Top Images 2015

The annual competition is the culmination of the years calendar.  Everyone brings their best work to display.  Below I have set out to collect all of the award winners, the merits and most importantly the highest scoring image from each competitor.   Last year we had 12 entrants, this year we have 18.  This represents the best that our club has to offer for 2015 (In term of competition scores).  Well done to everyone who entered.

First Place

Colour Prints – Helen Witford – The Doctor is IN

Anything you would like to tell us about this picture?
I love watching the interactions between the Dusky Langurs at the zoo.  They’re extremely social creatures and seem to show a lot of affection and care.  Grooming one another strengthens the bonds.
What does the title mean?
My original title was going to be “Does it hurt when I press here?”.  The idea of it being doctor and patient just jumped out at me with Jambi’s expression  looking like a stoic patient at the doctor, a little worried about what may be wrong with her arm and the “doctor” taking a serious look!  “The Doctor is IN” may have subconsciously come from the Peanuts cartoon, where Lucy used to hang that sign when she played psychiatrist!
Where was it taken?
Adelaide Zoo
What techniques did you use?
Choosing to photograph on a day with great light for this type of shot, ie. overcast but bright.  Shallow depth of field and positioning myself appropriately to make the background unobtrusive.  Waiting patiently for the action!

EXIF data –

Camera Nikon D7000

f 7.1  1/250sec

ISO 800

Lens 140mm (210mm equiv on 35mm)

Exposure Centre weighted average

Why did you choose this image for the annual exhibition?
Other people seem to enjoy the ‘story’ here as much as I do.  It draws an emotional response.

Album Prints – Helen Whitford – Lillipilli Lunch

Monochrome – Alberto Giurelli – Editorial Model

Projected Images – Bruce Nankivell – Reflecting On Alcazar

This is a photograph taken in May 2015 of the Baths of Lady María de Padilla in the Alcazar Castle, Seville, Spain.

Seville is the capital of southern Spain’s Andalusia region and a hotbed for flamenco dance. The city is known for the ornate Alcazar castle complex as well as its 18^th-century bullring while the massive Gothic cathedral next to the Alcazar is the site of Christopher Columbus’s tomb.

A royal palace, originally developed by Moorish Muslim kings, Alcazar is renowned as one of the most beautiful in Spain. The upper levels of the Alcazar are still used by the royal family. It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe and is World Heritage listed. Its influences began in the Arabic period around 1364 and continued into the late Middle Ages period right through to the Renaissance, the Baroque era, and the 19th century.  Subsequent monarchs have added their own additions to the Alcázar resulting in a diverse complex with a mix of architectural styles and spectacular gardens.

The Baths of Lady Maria de Padilla are rainwater tanks and they are named after the mistress of Pedro the Cruel. Supposedly Pedro fell for Maria and had her husband killed. Maria resisted his advances and poured boiling oil over her face to disfigure herself to stop Pedro’s pursuit. She became a nun and moved to a convent afterwards and is regarded as a symbol of purity in the culture of Seville.

We spent several hours fascinated as we explored this enthralling castle and with such stunning reflections the Baths just had to be photographed. It really was a spectacular site and fortunately you could not walk down the sides so it kept people out of the frame. To truly capture the wonderful reflections I needed a timed exposure and so without a tripod I was fortunate to be able to rest the camera on the Bath edge to achieve my goal.

The camera used is an Olympus E-M1 DSLR micro 4/3 sensor with an  Olympus 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 lens. The settings were 16mm, f18, 5 sec., ISO320.

I chose this for the annual exhibition as the colours were so rich; the arches gave it grandness and intrigue, the reflections so spectacular, the light coming into the picture from the sides just adding another interesting element as it streamed across the water. The coins thrown into the Bath by visitors were intriguing and in addition it was a very sharp photograph providing clarity for the viewer.

So if ever you venture to Spain, Seville is most certainly worth a visit and so essentially is the Alcazar.

Second Place

Colour Prints – AlbertoGiurelli – Point Lowly

 

Album Prints – Gloria Brumfield – FrogThe frog was taken in Nov last year in Bussleton W.A. while I was waiting for the grandchildren playing in an adventure park. There was a pond by the entry gate which had around 20 frogs in. I had a 300mm lens on with auto settings. I enjoy taking nature images & thought a frog was unusual so chose it for the annual. Sorry this is rushed we have to be out in 5 mins

Thanks Gloria

Monochrome – Jo Tabe – Road to Somewhere

Projected Images – Jo Tabe – Marino Rocks

Third Place

Colour Prints – James Allan – Greylag Geese and Lake

Anything you would like to tell us about this picture?

