February see’s the start of the Outlaws league 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 sixteen entrants (many new entrants) all wanting to take the tittle of Outlaw of the Year off the current holder Lester Woodward.
The judge for the evening was Stephan from Newark Camera Club.
There were two categories for Stephan to judge, the Open category and the Themed which for February was “Abstract”. In total there were thirty submission entries in the Abstract section and twenty-eight in the Open.
Apart from a brief fling with a Zenith film camera when I was a teenager, and later taking holiday and family photos, I didn’t really get into photography until I bought my first digital camera which allowed me to see what I had taken instantly, instead of waiting a week or more for prints to come back. I then took a City & Guilds course in photography. After completing the course I wanted to continue to learn more about photography so I joined NOPS, which gave me the support I needed, and with monthly competitions it also gave me a reason to go out and take images I would not normally have thought about, and a reason to practice my post processing skills (and still does).
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 were quite significant with forty-six entries in total.
The judging is carried out by the attending NOPS membership and the PDI images are projected onto a large screen with several run throughs allowing members to make notes and each can come to their own individual top six entries (members cannot vote for their own image) in order of preference.
The Print competition takes part in the second part of the evening (after the tea break) with prints being displayed on the bespoke easel allowing all images to be placed side by side for direct comparison and all subject to the same lighting conditions. Again, judging is carried out by the attending members on the same basis as the PDI competition, no voting for your own image and your top six in order of preference.
After a few years of thinking about it and putting it off, I eventually applied for my CPAGB.
I had previously attended a workshop on the awards. I got the impression from the “judges/Lecturers” on the day that I might get my DPAGB, but almost certainly would get my CPAGB. The lecturers saw the CPAGB as the most important award as it got you recognition of PAGB patronage.
The Outlaws year comes to a close with an Awards Evening and presentation event.
Lois Webb – Winner; Outlaw of the Year 2023 (print)Lester Woodward – Winner; Outlaw of the Year 2023 (PDI)
The members of the Outlaws gathered together mid December for the annual awards evening and both Lois & Lester were presented with their well deserved trophies for Outlaw of the year, Print & DPI respectively. All of the awards were presented by Nick Pearce the club chairman and co-event producer Chris Houldsworth. Many other awards were presented on the evening including the David Cawthan Trophy for “PDI” & “Print” to Malcolm Nabarro (PDI) & Nigel Stewart (print).
The final print competition of the year was held on Thursday 23rd November, the competition was nearing its conclusion and it was a closely fought battle with Lois Webb in the lead from Nigel Stewart by a margin of six points. Malcolm Nabarro in third place on 405 points and Chris Houldsworth in fourth place with 402 points.
The question was could Nigel score sufficient points on the night to challenge Lois for the title of “Print Outlaw of the Year?
The judge for this round of the competition was Phil Newman from Bolsover Camera club. There were two categories for Phil to judge, the Open category and the Themed category which in this instance was “Sport”. In total there were 23 entries in both of the competition categories
The final projected digital image (PDI) competition of the year was held on Thursday 26th October, the competition year started way back in February 2023 and has been run on a bi-monthly basis throughout the year. Lester Woodward went into this final round holding the top spot but could he score enough points on the night to maintain his position and win the prestigious tittle of “Outlaw of the Year”
The judge for this round of the competition was Malcolm Sales who has judged at Outlaws competitions on previous occasions. There were two categories for Malcolm to judge, the Open category and the Themed category which in this instance was “Industrial Landscapes”. In total there were 28 entries in the open and 26 in the themed.
I have been a member of the Outlaws since 2016/17 years and have found it an educational and social experience that has become very important in my life.
As a teenager in Norfolk, I started with a Zenit 35mm camera which I used at several Mildenhall airshows. After one show, taking 100 images, that following 35mm processing came out as small dots in a big sky, I invested in a Tamron zoom lens.
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 2023 and is run on a bi-monthly basis. Lois Webb currently holds the top position in the Outlaw print league table.
The judge for this round of the competition was Alan Young who is a member of Rolls Royce (Derby) Photographic Society. Alan stated that he liked images that told a story, had balance and contained elements that added interest and enhanced the image. There were two categories for Alan to judge, the Open category and the Themed which in this instance was “Portraits (two generations or more)”. In total there were 20 entries in the open and 18 in the themed.
