Virtual Meeting, Bates Cup Landscape Competition - Tuesday 30th March 2021.

     
    1st. Calm Morning at Cresswell.                     2nd. Natures Garden.                   3rd. Embleton Beach.

At a virtual meeting on Tuesday 30th March Morpeth Camera club welcomed photographic judge Lynda Golightly,
a member of Whickham & Consett Camera Clubs who commented upon and announced the results of the Bates
Cup Pdi Landscape Competition. Lynda started off by saying that she was looking for images which would stir her
imagination and those which convey the feeling of weather in the shot.

There were Fifty One images entered into the competition which included sweeping landscapes of Northumberland’s
valleys, Lakeland vistas, snow capped mountains, and autumnal woodland. Also entered were seascapes of calm
and stormy seas off the Northumberland and Scottish coasts with many in a setting beneath dramatic, billowing
cloud formations which contrasted with serene, colourful harbour scenes. The audience was transported overseas
to Sri Lanka’s Sigiriya Rock, Hoi Ann Bridge and Long Bay, Vietnam, a rainy viewpoint over Florence, the remarkable
Millau Viaduct in France, Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay and walkers in a snow covered Parisian Park.

Throughout the evening the judge offered advice; on being aware of objects which are in the extremes of an image,
as distractions take ones eyes away from the subject. One is not just photographing a view, she said, a scene should
have an area or focal point which draws the eye, adding that a too busy foreground can prevent the viewer from
following on through the picture. She suggested that one should take time out to try a different viewpoint which
can have more impact, and where people are included in the shot, wait if you can for the right time to press the
shutter; this allows for separation and positioning of people in their surroundings.

Lynda went on to announce her Highly Commended images to be Ephemeral Sunset by Paul Appleby for its muted
visual stimulation but which retained an element of reality. To Stephanie Robson for Stormy Fidra, for its layers,
textures and for its depiction of energy. John Barnes with Twilight, for its simplicity, use of complimentary colours
and for its sense of space. To Karin Jackson for Roman Wall, for its dramatic diagonals and sense of wilderness and
to Glyn Trueman for College Valley, for its subtle sense of distance, but one was still enclosed in the landscape.

Lynda then continued with her five placed images. In fifth place was Glyn Trueman with Rock and Ruin, a sinuous
rock formation which the judge said had great composition, detail and texture, and admired for the soft contours
and colours of the rock. In fourth place was Stephanie Robson with Loch Linnie Evening. A moody loch view which
the judge said had captured beautiful light, a sense of quiet calm with corporeal rays of light which added drama
but in a natural way. Sue Dawson was in third place with Embleton Beach. It was chosen for its sense of wilderness,
liked for the textures of sand and seaweed allowing a path through to a silhouetted Dunstanburgh Castle in the
distance. In second place was John Barnes with Natures Garden. Lynda described it as an intimate space with a
large landscape beyond; a clearing perfectly chosen, with detailed foliage forming a frame through which the scene
could be viewed. The judge concluded by announcing the winner of the Bates Cup Pdi Landscape Competition to be
Davy Bolam with Calm Morning at Cresswell. It captured calmness, she said, adding that the subtle use of Intentional
Camera Movement blended the horizontal and verticals perfectly. The author had retained light and luminosity and
she described it as ‘a wild expanse of feeling.’

Club Chairman, John Barnes then thanked Lynda for judging the competition and stated that it was a pleasure to
listen to her advice and comments.

Steph.