It was early morning and there was little wind to disturb the reflection on the reservoir.   The Geese were sitting on the bank of the lake, and as we approached they set off into the still water. I positioned the camera so as to exclude the far bank and the sky creating the illusion of an endless lake.
What does the title mean?

The Goose is the Greylag goose, perhaps the commonest wild Goose we saw in lakes and streams while we were away in England.
Where was it taken?

About 2-3kms North East of Osmotherly in the Yorkshire Peaks National Park.
What techniques did you use?

I was using my smaller camera, the Panasonic while I was walking the coast to coast walk.  Unfortunately it had got wet in the Lakeland Fells and the Vibration reduction circuit was offline causing the lens to shake at times and to sit over to the left.  I had to steady the camera and take multiple shots until I got one that worked.  I had set up the Auto ISO features so that the camera selected a higher ISO as the light dropped.  In this case it was not required.

EXIF data –

Camera Panasonic DMC-FZ100

f 4  1/400sec

ISO 100

Lens 10.8mm (60mm equiv on 35mm)

Post Processing – In Photoshop I had added a small amount of foreground and background so that the image would fill the A4 mount that I had.  This was preferable to chopping off Geese if I had cropped the image.

Why did you choose this image for the annual exhibition? I had wanted my annual exhibition entries to reflect my holiday in the UK.  I was aware that I had missed a number of competitons during the year and it was an opportunity to prepare and show some of my work from the coast to coast walk.

 

Album Prints – Gloria Brumfield – Playing Catch 

Monochrome – Helen Whitford – Chew Toy

Projected Images – AlbertoGiurelli – Winter in the Hills

Merit

Colour Prints – JohnDuckmanton – Rhytemis graphiptera

Colour Prints – AlbertoGiurelli – Enchanted

Colour Prints – Helen Whitford – Tiger Tiger

Album Prints – Helen Whitford – Pigeon Portrait 

Monochrome – Alberto Giurelli – My Tree

Monochrome – Jo Tabe – Blooming

Projected Images – Alberto Giurelli – Lake Boney

Projected Images – AshleyHoff  – Junior

Anything you would like to tell us about this picture?

This image was taken at Singapore Zoo, in the afternoon when there was an impromptu photo and say hello session with some of the Orangutans.
What does the title mean?

Quite simple, this was a picture of the baby Orangutan that was being shown to everyone.  I didn’t know its name, so I called it Junior
Where was it taken?

Singapore Zoo
What techniques did you use?

Nothing overly special.

EXIF data –

Camera SONY A700

f 5.6  1/250sec

ISO 1600

Lens 200mm (300mm equiv on 35mm)

Why did you choose this image for the annual exhibition? I like the image – its always been a favourite of mine, so I wanted to see how it went.

 

Projected Images – AshleyHoff – Elliston Jetty At Dusk

Projected Images – Helen Whitford – Family Time

 

Top Images

Colour Prints – ChrisSchultz – Harbour Bridge Rain 

Here is Harbour Bridge Rain.

Taken during a storm over Sydney Harbour under a palm tree.  Trying to get the depth of the Sydney Harbour Bridge whilst staying dry.  10mm focal length (Sigma 10-20mm),  1/50s f9.0, ISO 400

It appeals to me as it gives a different view of Sydney Harbour Bridge – not the picture post card stuff.  It also has the light and a lone person sheltering from the storm (like me) – so there is a bit of story in it too.

Compositionally, it has a strong leading line, is almost monochromatic and feels like a storm.  I chose this for annual as it is more than just a tourist shot, and it breaks a few rules that judges pick on like distracting highlights (the light), converging verticals (so what) and is not pin sharp.

Colour Prints – David Hope – Morning Over Wilpena Pound

 Thanks James,  The image is hand held with a 70-300mm canon L lens on a 7D camera. It was taken 8.30 in the morning in sept 2014. It’s at the Pugilist Hill Lookout which is on the road between Rawnsley Park and Martins well. The Flinders Ranges are iconic to us South Australians, and this is a slightly different view than most of us normally see. It was a cold misty morning giving a great evocative feeling that we would all like to capture in our photo’s. You always feel that maybe next time you will capture it better. My wife said I should put it in , so I did. Every time she sees she wants to go back to the Flinders Ranges. It gets in your blood. Best wishes for Christmas David hope

 

Colour Prints – Jenny Pedlar – Hay BalesPlease find attached my Hay Bales photo in reduced form. The image is a scene of typical English countryside on a balmy Autumn day. Harvest is over, the straw is baled and Rose Bay Willow Herb is flowering in the foreground.

