Sutherland and Ross-shire photographers’ entries on theme of ‘Dog Eared’ strikes chord with judge
The magic of the mundane proved an inspiration for members of a local camera club when they held their latest monthly competition.
For East Sutherland Camera Club’s latest contest resulted in a series of images that found the spark in subjects that were a bit worn and tatty.
Like all photographic competition titles, the latest one - Dog Eared - was open to the photographer’s interpretation.
And while there were a few images of dog’s ears most members focussed on worn appearance and the more common use of the bent corners of books. On this occasion the judge was Peter Roberts who had travelled over from Nairn.
“Perhaps because the title posed more of a challenge than others this season there were fewer entries than usual but this had the benefit that Peter was able to devote more time to each image in giving his critique, which benefitted everyone,” said Andy Kirby, club secretary. “This allowed him to look at areas such as colour theory and its importance in creating harmony and restfulness or discord and shock in an image as well as the normal technical issues of composition, focus and lighting.
“In the colour section Jan Charge from Culrain came first with Dog Tired, an image that had been carefully composed and nicely lit to show a worn anorak and cap that appeared to have been casually discarded after a tiring day.
“Martin Ross from Golspie scooped second and third places. Dog Chewed came second. This was a close up shot of a heavily chewed golf ball set on a slightly reflective black surface with excellent focus and lighting. The Boot was another close up but this time the dog eared article had been washed up on the beach. The strength of the image was the muted tones, balanced composition and contrasting materials. Fourth place went to a more traditional interpretation with well worn old books.
“A Little Light Reading, Maybe was by Zoe Gray from Portmahomack. The five volumes (odd numbers often work best in compositional terms) were nicely located in a domestic arrangement. They were all in focus and the background was helpfully in softer focus.”
Andy Kirby continued: “In the monochrome section, like all good images, first placed Now Where Was I? by Peter Wild, Dornoch, deserved exploration to discover the full import of the title.
“Little wonder the reader was lost with so many folded, dog eared pages. The carefully located glasses were a nice touch. The main book rested on two heavily worn volumes and the whole had been well lit to leave no doubt where the viewer’s eye should go.
“Zoe Gray again featured in the winning entries with second placed Pre-loved and Well Read. The vintage feel was well captured with the worn items, slight sepia toning and faded edges. Third place went to Andy Kirby from Dornoch with Well Worn. The image had all the strengths of a good monochrome image with a full range of tones from black to white.
“Emma Deeth from Tain came fourth with Stamps, a strong composition of some old stamps. The image had a well adjusted range of focus and the feel of age was assisted by the overall sepia tone and dark, worn edges to the image.”
For more details about the club see www.eastsutherlandcc.org.uk.
