Part two of our three-part set subject competition took place this week. Members were challenged to find some memorable images on the theme of “Distortion”. The competition was judged by Elaine Gilroy, the winner of last year’s competition. Elaine began by saying how she had enjoyed seeing all the different interpretations of this year’s theme, but had thought it a very difficult subject to judge, given that distorted images lend themselves to odd focus points and exposures, and that distortion means quite different things to different people. Elaine did, however, enjoy trying to work out how participants had achieved their results, was it done in-camera or was it photoshopped? 15 members had entered 45 images, covering a huge range of subjects. Some images showed distorted reality, often with the use of glass or semi-transparent liquids. Other images provided fine examples of using photoshop techniques to emphasise certain features in the images along with a wide-angle lens or two. John West’s triptych “RGB” was a striking, largely, monochrome image with the just a pop of red, green and blue to provide the evening’s only 20 point image. His Bristo Square “mini planet” image was also striking and scored 18. Malcolm Roberts’ distorted golf swing images backed up “Reflections” to take second place. One of our newer members, Jadeee Dalrymple submitted “Distorted Touch” scoring 19 and gaining a joint 4th place on the evening. It is great to see younger and newer club members producing such striking images. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (50 points)
  • Derek Muller
  • Steven Beard
• 4th place (51 points)
  • Jaydee Dalrymple
• 3rd place (52 points)
  • Joe Fowler
  • Jennifer Davidson
• 2nd place (53 points)
  • Malcolm Roberts
• 1st place (54 points)
  • John West

The top images were:

• RGB (John West) – 20 points
• Reflections (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
• Distorted Touch (Jaydee Dalrymple) – 19 points
• Bristo Square (John West) – 18 points
• Veins (Melanie Gallacher) – 18 points
• Made in Scotland (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
• The Joker (Carol Edmond) – 18 points
• Glass Distortion (Jennifer Davidson) – 18 points
• Harbour Flags (Jennifer Davidson) – 18 points
• Prestonpans Promenade (Steven Beard) – 18 points
• Truth Distorted (Jim Innes) – 18 points

As John West scored highest this evening, it would normally be his choice to judge the equivalent heat of next year’s challenge. As John’s plans involve moving South, the choice will pass on to Malcolm Roberts. After two competitions, the “league table” now looks like this:

Malcolm Roberts (53 + 53 = 106)
George Todd (57 + 48) = 105
Derek Muller (55 + 50 = 105)
John West (51 + 54= 105)
Jennifer Davidson (53 + 52 = 105)
Steven Beard (51 + 50 = 101)
Melanie Gallacher (51 + 49 = 100)
Karen Woodcock (51 + 49 = 100)
Carol Edmond (50 + 49 = 99)
Jim Innes (50 + 49 = 99)
Joe Fowler (— + 52 = ??)
Jaydee Dalrymple (— + 51 = ??)
Mike Clark (— + 49 = ??)

Malcolm Roberts is just at the top of the table with 106 points, but there are 4 challengers with 105. Don’t forget to send your 3 JPEG entries for the final part of this competition (on the theme of ”Cyclists”) to Derek Muller to collate. It looks like round 3 will an exciting decider.

This Thursday we will be hosting Mölnlycke Fotoclubb, who will be joining us from Gothenburg, Sweden for our annual interclub meeting, where we will view their images on the theme of “Time” and present a selection of MCC images. Perhaps next year we might agree on the theme and see what different interpretations arise? A Zoom link will be circulated soon.