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 |