Open Print 01

Beginners Section

Sea Eagle by Peter Evans – 1st place

Pete’s image was taken on a photographic trip to the Isle of Skye. We went out on a local charter boat looking for sea eagles. The image was taken with a Canon 5D Mark3 and a Canon 100-400 zoom lens at F8 1/1600 and ISO 640.

Old Church and Milky Way by Peter Evans – 2nd place

Pete’s image of  the 700 year old St Aldhelm’s chapel and the milky way was taken on the Isle of Purbeck at about 11.30pm. I used a tripod and an Olympus EM1-E-Mk 2 fitted with a borrowed 8mm fisheye lens. The settings were F1.8,  ISO 3200 and a 30 second exposure.

Derwent Sunset by Dave Johnson – 3rd place

Dawn over River Frome by Tony Leach – HC

Tony says: The forecast was for early morning mist one morning in March last year so I arrived pre-dawn at Corfe Castle only to find the air quite clear.  So I headed to the marshes at Wareham to try there.  Again there was only a very light early morning mist but as the sun rose this composition down the River Frome appeared.

Intermediate Section

Light Supper by Bridget Codrington – 1st place

Bridget had friends for supper and used some leftover cheese, biscuits wine and grapes to shoot a still life. She used natural light, diffused from a south facing window to light her set.

Distant Light by Dave Eagle – 2nd place

Dave told me his stunning image was taken early one morning in Savernake, facing into the rising sun. With the high contrast it was either attempt some kind of HDR, or keep it to a silhouette.
I find extreme HDRs visually difficult to accept, so sticking with what I could see at the time (squinting into the sun) worked best for me, and moving the image to mono just simplified the image.
The key to the image (for me) is the rim lighting on the large tree front left as this ties the front of the image to the small tree which is the focal point.

Woody by Richard Blackbourne – 3rd place

I asked Richard how he managed to capture this stunning bird, he told me: this image is from our back garden, the wife thought I was mad when she saw me drilling holes in the trunk to hide some peanuts and suet.
But I had the last laugh as they say! 😉

Chrystal Frost in Savernake by Dave Eagle – HC

This is side/back lit frost in Savernake. The sun really picked out the frost hanging on the trees and also sent the main branches almost into silhouette.
The silhouetted branches provided some much needed structure to what is/was a slightly chaotic image.
The print is on a textured fine art paper, which I think really helps the image work.

Advanced Section

Time to Preen by David Wilkinson – 1st place

I asked David about his beautiful image: On this occasion I wanted to show a gentle side to what is often seen as an aggressive and dynamic bird. Breeding season at Troup’s Head (north east Scotland) was my chosen location as I knew the site well and felt confident I could achieve the shot I was after.
Firstly I had to isolate a pair of gannets, as the colony had many thousands of birds that was my most difficult task, eventually I found a single bird sitting on eggs on a slightly elevated position, then it was a sit and wait for the male to return. 45 minutes later he returned and they both followed the greeting display of crossing bills followed by a gentle process of preening, which was the shot I wanted. The clear background was beneficial to the image creating more of a tranquil look.

Milky Way, Portland Bill by Robert Harvey - 2nd place

Portland Bill boat crane echoes the angle of the Milky Way after moonset. This image is a stitched panorama of three frames taken with my 14mm wide angle lens.

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Apprehensive Fox Cub by David Wilkinson – 3rd place

Taken a couple of years ago in the East of Scotland. I was at this site to photograph sea birds coming to roost when a fellow photographer and a local man to the area invited me to photograph a litter of fox cubs. I thought he was joking but went never the less. The cubs were living in a gorse thicket, continually peering out to observe us. The cub in this image was particularly apprehensive as the image demonstrates very clearly.
Once seated we didn’t move, the cubs ventured towards us when and if they wanted too, it was important we didn’t do anything to frighten or disturb their learning process, incidentally we were sure the vixen was present although we didn’t see her at all.

Skeletal Beauty of Holly by Janet Rutter - HC

Janet’s Holly image is a different “take” on the traditional approach to this seasonal favourite.  We are used to appreciating the red berries and shiny green spiky leaves, but here the leaves have been stripped bare and yet they have a beauty of their own.

2021-22 Print 01 held as DPI due to covid
1st December 2020 via Zoom
Judge: John Taylor
Results for the Beginner Section
1st	SEA EAGLE	by	PETER EVANS	Beg
2nd	OLD CHURCH & MILKY WAY	by	PETER EVANS	Beg
3rd	DERWENT SUNSET	by	DAVE JOHNSON	Beg
Highly Commended
	DAWN OVER THE RIVER FROME	by	TONY LEACH	Beg
Results for the Intermediate Section
1st	LIGHT SUPPER	by	BRIDGET CODRINGTON	Int
2nd	DISTANT LIGHT	by	DAVID EAGLE	Int
3rd	WOODY	by	RICHARD BLACKBOURNE	Int
Highly Commended
	CHRYSTAL FROST IN SAVERNAKE	by	David Eagle	Int
Results for the Advanced Section
1st	TIME TO PREEN	by	DAVID WILKINSON	Adv
2nd	MILKY WAY PORTLAND BILL	by	ROBERT HARVEY	Adv
3rd	APPREHENSIVE FOX CUB	by	DAVID WILKINSON	Adv
Highly Commended
	SKELETAL BEAUTY OF HOLLY	by	JANET RUTTER	Adv

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