Tygerberg Photographic Society - March 2015

The set subject for this month was "Sunsets or sunrises". I've taken so many of these over the years that it should have been easy to find two images to submit that would have eared Gold ratings. But, I decided to be clever, and enter an image that would stand out from the rest (the "Cold sunset" image - first one shown below), and it did, but not in the way I had hoped! With hindsight, I think the judge (and everyone else) wanted to see a sunset with the rich warm colours one normally associates with that time of day, so that image only earned a Silver rating. All my other submissions, however, earned Golds. All in all a good month!

As usual, just click on the image for a larger version. Titles and ratings can be seen on the TPS page (link on menu bar).

I must also just say that I really enjoyed playing with the macro images. The colours, lighting and reflections really have made the marbles a very special project, and the colours and detail that came out of photographing the pink butterfly bush were very special indeed!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - February 2015

So - one year in and my first anniversary with the TPS! What a great year it has been, and I can honestly say that joining them was the best thing that could have happened for my photography progress. The highlights (of course) have been when the judges like one's photos and score them highly, and the worst times are when the images just don't rate! But even the negatives have positives, as it is here where one learns the most from one's mistakes.

Set subject for February: Macro, or close-ups. As mentioned previously, this is an area that I really enjoy, and this month all the photos I submitted, both in the print and open categories, were macro images. So I'm going to show the images of all submissions below, though they can still be seen (with the judge's ratings) on the TPS Entries page (link is on the menu bar). As usual, please click on the images for the large versions.

Lichen on oak

The ageing process

Marbles and frangipani

The Balotelli wave

My biggest disappointment for this month was not receiving a Gold rating for the shot of the marbles and frangipani reflections. Mainly because the judge did not give any reasons for marking the image down. But even though it didn't get Gold, I still really like it!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - January 2015

Set subject for the month: Black and White. 

Real highs and lows during this particular competition. My photo of two dahlias featured as runner-up in the set subject print section, while the digital submission of the black and white sunset got me my first Bronze! In fairness to myself, though, our projector was displaying the images much brighter than what they were actually, and the photo looked completely blown out when shown on the screen. There was a number of images from different members that suffered the same fate.

The images entered into the "Open" category can be seen on the TPS Entries page (link is on the menu bar). 

As usual, please click on the images for the large versions.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - November 2014

The set subject for November (the final month for competitions for 2014) was "Macro". This is one of my favourite forms of photography, and while I expected to do well this month, it was in fact my bleakest set of results since joining the TPS, and the first time I have failed to receive a Gold rating for any of my entries! But - it's great motivation to do better going forward!

My first image was of a cross section of a Kiwi fruit, and not to make it too obvious, I decided to convert the image to black and white. I eventually named it "Ancient artwork from New Zealand", though "Alien sports stadium" came a close second.

The second image was of the centre section of a pansy, and I named this one "Furnace".

The images entered into the "Open" category can be seen on the TPS Entries page (link is on the menu bar). The "Light beer" image was just a bit of fun, though I quite liked it in the end. 


As usual, please click on the images for the large versions.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - October 2014

I'm a little behind with my blog posts, hoping to catch up this week, but this is a start!

The October set subject was 'Photojournalism". Not my favourite form of photography, but these were my two entries for the month, and I was more pleased with them than the judge was! The photo of the Vissershok Road flooding was taken in July last year, while the "Zone 7" motorcyclist was taken in October 2014 during a TPS organised outing. Both these images received Silver ratings.

As expected, having advanced to the 3-star photographer category makes it just that more difficult to achieve Gold ratings for photos, and this month only one of my photos qualified for that status. This is the image - it's of one of the Rapport Newspaper Sunday morning vendors, a very pleasant and friendly gentleman named Moses.

My final image entered into the "Open" category can be seen on the TPS Entries page. Just click on the "TPS Entries" link on the menu bar.

As normal, please click on the images for the large versions.