People – Portrait competition 16th April 2018

The judge for this year’s People / Portrait competition was John Cartlidge EFIAP/p BPE5 APAGB. We therefore knew that we would be in for an amusing, informative and enriching evening. His on-point critique and side comments did not disappoint. I did find the number of entries disappointing, only 39 in total. Blists Hill was the most popular outdoor location for entries. The Village Hall was the most popular indoor location, courtesy of the studio evening a few months ago.

In the final ‘face off’ between the Intermediate and Advanced winners, Paul ‘I don’t photograph people’ Way won ‘Portrait of the Year’ with his single entry from a 1940s event on the Welsh coast. ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it’ and he did, with a well crafted photograph. I know he will understand why that is in bold, as will some others.

Unbeknown to me, in light of the low entry numbers, John had been asked if he’d also do a presentation after judging. In keeping with the competition theme, he focused this on his people photography. This included some very colourful images, nay, photographs, from a World Music event in France as well as some finely seen monochrome. In common with our competition, quite a few of the photographs were from Blists Hill. More of John’s images can be found on Ephotozine

By the end I felt that we’d had two meetings in one. Thanks go to John for his dual role input on the night and, as ever, to Christine for organising the competition.

Intermediate

1st Bella Ian Smith
2nd The Greengrocer Alastair Gorton
3rd The look Alan Lovatt
Highly commended Make the coupling Alan Lovatt
Commended Mayan Indian guide Ian Smith

Advanced

1st Between conflicts Paul Way
2nd Morning prayers Jim Stupples
3rd Masked beauty Wendy Irwin
Highly commended Slightly creepy clowns Wendy Irwin
Commended Fiona William Brown

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