Morpeth Camera Club: Pdi Knock-Out Competition to finish off 2022

This is a fun event with no marking involved and an opportunity for members to display their images and gauge reaction to their work.

A total of 88 images were entered. They were projected onto the screen two at a time – with the audience voting for their favourite, which then went into the next round of the knock-out.

As is usual in this type of contest, the subjects were of totally different genres. They included pattern pictures, portraits, beach huts, seabirds and raptors, still life, firelight, dancers, trees, leaves and berries, which all vied with each other.

In the initial rounds, the voting is usually based solely on one’s own taste and preferences – but as the rounds progressed, more thought had to be given as to how the image was composed and what expertise had been used when taking the picture.

With the use of special software, the previously chosen images were shuffled and entered into the next round and quite often two of one’s preferred images were pitched against each other and groans of frustration could be heard from the audience.

As the rounds progressed, images were reduced from the initial 88 to 64, then 32 down to 16. As the competition dropped down to eight images and then four, popular images had been a lighthouse, a stairwell, a cobbled street and the Infinity Bridge.

Finally, the last two were revealed – an illuminated inflatable figure, looming over a tiny silhouetted spectator taken by Brian Morris, which was pitted against wind turbines on the horizon with a foreground of gradations of blue sea taken by Stephanie Robson.

In a final vote, the audience decided that the minimalist seascape by Stephanie was the winner of this year’s Pdi Knock-Out Competition. A much deserved round of applause was given to both finalists and to Glyn Trueman for his technical skills with the complicated software.

A friendly and amusing evening of photography was rounded off by the club’s traditional Christmas pooled supper.

The club will resume the 2022/23 season on Tuesday, January 3 and can look forward to another interesting programme of guest speakers, members’ evenings and competitions.

For more information regarding the club, please visit www.morpethcameraclub.co.uk or the club’s dedicated Facebook page.