Club Member Paul Francis gives his summary of the evening.
As a newcomer to camera clubs and photo competitions, I hope you will allow me to make a few observations about the results from Wednesday evening. Firstly, congratulations and well done to everyone who had an image entered on behalf of RUCC, especially Kevin and Kirsty for our two 18 scores! Thanks also to Rob and Sally for summarising the scores and comments - no easy task. Although the records will show that we came 8th out of 12, I think some context is needed.
In a fairly tight contest, we finished only 12 points off the winners (or 1.2 points per photo on average). Also, as Kevin has pointed out, 3 more points would have placed us joint 4th. Interesting to see that the top half of the table was dominated by the bigger ‘town’ clubs, who presumably have larger membership than us for example including Rugeley.
Generally speaking, I felt that the judges comments were fair, if a bit flippant at times. Bottom line though is that photos (good ones, at least) are a form of art and, like all art forms, are at the mercy of the personal, subjective opinions of the viewer. There’s an article in the MCPF Nov 2025 newsletter about a guy called Leigh Preston being admitted to the Roll of Honour. The citation states ‘(he) has convinced us that if others like our images, it is a bonus not a prerequisite’. I think that’s good advice.
