2025 Cambridge Interclub

Jane D’Souza and I attended the CCC Inter-Club Competition in the Cambridgeshire village of Whittlesford on Saturday 25 January.
Around 80-100 people attended to the event with 29 Clubs taking part in the competition and each submitting one PDI in each of the 5 categories – Monochrome, People, Landscape, Nature and Open. A reserve image was also submitted in the event of a tie breaker and, although it sadly didn’t involve A&DCC, the overall winning club was decided by this image.

The competition was judged by: Cherry Larcombe EFIAP ARPS DPAGB BPE5*
A brief summary of the judge’s comments on the A&DCC images and my observations are noted below:

Monochrome
“Did I miss breakfast?” by Paul Wilson – Score 17
Cherry commented that the breakfast didn’t look very appetizing but that it captured a moment in time and was interesting to see. She assumed this was set in a museum.
The judged seemed to particularly focus on the title rather than the qualities of the image.
Many of the images in this category were HDR and, in my opinion a little over processed. In total 3 images scored 20 points.

People
“Lady in Red” by Angela Dunn – Score 20
The judge particularly appreciated the striking red dress, lovely positioning and lighting and detail in the movement. Congratulations to Angela for scoring 20.
As might have expected, a significant number of images in this category were taken in the studio. In total 3 images scored 20 points.

Landscape
“At The Water’s Edge” by Gina Taylor – Score 18
Cherry thought this was a really nice image and commented upon the beautiful soft colours with the pink in the sky being matched by the orange in the sand.
It was noticeable that many of the images in this category were water or snow themed. The standard was very high a total of 6 images scoring 20 points.

Nature
“Artic Tern in Flight” by Jane D’Souza – Score 18
The judge commented that Jane had managed the white bird against the white sky very well and that the touches of colour in the beak and feet show up nicely. Also, the subject is nicely positioned in the frame.
The judge mentioned that the quality of entries in this category was very high “fantastic images all worthy of 20 points”. She was particularly looking for drama and gave 20 points to 7 images.

Open
“Paternoster Square” by Richard Burt – Score 17
Cherry felt that this was very nicely done with lovely colours, white lines and patterns that you wouldn’t see from ground level.
Interestingly, there were a lot of nature photographs included in this category and 6 images were given 20 points.

When the final scores were added the results were:
4th place: North Norfolk with 94 points
= 3rd place: Bottisham and Burwell with 95 points.
= 3rd place: Melbourn and District with 95 points.
2nd place Photographic Imaging Co-Operative (PICO) with 98 points (PICO were winners in 2023 and 2024).
1st place: Bishops Stortford with 99 points.

As mentioned above, after the 5 rounds PICO and Bishops Stortford were level on points and the result was decided on the tie breaker image.

A&DCC finished the afternoon with a total score of 90 and placed 17th out of 29 clubs.

An image called “The Thrill of Skateboarding” by Les Cornwell of Loughton CC was awarded The Roy Pitman prize as the judge’s favourite image. This was an interesting choice and I believe the judge particularly liked the humour of the moment. This image was captured at the skateboard park on London’s South Bank and is a reminder that you don’t need to travel the World to get that winning shot.
All images and scores can be seen here:
https://www.cambcc.org.uk/CCC.main/Competition/ViewInterclubResults?type=InterClub&cId=165978