By Tracy Ross
Last Tuesday night Irvine Camera Club were back at Irvine Sports Club, where we were joined by our guest judge for the evening, Guy Phillips - who would be assessing our C2 Open Mono Print and C3 Open Colour Print rounds.
With almost 90 prints in total to be assessed, we were thankful to have such a vastly experienced and highly respected judge, who is in high demand from many camera clubs throughout Scotland (and on occasion further afield). Guy offered his knowledgeable views on our prints, providing encouragement to our members in a very friendly, constructive, and on occasion, humorous manner.
In this week’s Herald we are concentrating on the monochrome print competition. The idea of printing in black and white may seem like some sort of historical nostalgia trip in this age of bright colourful 4K TV screens, not to mention the ever present and ubiquitous mobile phone. However, there are good design reasons to produce images without colour. When your image is mainly about shape, form and line, monochrome is often the best way to maximise the impact that the photograph has. Many of our members stepped up to the plate with some first-rate examples for Guy to cast his knowledgeable eyes over.
I have included all the work which Guy singled out for commendation in this week’s paper as well as his choice of the top three prints.
First place honours were awarded to Clive Watkins for his flawless print of the Titanic Museum which was taken on our Club outing to Belfast earlier this year, demonstrating that you don’t need fabulous weather to make good photos. Clive was also awarded the 2nd place spot with his dramatic seascape print of Llanddwyn Lighthouse on Anglesey in North Wales. Closely following was Fiona Wallace's stunning sports print, entitled King of the Hill.
Guy also chose Colin Grant's edgy portrait of Sultry Amber as his best beginner's image in the mono competition for its "outstanding quality".
I hope you enjoy this small selection of our marvellous monochrome prints. Next week we will bring you some colour to brighten up the dark winter days with the results of the Colour Print section. Until then I hope you manage to get out with your cameras and make some great photos of your own. You can find out all about Irvine Camera Club at our website www.irvinecc.co.uk
