zoom. The other clubs were welcome to join us in person or via zoom. Here is Amanda Wright’s report:

Last night EHHPS played hosts to the mighty Amersham and Watford in our 3rd and final round of the Rosebowl Competition. Very ably and expertly judged by Micki Aston on Zoom. I was, it has to be said, expecting total annihilation but the final outcome surprised us all I think. 

As I mentioned last night we now have to sit and wait until all the other clubs (there were 27 competing this year in total) have finished their rounds and Kathy has totalled up all the scores. The last of the rounds, 3 of them, will be held on 27th Feb so we should know if EHHPS have made it to the top 12 clubs by early March. We have come 1st, 2nd and 3rd in our rounds but have done well with starred images so it all hinges on how the other clubs have fared.

The turnout, it has to said was shocking. Only 11 EHHPS members in the hall and a measly 4 on Zoom which would have included the two other Competition Secretaries!

Our top scorers last night were 

  • Homage To It by Emmanuel scoring 20 and being awarded one of the two allocated stars

  • Lady Of The Manor by Paul Mason scoring 19

Scoring 18 were:

  • Sea Fret by Kristin Mason

  • After The Show by Dennis Durack

  • A Moment Of Peace by Annie Hackett

  • Christmas Shopping by Jenny Fenton

  • On Balance by Shaun Hodge

Very well done guys!!


Totals for the night were:

  • Amersham 1st Place 264

  • Watford 2nd Place 262

  • EHHPS 3rd Place 260

Despite coming 3rd I was actually thrilled that we were a mere 4 points behind the winners Amersham!! A very close run thing.

Four of our normally very high scoring images scored 16 which was a bit of a shock but it’s all about the images on the night as Micki said and the overall standard was exceptional. I was proud.

(Amanda Wright)

For background on the Rosebowl, please look at the CACC website

Rosebowl Day for 2024 is Sunday 24th April and includes the Final.

Another Publication for Jenny Fenton

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In what has become a habit, Jenny Fenton has once again been published in Outdoor Photography Magazine. Her comments from the magazine are below the image.

Taken on a very windy day in Cornwall, the bright sunlight brought about the gorgeous contrast in the colours from the cliff edge to the water. By using ICM, I was able to draw attention to the movement of the waves.

Olympus OM-1 with 70mm lens, ISO 200, 1 sec at f/22, 3-stop ND

Rosebowl Round 2: Amanda Wright reports

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On Tues 16th Jan we had our second round of the Rosebowl, excellently hosted as a hybrid session by Northfields CC and against Stoke Poges PS and Croxley CC. Our original judge Paul Burwood was unable to judge the competition for us and Kathy Chantler, Chair of the CACC no less, very kindly undertook the role. There was an extremely disappointing turnout with only 13 people online and 6 members in physical attendance at NCC which did make me query once again whether there was much support for our longstanding large external competitions.

Anyway to the night…..

It has to be said I was in a mild state of panic when our first image out received a 14, however I fairly quickly realised that all was not lost as Kathy’s scores were pretty low overall. In fact she awarded 10 x 14’s and 13 x 15’s which equates to over 38% of all images (60 in total) scoring a pretty low mark in my book, given this is a Rosebowl competition and clubs are therefore submitting their very best images. 

15 images scored 16 and 13 images scored 17 with 8 images being held back, two from each club and scores being quite a close run thing it was anyone’s game, but I’m delighted to be able to tell you that EHHPS won!! I don’t think I’ve been able to say that for a long time, so thank you Kathy!

Final Scores

  • EHHPS            246

  • Stoke Poges    243

  • Croxley            240

  • Northfields CC 236

You can see from these scores just how close it was and I have no idea how we achieved this with no 18’s or 19’s to our name!

Ealing’s top scorers with the only two 20’s of the night were:

  • A Moment of Peace by Annie Hackett

  • Lady Of The Manor by Paul Mason

These two were also automatically awarded the two stars, HUGE congratulations to you both.

