Alnwick, Camera Club

David Hall, from Gateshead, was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s first monochrome print open competition of the season.

David is a frequent and most welcome visitor to the club. He is a keen darkroom worker and is renowned for his knowledge of monochrome printing.

He is also well known for his enthusiasm and good humour as a club judge, and so it was no surprise that his comments about the 47 prints entered were not only authoritative, but also encouraging and down to earth.

He commented on the overall high quality of the pictures entered and was full of praise for many that did not achieve a top award.

The three pictures that David commended were Tired of Waiting by Pat Wood, Rounding the Corner by Carol McKay, and At Ease by Valerie Atkinson.

Highly commended were Yorkshire Waterfall by Valerie Atkinson, Ivan by Micheal Mundy and In the Queue by Pat Wood.

In fourth place was The Ascent by Micheal Mundy, a finely composed and well seen graphic image of workmen climbing the dome of the O2 Centre, while in third place was A Hole in the Wall by Laine Baker, a beautiful, high key, softly textured, still life image.

Second place went to Alastair Cochrane’s dramatically lit architectural picture of The Calatrava and the Cloud, but first prize was awarded to Kevin Murray for The Champ, an outstanding portrait of a racing pigeon cradled in the gnarled hands of its owner.