The Outlaws photographic competition year is now in full swing and this is the second projected digital image (PDI) competition so far, with a further three to follow. Competitions are held every month and are alternated between PDI’s and mounted Prints.

This month’s competition had approximately thirty images entered into each of the competition categories. The Outlaws competitions are certainly very popular with the membership, to the degree that a limitation had to be invoked otherwise there was insufficient time to display and critique the work.

The judge for this evening’s competitions was Phil Peat from Ilkeston Photo 2000 Camera Club. 

Phil was made very welcome and there were two categories for him to judge, the Open category and the Themed which for April was “Reflections”. 

NOPS members were fortunate to be invited to a training session with Nottingham Roller Derby at Southglade Leisure Centre in Bestwood. Four members attended, and what began as a simple visit quickly turned into a thoroughly enjoyable and eye‑opening afternoon. From the moment we arrived, the team made us feel completely at ease. They took the time to show us where it was safe to stand, how to move around the track without getting in the way, and when it was appropriate to step closer for photographs or shift position as the action unfolded.

The 1^st print competition of 2026 was held on Thursday 26^th March at St James church Hall the home of the Nottingham Outlaws. The print competition is run on a bi-monthly basis, through to the final round which is in November of the same year and all rounds contribute to the Outlaw’s print league table. 

The judge for this first round of the competition was Ben Lumley who is a professional sports photographer, you can see his work by following this link, benlumleyphoto

Ben joined us earlier this year to give a presentation on his sports photography accompanied by a number of his images. This was a first for me where we have had a judge that is not on the NEMPF circuit and it would be interesting to see how he scored the images presented to him along with his critique. There were two categories for Ben to judge, the Open category and the Themed category which in this instance was “Sport”. We had a fantastic response to this competition and there were 36 entries in both the open and the themed.

February is the start of the Nottingham Outlaws photographic competition year and the first competition is a projected digital image (PDI). Over the course of the year there will be a further four PDI’s, these are interwoven with a separate print competition on a bi-monthly basis.

This month’s competition had more entrants than we had experienced in recent times (many new entrants) and that resulted in over forty entries in total in both the themed category as well as the open. This is indeed refreshing news and it shows the popularity that the club has. This should make for an exciting competition year wanting to take the title of Outlaw of the Year off the current holder Lois Webb.

The judge for the evening was Dave Hollingsworth Stephan from Arnold & District Camera Club.

January is traditionally the start of the Outlaws competition year and “Members Choice” is the first competition of the year. It is a stand-alone competition having both PDI and Print sections. It is open to all members and the contributions especially in the DPI format are quite significant with forty-six entries in total. 

The judging is carried out by the membership on the night and the DPI images are projected onto a large screen with several run throughs allowing members to make notes and each choosing their own individual top six entries.

The Print competition takes part in the second part of the evening with prints being displayed allowing all images to be placed side by side for direct comparison. 

Again, judging is carried out by the attending members on the same basis as the DPI competition, no voting for your own image and your top six in order of preference.

The David Cawthan Trophy is the final Outlaws competition of the year and its aim is to demonstrate a photographer’s competence across a number of photographic genres. There are two formats, a Projected Digital Image (PDI) and Print format, both are run as separate competitions. Members can enter six images and they must embrace four genres and that is of their choice.

The judge for this competition was Stephan Nicholson from Newark & District Photographic Society.