Colour Prints – Steve Wallace – Reedy Creek DawnReedy Creek is the home of one of Judy’s nieces and is just  a few K’s east of Kingston SE.

We were staying in our van overnight in their drive and I woke early enough to get out in time for dawn, walking around looking for subjects.

The tree and the mist appealed. Camera settings were – 1/200 at F9.0.

In Lightroom I did some minor cropping, warming of the colours and lightening of the foreground and darkening the sky to add depth to the blue before sharpening. Then to Photoshop for a test strip before printing.

I thought it was one of my best for the year which seemed appropriate for the Annual and it was already mounted etc as it was one of my entries for the Minimalist Landscape comp. a month or two earlier.

 

Album Prints – Theodor Prucha – Neustad

Album Prints – Theodor Prucha – Triangle under the bridge,

Monochrome Prints – Mark Pedlar – Meeting in the BritJames, Here is meeting at the Brit. It’s a view of the main staircase in the British Museum in London. The Brit was just round the corner from where we stayed in Bloomsbury when we were there in September. I has taken a shot of a staircase in Chatsworth House in Derbyshire two years earlier and saw some parallels.  Mark

Projected Images – JulieGoulter – Holowiliena Creek Bed

Holowiliena Creek Bed:

The title indicates the location for this landscape image.

It was taken as we were returning from a visit by the Club during the October long weekend.

The available light was getting to that stage in the afternoon when it lends itself to better landscape images.

I was absorbed by the pleasant feeling created by the lengthening shadows of the trees across the creek bed, and the play of light on the stones in the near foreground, so my intention was to show this in the image.

Two foreground trees, one on each side of the creek bed, formed a diagonal triangular framework which was repeated at intervals as the distance increased. The shadows in the foreground created a good “base” for the rest of the image.

There is a reddish section of gum leaves just to the left and lower of the centre of the image which I feel adds interest to the overall image.

Technique was simple: frame and shoot hand-held.

I chose this image for the annual as I felt it was one of my better landscape images in recent times, and I haven’t entered many annuals recently.

Julie

Projected Images – RayGoulter – Quill and Ink Bottles 

Quill and Ink Bottles:

The title simply states the obvious, and it was taken during the “Up Close and Personal” workshop evening at the Club 30th July 2015.

I was pleased with the detail obtained and the lighting I set up, which gave the desired luminance for the quill and front two ink bottles, with the third ink bottle nicely subdued to the rear and all subject matter against a black background.

It’s a simple shot with reasonably informal diagonal composition, hinting back to a time not all that long ago, where the quill was the normal writing implement.

I guess you could call it a representation of an historic means of communication, where much thought went into the letter to be written, then, having written it, the letter was then posted to a treasured friend or family member.

Today, in the digital age of instant communication, it would be seen as quaintly anachronistic for someone to sit down and write a letter using ink and quill. Maybe that’s why I selected this image for the annual.

Ray.

Projected Images – KerryMalecBoobook – OwlThis photo of a Boobook Owl was taken on Kangaroo Island at a ‘Birds of Prey’ demonstration.  As the owl was being held on the hand of the handler, it was very difficult to obtain a shot without as she moved backwards and forwards speaking to the audience.  Even when a member of the audience was holding the owl, I really did not want any of their colourful garments in the photo or the background view was never right.  After a considerable amount of frustration, I managed to get a reasonably good photo.

I have edited in Lightroom, basics only, as it was the first time using Lightroom.

Kerry

 

Projected Images – Peter Miller – Fun at the FairMy favourite would be Fun at the Fair.

It was taken a few years ago at the Adelaide Royal Show. I guess the title is self explanatory. It is one of a series I took that day. I really liked the happy and excited expressions on the faces.

I took the photo by swinging the camera back and forward in time with the ride, using a fast shutter speed.
I was amazed at the clarity of the images, considering I was swinging the camera around like a mad man!!

I put the photo in the exhibition because I thought it was a bit different to the norm. and had unknown people in the shot. (Are we even allowed to do that anymore??)

Projected Images – Ursula Prucha – Fresh Dahlia  

Colour Prints – Ursula Prucha – The Eyes have it

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