At the annual Rhondda/Gwynfa/Barry battle, hosted this year by Gwynfa, the results were as follows:
1st – Gwynfa – 213 points
2nd – Rhondda – 204 points
3rd – Barry – 193 points
Best Print went to ‘The Historian’ by David Norton of the Rhondda and Best DPI went to ‘Onlooker’ by Barbra Archdale-Smith of Barry.
The judge was Fred Davies of Cardiff who did an excellent job of assessing the photographs.
The full scoresheet can be seen here.
After a rather remarkable evening of top quality photography and high scoring Gwynfa finished second to worthy winners, the Rhondda in the 2018 Vale 7-way battle. Gwynfa’s scores were as follows:
Colour Prints
20 Hairy Dragonfly on Horsetail by Rob Beynon
20 Mirage Fighter Jets by Steve Littlewood
20 Hard Times by Gwynfryn Jones
20 The Apple Woman by Gwynfryn Jones
Monochrome Prints
19 Last Light by Dave Lingham
20 Isolation (No. 1) by Leigh Woolford
18 Into The Light by Alan Stokes
18 Menno by Leigh Woolford
Dropping just 5 points from a possible 160 would be hard to beat you might think. But no. Rhondda dropped just three points and scored 20 a remarkable six times and also had a 19 and an 18 to pip us by two points. Scoring was high across the board too. Judge Brian Swinyard MA(Photo), ARPS, EFIAP/b, DPAGB, BPE3*, PPSA gave 24 scores of 20 from the 56 prints entered!
Final Scores were: Rhondda 157, Gwynfa 155, The Vale 153, Pyle & Porthcawl 150, Bridgend 148, Morriston 145 and Barry 137.
Best Monochrome Print went to Richard Crays of Pyle and Porthcawl for “Concrete Titanic” and Best Colour Print went to Gwynfryn Jones of Gwynfa for ‘The Apple Woman’.
As usual our hosts at the Vale did a superb job or organising the competition and welcoming (and feeding) their visitors and everyone enjoyed an evening of terrific photography.
Seven of the eight Gwynfa entries can be seen below. Sadly we don’t yet have a digital version of Into The Light by Alan Stokes.
The 2018 WPF Memorial Trophy for Colour Prints.
1st – Tenby and District Camera Club (**Later withdrew from event)
2nd – Inn Focus Group
3rd – Gwynfa
Scores here.
Judges: Rod Wheelans MPAGB MFIAP FIPF HonPAGB HonSPF and Anne Greiner MPAGB.
** Note, Tenby later realised they had used a photo that should not have been used and thereforedropped down the order. Gwynfa therefore finished second.
The Gwyn Morgan Trophy for Open PDI’s
1st – Tenby and District Camera Club
2nd – Inn Focus Group
3rd – Cwmbran
4th – Gwynfa, Neath & Rhondda
Scores here.
Judges: Gordon Jenkins APAGB. President of the PAGB and Richard Speirs DPAGB, APAGB.
Results – Walter Morgan Trophy for Monochrome Prints.
1st – Bridgend and District Camera Club
2nd – Inn Focus Group
3rd – Rhondda Camera Club
The Competition was judged by Rod Wheelans MPAGB, MFIAP, FIPE, Hon PAGB, HonSPF.
Each Club’s entry of 4 images was put up in turn and judged against 2 other sets that were already displayed. One of the three sets was eliminated and then appraised by the judge.
Aberdare Camera club once again provided a warm welcome and a very enjoyable afternoon for the 2017 Stanley Chell competition. Congratulations to Inn Focus Group who came away with a well-deserved win for the second year running, very closely followed by Gwynfa and Western Valley. The judge Mr Walter Benzie Hon FRPS, former president of the Royal Photographic Society kept us entertained providing a thorough and concise critique, unusually marking out of 10.
Once again Gwynfryn Jones took the award for the best colour print with “The Apple Woman”
1 Inn Focus Group 37½ pts
2 Gwynfa 37 pts
3 Western Valley 36½ pts
Pixels 2017, the 13th running of the competition, took place at Talbot Green Community Centre on Saturday 4th November 2017 and was a tense, exciting and high scoring affair.
It was a particularly good day for Mold Camera Club from the NWPA who, with 76 points from a possible 80, were the winners just a single point ahead of four clubs namely Western Valley, Towy Valley, Barry & Gwynfa. Mold became only the fourth club to win for a second time.
The Mold photos were: Baby Gets a Kick From Dad by Andy Polakowski (19), Dancing Through the Dirt by Matt Morrow (20), The Busker by Rich Hainsworth (19) and Unlucky For Some by Linda Bell (18). Click on the links to see the photographs.
The judge was Brian Swinyard MA(Photo), ARPS, EFIAP/b, DPAGB, BPE3*, PPSA who did a terrific job of expertly judging 156 images. He was concise, humorous and informative. Brian also selected Frozen in Time by John Hufferdine of Towy Valley as Best Monochrome Photograph and Tempest by Eric Williams of Western Valley as Best Colour Photograph.
Gwynfa Camera Club would like to thank everyone who attended the competition and all 39 clubs that entered. Without you, this event would not be possible.
Click here to see the final Pixels 2017 score sheet.
We also wish to thank everyone from team Gwynfa who helped out on the day. Special thanks to Leigh Woolford, Rob Beynon, Heidi Stewart, Lynda Beynon, Allan Squires, Steve Littlewood, Alec Stewart, Gary Welsby, Meryl Natt and Rob Owen..
Huge thanks also to all those who donated raffle prizes especially Fotospeed, Permajet and Carmarthen Cameras.
Also special thanks to Crystal Vision Locks and Trophies for providing the Pixels Trophies.
A slideshow of all the photographs entered can be seen below. (NB. Alec Stewart of Gwynfa accepted the Pixels Trophy on behalf of Mold).
It was an excellent result at the Bridgend 12 way battle on 2nd October.
Inn Focus were worthy winners dropping just one point over their five prints but Gwynfa came second dropping just 3 points out of 100.
Gwynfryn Jones won Best Colour for ‘The Apple Woman’ and Chris Tidman won Best People for ‘Out of the Blue’. Alec Stewart’s ‘Emerald Damselfly on Rush’ was in the running for best nature but just lost out to Inn Focus ‘Great Crested Grebe and Pike’.
1. Inn Focus. 99.
2. Gwynfa. 97.
3. Tenby & Western Valley. 93.
