July 2026 Third Print Competition
It is late July and the third NOPS print competition of the year has just taken place. Going into this round Sue Hartley leads with 209 points followed closely by Lois Webb on 205 points and in third place Lester Woodward with 203 points. So, there is still all to play for & the coveted Print Outlaw OTY title.
The judge for the evening was David Kissman who has judged here for several years and on all occasions, he has had constructive comments/critique to offer the entrants. David is a member at Keyworth Camera Club
There were two categories for David to judge, the Open category (a mix of various genres) and the Themed which was “By The Side Of The Road”.
In total there were thirty entries in the open and thirty-three in the themed.
The Open competition again attracted a wide variety of photographic genres and the themed competition a broad variety of images most of which fitted the criteria however David judged that some of them didn’t! and they were scored appropriately.
Theme By The Side Of The Road
The theme competition was of a non-specific genre, but the images had to meet the criteria of which David was quite strict. It contained a variety of different images, please take a look at the gallery of held images below.
Eighteen images were held back by David for final scoring which he admitted was quite a lot by his standard, but he enjoyed the challenge. In all David awarded three images with twenty points but the winner was Lois Webb with her image “WAITING TO CROSS”.
The winning image by Lois Webb “WAITING TO CROSS”
This is what Lois had to say about her image.
“My image ‘Waiting to cross’ was taken on my second visit to Japan, in Tokyo, one November rainy afternoon. My daughter, friend and I were heading home after a full day of street photography so I was tuned into looking for shots. As I waited for the lights to change from the other side of the road, I spotted this family group which I thought would make a good shot. It also demonstrates a couple of cultural customs. First; the Japanese are very obedient at crossings, patiently waiting their turn to cross. Second; everyone carries an umbrella. In my photo, each person in the composition has their own umbrella and it is the interaction between the umbrellas which I found so appealing. I like that you can see the pouring rain, adding texture and I am surprised there was not drops of water on my lens as I didn’t have my own umbrella.”
Nikon D610, f4, 1/80, ISO 1600, 70mm
Gallery Of Held Themed Images
Open category
David offered really constructive comments and critique with focus on level horizons, skies, elements of image balance, shapes and angles including leading lines.
In the open category nine images were held back for final judging and the winner was Ray Andrews with his image “FIRST LIGHTS GOLDEN MIST”.
The winning image by Ray Andrews “FIRST LIGHT’S GOLDEN MIST”.
When I asked him to comment on his image this is what Ray told me,
“It was a fleeting moment of sun lighting one valley but not the next in Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia which lasted for less than 20 seconds”
Gallery Of Held Open Images
Following this competition Sue Hartley maintains her lead with 316pts, followed by Ray Andrews on 312pts and third place is with Lois Webb on 310pts.
The Outlaws would like to thank David for providing everyone who entered with a beneficial comments and appreciation of their works.
David commented that the elements of a good image in his opinion were environment, composition, sharpness, texture and focus to name but a few.
David gave detailed critique before scoring all the images presented to him.