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
Congratulations go to Malcolm who has won the prestigious Print Outlaw of The Year title for 2024 adding to the Projected Digital Image (PDI) title which he won last month making him a true double top winner.
Malcolm with a selection of his winning printed images.
Malcolm has a passion for the printed image, he prints on fine art papers that have texture and a variety of finishes, this makes each print individual and bespoke. The mounts are also part of his creative process, his invested time, effort and patience brings a very professional look and feel to his photographic artwork.
Malcolm tells me that having total control of the entire process, from initial planning of the shoot, through to the moment of capture on his camera, from processing, to printing and finally mounting the print is what he enjoys most.
Congratulations go to Malcolm Nabarro who has won the Nottingham Outlaws – Projected Digital Image (PDI) – Outlaw Of The Year competition 2024.
The Outlaws PDI competition year started in February then running throughout the year with the final round concluding in late October.
Malcolm’s images have covered many genres of photography and demonstrates his prowess as a photographer. His images have covered several themes which have included abstract, transport, close up, and motion blur to name but a few. There was also an Open category where Malcolm had many held and winning images which when put together with the Theme category put Malcolm at the top of the leader board.
When asked about his winning ways, this is what Malcolm had to say;
Darley Moor MotorCycle Road Racing Club (Darley Moor MCRRC) Race Circuit near Ashbourne in Derbyshire was the venue for the “Stars at Darley” race meeting, the last race of the road racing championship series.
Darley Moor is a great circuit for photographers who want to capture images of fast racing motorcycles and their riders. You can get close up to the action especially at the hairpin bend where high speeds are reduced significantly to navigate the hairpin safely. This is a popular location and many photographers gather here.
Four Nottingham Outlaws (NOPS) made the trip there over the weekend, having first researched the DMMCRRC website and purchased admission tickets in advance. Racing was over two days (Saturday & Sunday) with the main race event having a part one on the Saturday & concluding part two on the Sunday. Ray was the first to visit the circuit on the Saturday, taking lots of images as well as understanding the protocols and learning the circuit. Ray commented that he had taken approximately 1400 images over the course of the day.
Back in May I was invited to shoot a series of portraits for a CD cover; a new release by the soprano Claire Booth and Ensemble 360. The album was to be called ‘Pierrot Portraits’ and it features music inspired by the commedia dell’arte character Pierrot, sometimes known as the sad clown. Someone, in their wisdom, decided that with such an album concept then a set of portraits of the musicians, complete with Pierrot make-up, would make an ideal album cover And that’s where I came into the project. Why me? Well I have to declare an interest in that my son Benjamin, is a member of Ensemble 360, and they were looking for a photographer with musical sympathies and a low fee demand, very low!
The shoot took place in Sheffield, in the Crucible Theatre. A make-up artist was hired and we had just a morning to get the job done. The musicians were in the middle of a major chamber music festival in Sheffield and the soprano Claire Booth came up from London. I soon became aware that the pressure was on.
The fourth print competition of the year was held on Thursday 28th September at St James church Hall the home of the Nottingham Outlaws. The print competition started back in March 2024 and is run on a bi-monthly basis. Going into this leg of the print competition Lester Woodward & Lois Webb were tying for first place both on 322 points, in third place was Nigel Stewart (315pts) followed closely by Chris Holdsworth (314pts). Tonight’s penultimate competition could give one of the leading group the edge over their close rivals.
The judge for this round of the competition was Malcolm Sales, a judge who had visited the Outlaws on several previous occasions. Malcolm started off the evening complementing the Outlaws on the quality of their printing, this comment cropped up a number of times as he went through the images one by one, part of the judging process.
There were two categories for Malcolm to judge, the Open category and the Themed which in this evening was “Architecture”. In total there were 21entries in the Open and 24 in the Themed.
September is the time of year when the Outlaws pack their camera bags, suitcases and embark on a journey to a location in the UK. We have visited many areas, from Norfolk in the east, Pembrokeshire in the west and Hastings in the south. This year we headed north to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.
As British photographers we are used to all weathers but this year’s weekend weather proved very challenging. Whilst our home of Nottingham suffered a deluge of rain, we endured a blanket of grey cloud for the duration of the trip. It was great to be dry but any contrast for landscape photography was absent. Outlaws are made of strong stuff and were not to be defeated and worked a location to capture images all the same. Some members can claim to have seen the sun, a couple even a sunset. Typically, as we gathered for the group portrait in Balloch on the last morning the weather cleared and the sun appeared!
Every day we all headed out with hope that our empty memory cards would be filled with images, some starting very early as they had sunrises in mind, others with a full agenda of locations that needed to be visited and one or maybe even two members considering night-time shoots. But all had one thing in common and that was to see and photograph Scotland, ranging from its iconic castles, lochs and waterfalls to the stylish architecture and personalities of Glasgow.
There were plenty of opportunities for social breaks, lunches and dinners together as well as evenings where they could discuss the day’s activities over a beer, something the Outlaws looked forward to.
Some of the Outlaws tales of the trip will follow over the next few posts.
August sees the Outlaws completing their fourth Projected Digital Image (PDI) competition of the year and things have started to warm up. Following this month’s competition, the DPI leader board is now as follows, Malcolm Nabarro leads the way with 285 points, followed by Chris Holdsworth on 276 and Nigel Stewart also on 276 points. Lester Woodward and Ray Andrews both have 274 points, let battle commence. The evenings judge was Gary Langley, a NEMPF competition judge who some of the Outlaws had met on previous occasions. Gary offered constructive comments and liked to “tell it as it is” and score images in his own unique manner.
There were two categories for Gary to judge on the evening, the Open category and the Themed, which this month was “High Key/Low Key”. There were approximately thirty entries in the Open category and twenty-eight in the themed.
