On Tuesday 30th March we had Maybeth Jamieson CPAGB judge our inaugural triptych competition. Maybeth is an extremely accomplished photographer and a long standing member of Dumfries Camera Club, nevertheless, she confessed she approached this judging with some trepidation. Because this was the first time we had attempted a triptych competition (this replaced our usual panel competition of 5 6by4inch images), we could only give both our members and Maybeth an incomplete brief. This was that the images should be linked in some way; that the border or framing should be considered part of the image; and that the images should be judged singly and as a composite!
Despite this, the competition was a great success. We had a large number of entries, such that it was limited to two entries per member, and a great variety of subjects, framing , and presentations. Maybeth accomplished her judging with aplomb. She spent sufficient time on each image to give a description of what she was getting out of the image, (not just what the image contained), and also how the orientation, the background, the colours complementing or not, and the linking of the subject matter all contributed to her view of the triptych. In several images Maybeth was able to show how just reducing something like the opacity of the background could enhance the presentation of the triptych.
The subject matter was very wide ranging with some excellent flower panels, some very skilful use of compositing, and even some nature and wildlife efforts. Modesty prevents me from saying who won, but congratulations to Lesley for continuing her great run of form, and to Norman for an excellent black and white treatment of a rural show.