Eastwood PS - Photography News and Fuji Camera Club of the Year 2017-18
Eastwood Photographic Society have just emerged victorious as "The Photography News and Fuji Camera Club Of The Year 2017-18." Following a series of 5 monthly competitions followed by the Final in May, involving the submission of 20 images covering five different shoots, they emerged clear winners over the other 4 UK clubs. Four of the 20 winning images can be seen here, along with more about their experience!
Eastwood PS entered the Camera Club of the Year competition for the first time in October 2017. The competition is a joint venture between Photography News and Fuji. The competition format was 5 qualifying rounds, with each round having a set subject/theme. Each club required to enter 5 images from 5 different authors. The images were judged out of 20 in the qualifiers (making a possible maximum score of 100). All of the round winners went through to the grand final the following spring.
Images from the following Eastwood club members were used in the qualifying rounds - Mary Robertson, Kenny Gordon, David Hendry, Stuart McCann, Peter De Marco, Ken Lindsay, Colin McLatchie, James Finnegan, John Hannah, Gavin Hanna, Ross Eaglesham Over 50 UK camera clubs entered each of the 5 qualifying rounds.
Eastwood finished 3rd in the first round; were 3rd in the 4th round, and won the 3rd round (Decisive Moment) with a score of 89/100 and thus qualified for the grand final on 18th & 19th of May 2018. Eastwood was one of only five UK camera clubs to compete in the grand final, and was the sole Scottish representative.
Their 5 Round 3 Images gaining them their place in the Final
The Final
The Eastwood team had a number of training sessions at Peter De Marco’s studio in the weeks before the final. The final team to represent the Club at the grand final were chosen from those members who had the most images used in the qualifying rounds, and given the demanding nature of the final itself, those thought not likely to buckle under the pressure!
The final team, who travelled down to Daventry, to represent the Club comprised Peter De Marco, Stuart McCann, Ken Lindsay and Colin McLatchie.
All the teams were invited to stay overnight at the Devere Staverton just outside Daventry where the teams met and mingled, swapped stories and anecdotes with both the Fuji and Photography news teams over a celebration meal, and familiarisation session with the Fuji cameras. The format for the actual ‘final’ being kept tightly under wraps, with a few surprises in store for the following day!
The teams met at the Natural Light Studio complex at Weedon Bec, at 08.30 where they were given a briefing on the format for the day, the do’s and don’ts, what the expectation was and the rough layout of the studio and the surrounding area.
The Eastwood team had to each complete 5 separate shoots, with each shoot being a differing theme, and using a differing Fuji camera for the shot. Each shoot lasted 1 hour, and at the end we had to submit a single image for final judging, so 5 shoots x 4 authors equals 20 images.
The shoots were as follows -
Shoot 1 – Full studio lighting, natural lighting or combination of PIP the distinguished bearded gentleman.
Shoot 2 – The Canal (abandoned canal to the front of the studio complex) - the task to take a decent shot that contained the canal. The luckiest shot of the weekend was that Colin was able to capture a grass snake stalking some frogs.
Shoot 3 – Prom Dress, full studio lighting of female model with assortment dresses / gowns.
Shoot 4 – Macro / Still Life - task to create a stunning macro or still life image from the range of subjects supplied. To many this was the hardest of the shoots due to the limited options to actually photograph.
Shoot 5 – The Depot - Free to shoot anywhere within the complex and in any of the buildings. After the 20 images per team had been submitted, there was a brief interlude before the judging commenced, the format was four judges, each scoring out of 20, and the maximum team score was 1600.
The judges were made up of; Fuji’s regional sales manager, The Natural Light studio owner and two Photography News reporters/photographers. Each shoot was judged in turn, each image projected and the judges in turn offered their feedback and score.
The editor of Photography News, Will Cheung, made the announcements of the final placings. After 5th and 4th places had been announced, he stated that there was a tie for equal second and therefore by default the winners would also be known at that point, so 1st of the joint seconds was Leicester Forest CC he then started and dwelt on the East.. East.. East-bourne, at which point Eastwood knew they had won the final!
Their final score was 1442, or 18.025 per judge per image, the second placed teams scored 1410. Eastwood had the only 20’s awarded by the judges on the day, with Colin receiving five. Eastwood were presented with the trophy (which they keep) and then congratulated by all the other teams. Their prize from Fuji is that they will sponsor 3 UK X Shooters ambassadors to come to club to give lectures in the coming year.
To visit Eastwood Photographic Society's website (click here) or to see all 20 of Eastwood's winning images please (click here) to visit their gallery.
