Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club were the hosts for this year’s South Devon Photographic League Competition between their friendly rival clubs of Newton Abbot, Exmouth and Crediton.
The event was conducted through Zoom, much to the disappointment of all concerned as the real competition is for the best cakes in the interval, which sadly could not be enjoyed this year! However, the competition went ahead and was ably judged by Kay Wilson from Saltash, who stoically went ahead in spite of ill health on the night.
The rules of the competition are for each club to submit 15 of their best images, which the judge considers on their merits and then awards points out of a maximum 20.
A dazzling array of 60 digitally projected images followed, a good proportion of which were of nature and wildlife. Birds in particular featured including Trumpeter finches, gannets, swans, puffins and even three Gentoo Penguin chicks waddling up the beach. There was also a variety of Landscapes from sunrise over Hadrian’s Wall, to the dramatic coastal waves resulting from Storm Imogen.
Two of the images even shared a Brief Encounter title, but were totally different – one was a charming image of two mice looking at each other, whilst the other was a train station of a bygone era.
Some images demonstrated techniques such as slow shutter speed to blur the flow of water, whilst another used multiple exposures to cleverly demonstrate the comings and goings at Lisbon Station.
Kay delivered her critique and any observations for improvement and then gave her scores.
Only one image attained the full 20 points and that belonged to Derrick Holliday from Exmouth Photo Group for his stunning ‘Inside Out’ image of the Lloyds building in London – the curves and angles being dramatically emphasised with a fish eye lens.
With the scores for each club’s entries added up, the overall winner was Exmouth Photo Group with a total of 242 points. Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club achieved 2nd place (227 points), 3rd went to Newton Abbot Photographic Club (226 points) and 4th place to Crediton (211 points).
See all 60 images here >>