Second Location Challenge

On Wednesday 14 February, we reviewed the results of our second location challenge of the 2023-24 season.

The location was “Ivinghoe Beacon” selected by Martin Wood – the winner of this season’s first challenge.

The brief made it clear that Martin reckoned there were lots of photographic opportunities in the landscape itself, the wildlife, and all the activities that go on in the vicinity and that the aim should be “to capture the very essence of Ivinghoe Beacon in winter”.

The purpose of a location challenge is of course to get us out and about with our cameras taking new pictures. This location was announced on 24 January and the deadline for submitting our three best images was 9 February. We therefore had the usual relatively short time to visit the location, take, select and process our images, and get them in.

35 images were submitted. And our efforts were critiqued by two of our senior club members, David Manning ARPS and Terry Godber ARPS. Terry also showed us alternative versions of the images with some possible editing improvements. These included cropping in different ways, addition brightening, and enhanced contrast.

Then each selected his five favourite images.

David’s favourites were

“Chasing the Kite” by Paul Stokes
“Gated” by Paul Dimitriou
“Bolt from the Blue” by Patrick Linford
“Rough Skies at Ivinghoe” by Wendy Taylor
“Two’s Company” by Paul Dimitriou

Terry’s favourites were

“Through the Lens” by Wendy Taylor
“Boys Just Got to Have Fun” by Tricia Meers
“Chasing the Kite” by Paul Stokes
“Disappearing Tractor” by Patrick Linford
“Spot the Landmark” by Patricia Marmelo

Congratulations to the authors. All excellent images!

Help Promote the Club!! Like and Share the images and post on Facebook & Flickr

NB: Members can watch the competition in full on the ‘Members Only’ section of the website.

Finally, Martin (having given a special mention to Wendy’s “Through the Lens”) selected his three favourite images.

“Top of the World” by Mike Kitchingman
“Gated” by Paul Dimitriou
“Boys Just Got to Have Fun” by Tricia Meers

From these excellent images, Martin chose as his winner

“Boys Just Got to Have Fun” by Tricia Meers

Many congratulations to Tricia for her wonderful shot of the two (perhaps not in the first flush of youth) model plane enthusiasts!

As the author of the winning image, she receives the dubious honour of selecting the site of our next Location Challenge.

“Ivinghoe Beacon” apparently fully fulfilled Martin’s expectations. The submitted images demonstrated a great variety of approaches. There were of course straight landscapes, some with sunsets and notable trees, but also activities such as hiking, dog walking, and kite flying. There were close-ups, some long exposures, and some minimalism, and even a triptych. And there was colour, black and white, and sepia toning.

What creative adventures might Tricia have in store for us when she sets our next Location Challenge?!