Blandford Forum Camera Club

On Tuesday 1^st December, we were visited – for the first time since November 2005 - by Sid Jones, Chairman of the Dorchester club, who was to be our judge for our third Points Cup competitions. Although the large total of ninety-nine entries were received for the four competitions, our judge not only completed the task within the allotted time span ending nominally at 10.00pm but he was able to give detailed attention to every image. 

The slide competition with twelve entries yielded a single ten awarded to Colin Cross and an 8½ to David Cornes, the nearest competitor.   

Four images from the thirty-nine prints were awarded the maximum scores.  Peter Gafney did well to receive two, one for a mono image (his first he tells me but not his last I’m sure) and one for a coloured.  Mike Ballard and Dionne Horsfall both received tens for a monochrome and a coloured print respectively.  At the last Points Cup I remarked on the award of three of four tens going to monochrome entries and wondered if it represented a trend or was merely a blip.  Well, this month it was fifty-fifty so the mono workers continue to do well.  The significance and quality of monochrome work within the club was also reflected in our SAPA battle entry against Kinson, details of which may be seen in a separate report.  One of the monochrome images was a self portrait by Norman Page which, taken some 60 years ago had until now, never yet been entered in a Points Cup competition.  The entry is worthy of note not merely for its (considerable) visual impact but also for the technical details supplied orally by the author and which had many of us on the edges of our seats.  Such can be the effect of a well-chosen pause for breath.

The DPI competition with forty-seven entries yielded two tens only, one to Heather Bowditch and one to Colin Cross.  These two were closely trailed by three scores of 9½, two for Jean Bartlett and one for Jacky Stevens.  There is no doubt that in this increasingly popular competition the women came out on top on this occasion with Colin the only man amongst them, but he is perfectly capable of holding his own in any company. 

Malcolm Bowditch