Who can enter?
Current members of Bishops Waltham Photographic Society.
Why should you enter?
Taking part in the competition is a good way to get feedback on your work, and you will learn from seeing other members’ images and hearing the judge’s comments on them. The real purpose should be entering and taking part; if your entries do well, that’s a bonus. Since the inception of the Society’s competitions in 2014, there has been a significant increase in the standard of members’ entries.
What competitions are we running in 2024?
We are running ten competitions over six different evenings this year
· Print Competition – two leagues, four separate rounds throughout the year.
· Projected Digital Image (PDI) Competition – one league, four separate rounds throughout the year.)
· Best Documentary Image – a PDI competition one league, one round
· Best ‘set of three’ images – a print competition one league, one round
Print Competition (two leagues, four separate rounds throughout the year. )
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- The Intermediate League is for those members who have learnt the essential craft of photography and are comfortable with the skills needed to make images. Members in the Intermediate league will be looking to learn more advanced techniques and develop their own style.
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- The Advanced League is for those members who have mastered the field craft and are learning how to communicate. Members will have their own style and expression.
The aim of the leagues is to give the judge a basis on which to frame the critique. Hence, the league that you compete in will determine this critique. (See the League Definitions)
Projected Digital Image (PDI) Competitions (one league, four separate rounds throughout the year.)
This competition provides a further opportunity for Members to showcase their work and learn from their experiences. It should be noted that the processing techniques required for a projected image are slightly different from those used when producing prints. Members are encouraged to practice and develop the appropriate skills needed.
Judging
On Competition evenings, the images will be assessed and critiqued by an experienced photographer and established judge, whom our Competition Secretary will invite from an approved list supplied by the Southern Counties Photographic Federation (SCPF). The judges will provide helpful and constructive feedback on each image.
An outside judge is invited to view the prints and provide some constructive comments before finally deciding on the first, second and third in each league. There may also be highly commended images, usually two, at the judge’s discretion. Typically, some images are ‘held back’ – a shortlist of candidates for the placed images. Images that are held back or placed receive points.
After adding up the points, the winners of each league at the end of the year each receive a trophy engraved with their name, which they keep for a year. The winners and runners-up receive a medal, which they retain.
Guidelines for Competition Entry:
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- A member may enter only one print/digital image for each round of the competition.
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- The image must be entirely the work of the photographer
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- Images may have been taken at any time but cannot be entered more than once.
How to enter a print for a competition
Mounted prints are submitted on the evening of the competition. They are received upon arrival and placed into their relevant leagues on the display stands (see rules for more detailed instructions).
Members are asked to submit a digital copy of their print to the website upload facility by the day before the competition.
A member may hand their images to another member to bring along for entry on a competition evening. Please email the Competition Secretary with the name of the member bringing the image and the title. This enables us to double-check that we have all images on the night.
Where to get your images printed? There are many labs that will do this; here are a couple of suggestions DSL Colour Labs, Loxley Colour and One Vision Imaging.
Where can I get mount board? Again many places stock this, here are some suggestions Cotswold Mounts, or Kadinsky Art Supplies
How to submit a digital image for a competition
All images are required to be uploaded by the Monday before the competition on Thursday, March 4th.
The upload facility will show a specific ‘Purpose’ – remember, this is a single-league competition.
All PDIs need to be re-sized to the usual 1600 pixels on the long side