Tonight was the Chris Crane Cup  Competition and was Judged by Alan Wilson ARPS,AFIAP who is a member of Whickham Photographic Club. Despite the low number of entries, Alan managed to turn a potentially disappointing evening into a very enjoyable one. He did this by engaging the audience with enthusiasm, positivity and humour. At the same time, he still managed to provide balanced critiques of the images. Most of us expected the evening to finish by about 8 pm but that wasn't the case. There were many good images but the clear winner was ‘I can fly’ by Paul Kidd, well done Paul.

​Colin Byrne
PDI Competition Secretary

The Language of Photography was presented to us on 10th April by Arjun Nambiar, LRPS. Arjun's day job is as a Consultant Urological Surgeon and his talk was more intellectual and conceptual than most. Arjun's contention is that just as language (he started with a quote using Sanskrit, a classical language of India) is designed to document, inform and convey meaning, so photography has the same purpose. The first section of his talk concentrated on the resources which are available to the photographer. He demonstrated how, for example, the size ratios of an image and the perspectives employed by the photographer can have a profound impact on what is conveyed to the viewer. Similarly, the use of contrast, luminosity, sharpening and texture can be used to draw attention and focus on the key aspects of an image. He suggested, for example, that rather than sharpening all of an image, the photographer should consider only sharpening those parts to which the photographer wishes to draw attention, just as we emphasise certain things when we write or talk. 

Just as in language, we should first think about what we are trying to achieve and convey, so the second section of the talk focused on the key things which the photographer is looking to communicate. This requires the photographer to give significant thought to identify what are the key points they wish to present in an image and how best to do it. If practical with landscape photography, for example, it is a good idea to firstly visit the site with a notebook - perhaps even without a camera - to analyse and identify the key things which you want to communicate and focus upon and to then work out how this can best be done, given the resources available to us. Only with this level of intentionality can we expect to identify and articulate the best "language" in our images.

Members very much appreciated the talk, which was viewed as being thought-provoking, fascinating and enjoyable.

Ray Barnes
CCC Programme Secretary 

The 3rd Open PDI competition took place on 3rd April and was Judged by Bill Broadley. There were a total of 42 images and Bill stated that there was a high standard of images to choose from and his final selection was made last minute. Having said that he also stated that the top 2 images were an instant choice and never moved from 1st and 2nd place.
Top 5:
1st - Showing off by Paul Kid
2nd - Sunset on the rock by Colin Livingstone
3rd - Nut Time by Colin Livingstone
4th - Derelict by Bob Finlay
5th - St. Abbs head by Paul Kidd
​

5 Highly Commended:

Colin Byrne
​PDI Competition Secretary