Our 2024-25 set subject tournament concluded this week with round 3 on the theme of “cycling”. The competition was judged by Jennifer Davidson, who won last year’s competition. 13 members entered 36 images altogether. Although “cycling” is quite a narrow subject, members had interpreted the subject in creative ways. There were images of racing cyclists, commuting cyclists and delivery cyclists carrying various loads. George Todd, in particular, had captured a cyclist moving what looked like a haystack! Carol Edmond had a well-timed shot of a jumping BMX cyclist. There were also images of parked bicycles placed against a background, and some creative abstracts made from close-ups of bicycle parts, such as Jim Innes’ image of a spinning bicycle wheel. Steven Beard took the “cycling” theme to the extreme with an image of the inside of a washing machine! Jennifer gave a detailed critique of each image. Cycling was the main theme, so the cyclist or the bicycle needed to be the dominant subject in the frame. She liked to see shots which showed detail on the cyclist but also gave a good sense of movement. Panning with a slightly longer exposure time helps to blur the background and blur the wheels, but you need to follow the cyclist accurately to keep them sharp. She also considered the eye contact and facial expression of the cyclists. Jennifer noticed a few artefacts on the images that might have been added by Photoshop and a few bright or coloured distractions near the edge that could be cropped out. Some of the close-up shots were spoiled by distractions in the background, and Jennifer suggested a change in viewing position or depth of field might have helped. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

• 5th place (49 points)
  • Mike Clark
  • John West
• 4th place (50 points)
  • Steven Beard
  • Elaine Gilroy
  • Derek Muller
• 3rd place (53 points)
  • Joe Fowler
• 2nd place (54 points)
  • Jim Innes
• 1st place (56 points)
  • George Todd

The top images were:

• Moving a Heavy Load (George Todd) – 20 points
• Out on His Own (George Todd) – 20 points
• Flat Out (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
• Vietnamese Cyclist (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
• The School Run (Jim Innes) – 19 points
• Team Time Trial (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
• Neil The Cyclist (Steven Beard) – 18 points
• Over The Bridge (Mike Clark) – 18 points
• Spinning Slow (Jim Innes) – 18 points
• Just Eat (Derek Muller) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd, who won this round with both of the 20 point images. George would normally win the right to judge next year’s competition, except he already won the first round and will be judging that one next year. George nominated Jim Innes, who came second. After consulting the final spreadsheet I can reveal that the final result from all three competitions is:

• 1st place
  • George Todd (57 + 56 = 113)
• 2nd place
  • Malcolm Roberts (53 + 53 = 106)
• 3rd place
  • Derek Muller (55 + 50 = 105)
  • John West (51 + 54= 105)
  • Jennifer Davidson (53 + 52 = 105)
  • Joe Fowler (52 + 53 = 105)
• 4th place
  • Jim Innes (50 + 54 = 104)
• 5th place
  • Steven Beard (51 + 50 = 101)
• 6th place
  • Melanie Gallacher (51 + 49 = 100)
  • Karen Woodcock (51 + 49 = 100)

Congratulations to George for winning the set subject trophy with a massive 113 points, and commiserations to Malcolm for being pipped at the post.

• This is the last competition of the season, and George needs to engrave the trophies for the AGM. If you won a trophy last year please return it to George as soon as possible.
• Don’t forget to send your dancer images to Derek, and let him know if you would like to take part in the “Acting Out” opportunity on 15-16th May.
• Also, don’t forget to register and let Ed and Stephen know if you would like to go with other MCC members to the Hopetoun Horse Trials on 24th May.
• Next week we have our last Members Evening of the season. The main theme this time will be “editing”. If you have improved some of your shots with editing techniques, please bring along some “before” and “after” images and tell us how you did it. But as it’s the last Members Evening of the season, it’s also an opportunity to bring along anything else you would like to show members. See you there.