On 15th February EHHPS are hosting the 3rd and final round  against CACC giants Amersham and Watford. Gulp!!!

Northwest Fed - Round 3 and overall results: Amanda Wright Reports

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On Thursday evening (December 7th) I took our last 5 printed images to the third and final round of the NWFed hosted this time by Watford.
Watford already had a comfortable 10 point lead but Pinner and ourselves were both neck and neck on 386 points each.

Our judge for the evening was the well known Micki Aston who seemed on good form, despite getting over a bad cold and we started the evening with the prints, 5 from each club, 15 in total. The standard was extremely high and her comments were mostly very fair. She started off by reminding us that as the standard was technically very good it would be down to how each image made her feel that would be the dominating factor in her scoring.

We started well with our first print out On The Ledge by Paul Mason being held back. Our second image out didn’t fare so well and I have to say on this occasion I completely disagreed with Micki’s comments on Cut Off by Annie Hackett. Micki is well known for her love of black and white photography, having started in the darkroom herself, but on this occasion she didn’t take into account the time of day that the image had been taken, describing it as ‘muddy' and wanting a greater range of tones and more brightness in the darker areas. It scored 15. Maybe next time we’ll reflect the time of day in the title and call it Cut Off At Dusk or something like that to help guide the judge. Micki didn’t seem to take the Wonderful storytelling into account at all, just the technical aspect which was very disappointing and such a shame. 

On The Ledge went on to attain a 20, well done Paul. 
Cut Off by Annie Hackett 15
Skinningrove At Dawn by Nick Barber 16 
Time For A Dip by Mike Lloyd 18 
Derelict Corn Mill by Jenny Fenton 17

Interestingly Micki disliked the colours or tones of something in all our prints apart from Paul's. In Skinngrove At Dawn it was the blue toned harbour wall - she said it should have been grey (it ’s dawn). In Time For A Dip it was the pink bikini - she insisted it should have been a natural tone to blend in with the environment and Derelict Corn Mill reminded her of a filter called Tobacco she used to use and had done to death so her low score reflected a very personal element. In short, if the colour palette or tones were not realistic for a daytime shot or something went against the norm, it was marked down.

Watford had two images held back, both scoring 20 and both were awarded the two allocated stars. Sadly we came last in the print section.

Scores at half time were

WAT 91
PIN  92
EHH 86

At this point as Pinner were winning they thought it might be a good time to leave haha!!

In the second half, the PDI’s, Micki held back 5 images, 2 from Watford and 3 from EHHPS, all of which scored 20 and 2 of ours were awarded the stars!

Emmanuel’s Homage To IT received much praise from Micki, despite confessing her fear of clowns, describing it as perfectly malevolent, she loved it. She enjoyed the simplicity and quietness of Sea Fret by Kris and Annie’s A Moment Of Peace drew a gasp of enjoyment.


Homage To IT by Emmanuel 20 and a Star
A Moment Of Peace by Annie Hackett 20 and a Star
Sea Fret by Kristin Mason 20
Watching Mother With Prey by John Alexander 16
Epitome Of Fun by Jenny Fenton 16

PDI Scores were

WAT 93
EHH 92
PIN 88


Overall Scores then after all 3 rounds

PRINTS PDI’s TOTAL
1st WAT 291 1st EHH 290 1st WAT 580
2nd PIN 281 2nd WAT 289. 2nd PIN 566
3rd EHH 274 3rd PIN 285 3rd EHH 564

A great win for us in the PDI’s even beating Watford! Such a shame we were beaten by Pinner by just 2 points but no surprises that Watford won the competition being the far bigger club and with some very talented photographers with a good range of genres to draw from.

EHHPS did do very well again with our starred images across the competition so very well done to:

Annie Hackett - Winskill Tree Print and A Moment Of Peace PDI
Dennis Durack - Eastern Eyes PDI
Mike Lloyd - An Anxious Wait PDI
Emmanuel - Homage To IT PDI

Amanda Wright