Les Fredericks Trophies

The Les Fredericks trophies are awarded annually at Viewfinders of Romsey Camera Club for new photographs produced specially for the competition. Prints, digital images and slides each compete for a separate trophy on a set subject chosen by the members. The evening produced some very interesting approaches to each subject, and Ian Bigg from Blandford came along to judge the entries.

This year the topic for prints was ‘Black and White’. This is an open competition, with primary and advanced photographers competing together, and Ian gave a great deal of pleasure to primary worker Pam Bradley, who walked off with the trophy and the gold award for “Exbury in Spring”. Ian felt that this was a picture that needed to be in black and white, with the strong light on the beautiful white flowers coming down from above captured against the dark sky. Second place and the silver award went to Jack Whitemore for “After the Rain”, with the sparkle in the rain droplets on a fern creating an attractive image. Third place and the bronze award went to Peter Read for “Rotunda”, with Ian admiring the nice lighting and the effective black and white patterns in the sky.

The topic for the digital images was “In the Rain”, and Ian awarded the trophy and gold award to Terry Jamieson for “Raindrops on Monbretia”, which he felt was a delightful image, with the water drops sparkling on the flower. Gerald Ponting gained second place and the silver award for “Wet Day at the Museum”, which Ian felt was a very clever shot using selective colour on black and white, and telling the story of a family group. Third place and the bronze award went to another primary worker, Jo Horscroft, for “Canal Holiday in the Rain”, which Ian described as brilliant, with the helmsman’s hand leading the viewer into the rain on the canal ahead

The subject for slides was “Typical New Forest”, and Terry Jamieson gained the gold award and the trophy for “New Forest Glade”. This was a lovely early morning shot, with the amazing lighting capturing the essence of the Forest at that time of day. Second place and the silver award also went to Terry for “Forest Scene”, which Ian considered was a nice composition with lovely lighting. Third place and the bronze award went to Lynn Lambeth for her close up image of a “Frosted Fern”.

This was an evening where the photographers in the primary classes performed very well against the advanced photographers, and should give them great encouragement. In thanking Ian for his judging, Chairman Jack Whitemore considered that it had been a splendid evening. He had enjoyed seeing the terrific display of monochrome prints, and concluded that the best pictures of the New Forest have to be taken at dawn or dusk.

Margaret Kirby