Central Club Challenge 2025
On Thursday 6 March, Helen Castle and I attended the Central Club Challenge which is hosted by MK City Photographic Society at Christ Church, Milton Keynes. This is an open competition for PDI with each club submitting 6 images. The judge this year was Hertfordshire based professional photographer Martin Patten DPAGB and BPE5*. With only 6 clubs competing this year (down from 9 last year) and 36 images to review, Martin was able to dedicate more time critiquing each image.
The 6 images selected by A&DCC had also been used in the 3 Way Battle on 27th February and, for comparative purposes, I have shown in brackets the scores given at that competition. Here is a summary of Martin’s comments.
- Artic Tern by Jane D’Souza – Score 17 (19) – Martin felt that this would work better as a print and that it is too bright for a PDI. Overall, it has been nicely done with the reds standing out, a lovely fan shape of the tail and beautiful angle of the wings. Liked the composition with plenty of room for the bird to move into and the diagonal works well.
- The Mover by Richard Burn – Score 16 (19) – Observed that this is a well-trodden path and we have seen these steps many times before. The movement is “arty” and works well against the tension of the steps but not convinced that the figure is best placed in the frame and it would be much nicer to have it further to the right giving it room to move into. Martin felt that his attention kept being drawn to the signs on the wall and he would have cloned them out which would also have given better balance to the image. A good idea and works well in monochrome.
- At the water’s edge by Gina Taylor – Score 17 (17) – Again, Martin believed this image would look better as a print, perhaps printed on a fine art paper. The choice of a slow shutter speed has been well selected and, although there is nothing in focus, this doesn’t matter and the movement is delightful. Unfortunately, the waves are too dark and the colour palette doesn’t work but, overall, nicely presented.
- Fish Eye by Paul Wilson – Score 18 (17) – This is very clever and has been thoughtfully done and likes it a lot. Is it real – who cares? The blue tones against the silver are delightful and it is a fun and engaging image that works very nicely.
- Pink Lady by Paul Tapping – Score 16 (16) – This is an interesting image but one that he struggles with as it feels odd. The figure doesn’t go with the background and it looks like it has been stuck on it (it has wasn’t). More space is needed in front and behind that character and the paper held by the figure disappears into the background.
- Surrounded by Roses by Ben Peet – Score 18 (16) – The beautifully posed model is quite sensual; the texture of the background is great and mono works. Beautiful position of the hands and love the angle – perhaps needs a little more space on the right. Believes that the roses do not actually add to the image and did not like the shade of green. If you are going to use colour pop would normally expect to see red roses.
The final scores for the evening were:
- Leighton Buzzard Photographic Club 107
- Milton Keynes City Photography Society 105
- Bedford Camera Club 103
- Biggleswade and District Camera Club 103
- Ampthill & District Camera Club 102
- Luton & Dunstable Photography Club 102
The A&DCC score of 102 compares with the 89 points we secured in 2024 and is particularly pleasing as Martin was quite critical and gave a limited number of high scores. It was also noticeable that Martin felt that several of the images (not just those noted above) would have been better presented as Prints and this is perhaps something that we need to give greater consideration in the future.
This was the last external competition until the Bedfordshire Invitation, which will be hosted by Shillington in October, and I would like to thank all our members who kindly allowed the Club to use their images.
