By Noel Bunce
Pakenham Camera Club (PCC) held its June Open Digital competition judging the best photos from locals around town.
The competition is split between A and B Grades with winners and runners-up announced from 60-plus submissions over both grades.
For A Grade, Maria Bastin took out both first and second place with her two images captured on a recent sojourn to New Zealand.
Ms Bastin captured two magical seascapes, with ‘Walking The Dog’ and ‘Deep Blue’ given first and second, respectively, by judge Mr Daryl Whitaker.
In an odd twist, third place was given to New Zealand-born Lindsay Muirhead’s capture in Melbourne, called ‘Flinders Ghosts’, a classical black and white picture of the iconic Flinders Street station.
A high calibre catalogue of offerings placed before Mr Whitaker. Members not only received great feedback on their entries, they were well entertained in the process.
‘Farewell Spirit’ by Fluer Dack claimed first for B Grade.
Using the arch of a bridge as a frame, this image is a beautiful land/seascape containing a lovely sunset, human silhouettes and the Tasmanian bound Spirit of Tasmania.
There is a saying often used in photography that less is sometimes more, meaning it is beneficial to not clutter the scene. Some might suggest this image had too many parts to hold the viewer’s attention, however, there is no doubt in this case that every segment adds to the story, people on land going about their business on a beautiful evening while those on the Spirit are off on an adventure.
Second and third place for B Grade was taken by Brooke Mulholland’s ‘Diversion’ and ‘Hold on’, both capturing an evening at a fast-paced rodeo.
Ms Mulholland also received an award of high commendation for another capture of rodeo action called ‘Barrel Race’.
All three photos were noted for being captured using ISO settings of 10,000, Mr Whitaker acknowledged the advances in noise reduction technology in today’s modern cameras and editing programs.
Katrina Wenzler, Beth Farrall and Fleur Dack also received awards of high commendation in B Grade event.
While Wayne Gunn, Helen Hudson, Rod Stone and Vikki Templeton, did so in A Grade, Ms Templeton received two awards of high commendation.
For those interested in taking their photography to higher levels and meeting folk with like-minded interests, the PCC meet in the Main Hall at Meadowvale Retirement Village at 7.30pm on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
