Bedfordshire Invitational Inter-Club Competition 2024

On the evening of Monday 28th October Ben Peet, Richard Burt and I made the short trip to the Community Arts Centre at the Roaring Meg Retail Park where the Stevenage Photographic Society were hosting the Bedfordshire Invitation Inter-Club Competition 2024. We had arrived early and, when we entered the hall, there was just one gentleman sat there in splendid isolation in an otherwise completely empty hall. Having established that we were at the right place on the right evening, we retired to a nearby hostelry to refresh ourselves for the next 30 minutes and by the time we returned to the hall, it was filling up nicely and we had been joined by Richard Burn.

This is an annual open competition for PDI where clubs are invited to submit 6 images plus a tie breaker. There was a late change of Judge and Pauline Martindale, who was originally scheduled to judge the competition was replaced by Allison Jenkins ARPS DPAGB BPE1 who is well known to us here at A&DCC. 11 clubs took part including Milton Keynes, Stevenage and Rushden from the neighbouring counties.
The A&DCC entries together with a summary of Allison’s feedback and scores were as follows:

  • Cupid’s Darts by Paul Tapping – “The colours pop and explode. It is a delightful image with plenty of detail”. Score: 17
  • The Mover by Richard Burn – “This is an interesting image and makes me think”. Score: 17 – originally held back.
  • Web of Confusion ICM by Roger Green – “You start seeing things in this image – an alien head. The blue and yellow work well together and I like the square crop and keyline”. Score 16
  • Easy Rider by Richard Burt – “Good movement in the wheels and legs and choosing Black and White makes the image stronger. Plenty of space for the subject to move into”. Score 17
  • Holly Leaf by Paul Tapping – “Looks like a broken stained-glass window. Interesting patterns and vey beautiful”. Score 16
  • Reds in Westminster by Richard Burn – “Enjoys the contrast of the telephone box and the hustle and bustle of the scene. Finds the yellow/green area to the right a little distracting”. Score 16   

The competition was won for the second year running by Milton Keynes with a score of 110 and, although the ADCC total of 99 points left us in last place, this does not reflect the tight nature of the final placings with just 5 points separating the bottom 6 clubs.

The overall winning image, taken by Keith Millard of Milton Keynes, was of a trawler in a stormy sea.

The entries –