Another outstanding result for NDPS this time in the EAF Print Championships 2022
Norwich & District Photographic Society continued our recent success in external photographic competitions and inter-club battles with an excellent performance in the EAF Championships. This report is by Dave Balcombe who was one of the five NDPS members who were at Fulbourn on Sunday for the championships.
On Sunday13th March five club members went to the print championships in Fulbourn. There are we currently understand 116 clubs in the EAF but only 17 entered the print championship this year whereas normally there are at least 25 and frequently in the recent past many more. Each club entered 15 prints and the winners would go forward to represent the EAF at the national championship organised by the PAGB. This style of competition is somewhat different to normal club competitions, there are 3 judges with a numeric keypad, the prints are placed on a display stand, and they score between 1 and 5 so the maximum score is 15. They are all experienced judges and the scores come up in seconds with no other feedback or commentary so often images that might do well at club level don’t do so well if they don’t have instant impact.
The Norwich entry was drawn from all the photographs entered in our Annual Exhibition and all other internal competitions and members were invited to submit any other images they wanted considered by our selectors.
By the half way point we knew we were doing fairly well and lying in 5th place, but it was very close at the top. We think the judges must have had a good lunch as the scores immediately after they had dined were noticeably higher and when the final scores were totalled up we still had the 5th highest score of 178.
This was the best result for Norwich for many years so well done to all those whose work was selected and to Maurice Young who scored 14 with Ice Queen and Dave Turner who also scored 14 with Sea Pool. Of the prints entered some wildlife did well but not all, mono prints seemed to score less well, landscapes struggled a bit, so it was portraits, travel and creative images that were doing well this time.
The Ice Queen by Maurice Young
The Sea Pool by David Turner
For those newer members who are unfamiliar with the EAF this is our local federation that provides support to the affiliated clubs in our region such as selecting and training the judges, keeping a list of lecturers, organising exhibitions and regional competitions representing the region at national level (Photographic Alliance of Great Britain) and entry to the PAGB awards. Of the other clubs in the print Championship the Beyond Group and PICO are by invitation only and specialise in entering competitions so are usually in the top 5 clubs and Cambridge has over 200 members so we were very pleased with our result.
Having done well in a couple of external competitions this year the challenge for NDPS will be to keep up a flow of outstanding work so that we can continue the trend next year. Competitions are not everyone’s cup of tea but if you do want to push yourself then continue to enter our internal comps and if you want help or critique then please ask. A good starting point is the monthly competition, you have nothing to lose here and can try out images that you are unsure of. If you want to enter salons or aim for awards then check out the document on our website in the Members area, Useful Documents, Distinctions and Awards Handout.