February is the start of the Nottingham Outlaws competition year and the first competition is a projected digital image (PDI), over the course of 2025 there will be a further four PDI competitions.

This month’s competition had twenty-one entrants which includes a number of new members, this is of real significance as the club membership continues to grow and goes from strength to strength and the members are enjoying the competition challenges.

The judge for the evening was Sean Taylor from Eastwood Photographic Society, this was Sean’s first visit to the Outlaws and he was made to feel very welcome by all attending. Sean made an initial comment (having taken an initial look) that the quality of the images was very high and this was going to make his selections challenging!

There were two categories for Sean to judge, the Open category and the Themed category which for February was “Steps”. In total there were thirty-eight submission entries in the Themed section and thirty-seven in the Open.

The Outlaws are back at the clubhouse and January see’s the start of the competition year with a unique standalone event which is in both PDI & Print formats. This is a really popular competition with the members as they are both the entrants & the judges. There are no prerequisites regarding categories or themes and generally speaking many of these images are getting their first ever public showing, so it is quite an exciting time.

The evening starts off with a set of score sheets issued to every member with the instruction to choose six images and rank them in order of preference. The images are then projected onto a large screen for all of the membership to see and judge and after several run throughs voting commences.

The Outlaws had some significant successes at the N&EMPF awards ceremony held recently at Patching’s Farm Art Centre near Calverton Nottinghamshire.

Congratulations go to Nige Stewart who has won the NEMPF Cheetham cup for his image White Hall New York City.  The trophy which is new for 2025 is awarded to the selected winning image in the category of mono print. 

Nigel receiving the Cheetham trophy, pictured with Carol Cheetham & N&EMPF President Steve Walters.

Throughout 2024 Nigel has focused on improving his printing techniques, trying out a variety of image styles and using textured paper media. When asked about his win he had this to say. “I felt honoured to have won the Cheetham Trophy and especially as I am the first recipient of this prestigious piece of silver-ware, it means a lot to me. It goes to show what encouragement and advice from my fellow club members can do and here at the Outlaws we have some very knowledgeable members who are happy to share their enthusiasm and offer guidance and advice”.

December is the time of year when the Outlaws gather to celebrate the successes of the photographic year with their annual awards ceremony. The Outlaw of the Year awards are presented to the competition winners, certificates of merit to monthly photographic winners and a special award to the member who is deemed to have embraced the club, projected it forward through effort, interaction and social media contributions.

The evening started with a media show created by John Young & Chris Holdsworth displaying images taken by the Outlaws throughout the year, this was followed by a formal presentation of awards by Lois Webb the Outlaws Chairman and lastly a Christmas fuddle which was enjoyed by all.

Read all about it………………Ray Andrews wins both the Print and the PDI David Cawthan trophies

The most recent NOPS competition was the David Cawthan Trophy. This competition is always held in December and its purpose is to demonstrate a photographers prowess across different genres of photography. There are two categories, one for print and a separate one for Projected digital images (PDI’s). Consistency, style and skill are but a few of the attributes required if you are to succeed in winning either trophy.

The format requires that you have to enter six images across four genres in either the print competition or the DPI competition or if you so wish you can enter both.

Alf was born in Beeston, attended Henry Mellish school and did his National Service in Malaya, after which he joined Boots the chemists and worked in a variety of different posts until getting a position in the wages department, where he met Glenis who he married in November 1964. 

 He was a keen darts player and played in a darts team, he was also a keen football supporter, having a season ticket for both Nottingham Forest and Notts County for many years, and an Ice hockey fan of the Nottingham Panthers, but he became a very keen photographer in the late 1980’s and joined the Nottingham Outlaws in the early 1990’s becoming our long standing treasurer, he was also a keen Kitkat club member, attending the very first one and many more until becoming shackled by hip and knee issues and consequent operations which finally stopped him attending both club and kitkat. We gave him honorary membership in the 2010’s. 

 He continued to keep up with club news through the internet even though he could no longer attend. He was a true gentleman, fair and firm, with a cheeky sense of humour and will be greatly missed by all friends and family.

Left to right: Sue Jackson, George Reilly, Alf Hitchcock, Ian Pinn