Christel Dellepoort wins 3rd prize again at Tri-Club Competition!

As a member of the Photography Club of Beaufort (PCoB), last week I, along with a good group of other photographers from our club (Brad the Man included!), participated in the annual Tri-Club Photography Competition. Clubs competing were the Camera Club of Hilton Head, Photography Club of Sun City and my ‘home club’, Photography Club of Beaufort.

Competing is always a bit exciting, as you never know what the judges really appreciate or how they’ll score your photo. This year, with Brad’s new Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer, we were able to print our own images at home. We even mounted and matted them at home, with kits we ordered online. This saved a lot of money on sending it out to get printed and then to a local framing studio to get mounted, which usually costs a lot. It’s fun printing at home! It does take a bit to figure out printer settings though.

To enter, I chose ‘Eggs in a Basket’, a black and white photo of, well, a basket of eggs, with 3 hands reaching in, which I took last year in Hanoi, Vietnam. The egg vendor stopped for a customer, so she set her basket down (carried on a bamboo pole over her shoulder) and helped the customer select the best eggs. I took the shot just as their hands reached in. It is one of my favourite shots from that trip. You can see the full image and more of my photography in my Photography Portfolio. It was entered in the ‘Intermediate’ category, along with work from about 28+ other photographers.

Hubby, Brad Mol, also submitted an image, one that he took in Rajasthan, India a few years ago. His image is called ‘Morning Tea’ and he entered in the ‘Advanced’ category. He competed last year in the same category with another India photograph, ‘Sip of Water’, which won in the Beaufort Club competition, but just missed placing at the Tri-Club that time. He was determined to do better this year!

The competition kicked off at 7pm, and the three judges, one from each club, started with the Novice Category first. Everyone was amazed at the talent even in this beginners category, and PCoB represented well among the Novice prize winners: Ms. Karen Norwood won 2nd place with her image ‘Time After Time’.

Second up were the Intermediate competitors, amongst whom was yours truly with my black and white image ‘Eggs in a Basket’. Out of 29 competitors, I won 3rd place once again! The Beaufort Club was especially strong in this category, with two second-place winners; Lynn Long with her ‘Reflections in Pink’ and Joan Eckhardt with ‘Come Fly with Me’. Their photos both happened to feature pink birds. So completely different and both stunning shots.

After a short break, the judges rolled right on with the Advanced category, one with 32 very strong competing photos to pick winners from! Judging was based on the 3-3-3 system: each judge gets to give a maximum of 9 points for an image; 3 each for  technical skill, composition and creativity. A perfect score would therefore be a 27 (nobody has ever seen a 27 in the competition’s history, though the winner of the Advanced category came very close, with 26). Once again, Beaufort Photography club’s talent shone brightly, with 5 winners who shared 2nd and 3rd place:

Brad Mol, tie for 2nd place for ‘Morning Tea’. Yay! Keeping up the family honour! 😉

Barry Wright, tie for 2nd place for ‘Hear Me Roar’

Janet Garrity, tie for 2nd place for ‘Dock at Station Creek’

Ellen Corbett, tie for 3rd place for ‘Solo Performance’

Russ Dimke, tie for 3rd place for ‘St Petersburg Subway’

In the last and final category, Expert, Beaufort Club took home the 1st place honours, with Lamar Nix’ photograph ‘Parabola Study’, another lovely black and white image.

It was a great night, and the talent in all three clubs made for a close, exciting competition. You may wonder my prize was? A ribbon and the honour of placing of course! It’s just for fun, after all. 🙂

Do check out the hubby Brad Mol’s newly revamped photography website too, if you have a chance. He has a lot of great images there. It always amazes me how two people can look at the same environment or subject and come out with a completely different photograph, giving you a completely different feel of a place.

Have a look at the slideshow of the Beaufort Club members’ winning images here. Which are your favourite? Comments are open below, would love to hear your feedback, as always.

Some of the Beaufort Club winners at the 2015 Tri-Club Competition. From left to right: Brad Mol, Cristel Mol-Dellepoort, Karen Norwood, Lynn Long, Lamar Nix, Janet Harter Garrity, Joan Eckhardt.

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