An excellent standard of photography made the job of Charlie Phillips, judge for this month's competition, very difficult. The subject brought in some interesting, well thought out and original entries, especially from Diane and Eve Morrison.

Some of the members being very well travelled, entries were not only taken in Scotland, but also the continent, giving a very varied feel to the competition, rather than the countless images of the Kessock and Forth bridges, many were expecting.

Charlie's comments were very good, with tips on printing and the commercial value of the images, mixed in with his sense of humour made for an entertaining evening.

Excellent entries included those from Tim Johnston, Ross Graham, Alan Beattie, Robin Miller and Ricky Fraser. The best images from each section are listed below -

Beginners - Donald Noble - Friar's Bridge
Printed - Ken Armstrong - Armstrong Bridge at Cragside, Northumberland
Projected - Mark Logan - Precarious Bridge

The monochrome section produced some very good images, Suzy McKeown produced some lovely images of feathers, and Mike Tibbs's Buckland Ghost stood out for me, but that man, Mark Logan again produced the judges favourite image, with his potrait of Lyndsay.

 

Charlie and his wife are running a series of workshops at North Kessock which may interest members. Details are on their flyer which you can download here.

PC Aros Mathieson provided an interesting and informative talk on Wildlife and the Law. Highlighting what you can and cannot do when approaching wildlife and general information on snares and traps placed to capture wildlife. Some images displayed were very graphic and highlighted the effect illegal poisoning and trapping can have on wildlife. 



One point he emphasised is that the law is open to interpretation and this can lead to misunderstanding. The law has to prove that you intended to disturb animals. This can be just attempting to photograph birds on their nests or chasing a flock of birds forcing them to fly, so make sure you know your rights before photographing any subject, especially with endangered species.



If you have any queries concerning photographing wild animals, then Scottish Natural Heritage would be the best people to speak to. They can inform you on what you can and cannot do, so that you stay out of PC Aros's long reach.

Another schedule change was forced up on us tonight, due to the illness of guest speaker Ian Gibson; we wish Ian a speedy recovery. The night was split into two halves.

In the first half, the entries from the weekend's Highland Challenge were shown. This was made into an interactive evening with members being asked to give their opinion on the photographs with a score. There were some large differences in the scoring between members and what the judges scored.

The second half was a showing of the entries from the RPS International Projected Images Exhibition 2009. The entries were of a very high standard and in the nature section, our very own Derek McGinn had 2 acceptances.

Next week is Wildlife and the Law, which should be particular interest to any natural history and landscape photographers. It is also the hand in night for the next competition: set subject "bridges".