Viewfinders June assessment

Viewfinders of Romsey Camera Club were treated to an enthralling evening when Ken Scott came along to judge members’ prints, slides and digital images for the last assessment of the Club year. Ken is a keen photographer of mountain landscapes, and is well-known for his use of dramatic light to good effect in his photographs. However, he introduced the evening by saying that he found the process of looking at photographs and responding to them at least as enjoyable as taking them. He then advised members to perhaps take some of his comments on board, but to continue to take photographs that they enjoyed taking.

In the primary class of the print section, Clive Feltham was awarded the maximum 10 for the technical excellence, colour and texture of his “Starling”. Three 10s were awarded in the advanced class of the print section, for three very different images. Ken admired the strong graphic content in Martin Brown’s “The Two Towers” of Kuala Lumpur, with the low viewpoint emphasising their height and creating excitement in the photograph. He described Roy Lambeth’s “Sandwich Terns” as a terrific image, recognising the difficulty of achieving sharpness with birds in flight. Sheila Read’s “Orchid Lip” was a very different image, almost a pattern picture, and Ken praised it for its delicate colours and original presentation.

There were two maximum marks in the primary class of the digital image section. New member Colin Carey was awarded 10 for his “Gliding Gull” which Ken felt was unusual, being presented from the bird’s viewpoint. Peter Read’s 10 was awarded for his monochrome image “Stoodley Pike”, which Ken felt was an exciting picture with a good tonal range. In the advanced digital images, two more 10s were awarded – to Roy Lambeth for his very evocative shot of a young boy “Matt on the train”, and to Sheila Read for another of her floral pattern pictures “Lily Swirls”.

For the much smaller slide class, Ken had some special words of encouragement, as he felt slides were the ultimate test of camera work, as all the work had to be done at the taking stage! Despite the smaller number of images, Ken still awarded two 10s – both to George Marsh for his fine natural history slides. He felt that his beautifully presented “Brown Argus” was effective in its simplicity, and he admired his “Chaffinch” for its delightful composition and complementary background.

Chairman Jack Whitemore thanked Ken for a most enjoyable evening, which was full of useful technical advice.

Margaret Kirby