Popular Judge, Ian Bateman, an accomplished photographer and Audio-Visual expert from Exmouth Photo Group, delivered a well-considered and encouraging critique of images to members of the Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club at their 4th Open Competition recently.
Nearly 70 digital images were submitted covering a breadth of subjects from nature and wildlife, to portraits and landscapes. Dawlish itself was well-represented with dramatic photos of Storm Darcy and its temporary resident, the Wave Walker.
However, it was the lone walker with an umbrella heading into a storm, taken by Tony Wilson, that secured one of the Gold awards. The other belonged to Bobbie Smith for her atmospheric black and white image of Bath station at night.
Tony explained “The photo was taken on Teignmouth beach around Christmas time. I had been sheltering against the sea wall during a particularly heavy rain shower. As it started to move away the rainbow appeared. I took a few shots of it and then walked off the beach. I then turned and saw the man with the black umbrella walking towards Sprey Point. I ran along the beach in order to get the right, angled shot. I too had my umbrella up, so shooting with an umbrella, rucksack and in soft said and rain wasn’t easy!”
Of her image, Bobbie said “The station after dark is an image of the back entrance of Bath station, taken about ten in the evening. Coincidentally, it was taken just around the corner and only a matter of yards from the site of another photo which also won gold last year - from the same judge. That turned out to be a fruitful evening’s photography!”
A total of 17 prizes were awarded:
Gold – Tony Wilson, Bobbie Smith
Silver – Sally Landberger, Paul Hepple, Marc Dunlop
Bronze – Rob Landberger, Edward Chorlton, Paul Hepple, Bobbie Smith, Tony Wilson
Highly Commended – Eddie Holden x 3, Alex Rosen, Elaine Smerdon, Dave Hutton, Naomi Stolow
All the winning images can be seen here in the gallery of the fourth open photography competition on the Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club’s website.