We were invited to take part in the North Cheshire Open PDI Knockout Competition which was held on Zoom on Saturday, 3^rd June, 2023.  Twenty seven clubs entered from around the region and each submitted 5 images from 5 different authors.   Our entry came from Ray Groome, Sue Champion, Keith Fitzpatrick, Kate Sawallisch and Jan Wilding.  The total number of images in the competition was 135 and it was quite a task for the judge, Terry Donnelly, who eventually whittled it down to 6 final images.  Congratulations to Sue Champion whose image of ‘Seth’ made it through to the last 6 but was just pipped at the post by Stephen Moon from High Peak Photographic Club.  

There was a tie for first place between Chorley PS and The Evolve Group and we came a very creditable joint 9^th together with Knutsford PS, North Cheshire PS and Warrington PS.  The following table shows the full results:-

Report by Jan Wilding

External Competition Secretary

The Annual Dinner and Presentation of Trophies was held at Chez Jules on Monday 17th April. President Graham Jones congratulated members on the standard of entries submitted to this year’s competitions.

Thanks go to Kate Sawallisch for booking the venue and Terry Daltry for organising the engraving of trophies.

Congratulations to Keith Fitzpatrick who won Photographer of the Year. Second place went to Sue Champion and third place to Ron Sutton.

Award	Winner
Photographer  of the  Year	Keith Fitzpatrick	482 points
2nd place	Sue Champion	475 points
3rd place	Ron Sutton	453 points
Print Photographer of the Year	Keith Fitzpatrick	249 points
DPI Photographer of the Year	Sue Champion	235 points
Open DPI	Keith Fitzpatrick	The Spiral Stairs
Open Print	Jan Wilding	4 Pink Tulips
Landscape DPI	Ian Nixon	Alpine Church, Mieming Austria
Landscape Print	Keith Fitzpatrick	White Horses at Skegness
Nature DPI	John Wild	Sea Eagle
Nature Print	Keith Fitzpatrick	Peacock at Full Volume
Mono. DPI	Sue Champion	Seth
Mono. Print	Ron Sutton	Deep Freeze Trees
Abstract DPI	Sue Champion	Inferno
Abstract Print	Keith Fitzpatrick	Diamond
People DPI	Jim Jones	Becky Focused
People Print	Sue Champion	Steampunk Dave
Pres. Theme DPI	Jim Jones	Downward Bound
Pres. Theme Print	Sue Champion	Wings of Grace

Following an enforced break due to COVID this season saw the return of our Print competitions and a return to ‘face to face’ competitions at The United Reform Church in Vicar’s Cross. Thanks to all the PAGB approved judges who gave up their time to join us and judge the images.

This season we replaced two of our ‘Open’ competitions with Landscape and Abstract themed competitions.

Over the seven different competitions a total of 312 images were submitted by 20 different entrants.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Terry Daltrey

Internal Competitions Secretary

Congratulations to the winners of our President’s Theme Competition. The theme this year was Movement.

Print Section

DPI Section

The Hoylake International Small Prints Exhibition was held recently with the award ceremony last week. This exhibition, which enjoys the support of the Photographic Society of America (PSA), attracted over 500 entries from 10 countries with only a third of entries being accepted.

Sue Champion had four images accepted and was awarded a PSA Ribbon for her image “Lightshade Curves” in the Geometry section. She also had three images accepted in the Flowers-Colour section. Congratulations to Sue.

The L&CPU Annual Club DPI Competition for 2023 was judged last weekend in Chorley. We submitted 16 images to the Open Section and 8 to the Nature section. All images were taken from recent CPS competitions and we were pleased to be able to include works from some newer members in our entry. 

Congratulations must go to John Wild and Terry Daltrey whose images of the ‘Sea Eagle’ and ‘Grey Heron’ both scored 13 out of 15 points in the Nature Section and to Jim Jones whose landscape image ‘The Rivals’ also scored 13 points out of 15 in the Open Section.

Again, we were competing against some of the very best clubs in Lancashire and Cheshire and although we may not have scored very highly in the overall Club ranking, coming 30^th out of 36 clubs, we were proud to take part.  

The following links will take you to the Online Catalogue and the Virtual Galleries on the L&CPU site where you can see the award winning images from this competition.

https://lcpu-portal.org/portal/catalogue/catalogue.php?A=MTA3

https://lcpu-portal.org/portal/gallery/newbuild.php?id=MTA3

Congratulations and thanks to Patricia Keegan, Sue Champion, Vikki Naudi, Kate Sawallisch, Jim Jones, Jim Walshe, John Beavan, Ron Sutton, Keith Fitzpatrick, Terry Daltrey, John Wild, Ian Atkinson, Ian Nixon and Jan Wilding whose images we used in our entry.

Jan Wilding

External Competition Secretary

Congratulations to the winners of our Abstract Competition. This was the first time we have held a competition on this theme and there was a lot of interest to see the variety of images members has entered, and the judge’s comments were very well received.

Print Section

DPI Section

Chester PS recently took part in the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain GB Cup. We scored 107 points and were placed 13^th out of 14 in the GB Cup (Limited Eligibility) formerly known as the GB Cup for Small Clubs.  This was a nationwide competition, and we were up against some of the very best clubs in the country. Although we may not have scored very highly on this occasion it is, as they say, the taking part that counts and it all helps to raise the profile of our club and hopefully encourages us to take even better photos.

Thanks must go to Sue Champion, Keith Fitzpatrick, Jim Jones, Patricia Keegan, David Melville, Ron Sutton, Jim Walshe and Jan Wilding for the use of their images.

Report by Jan Wilding, External Competition Secretary