Judge: John Boyd
There are two trophies for this topic and will be presented in August 2022.
Refer to the MCC Landscape/seascape rules - that are the same as the PSNZ to allow you to re=use your image for the PSNZ salons.
https://marlboroughcameraclub.org.nz/competitions/competition-rules/nz-landscape-seascape-rules
Open
Set Subject
This is a trophy topic so there are only the overall 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings. As presented at the MCC club Trophy evening on 11th August 2022,the following members were awarded:
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Liz Davidson Landscape Print Trophy |
Judged by John Boyd 1st Roger Thwaites - Calm before the Storm 2nd Sue Henley - Wintery Wonderland 3rd Roger Thwaites - After Sunset |
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Digital |
Barbara Wilson Landscape Digital Trophy |
Judged by John Boyd 1st Trish Brown - Early on Lake Mapourika 2nd Mark Roxburgh - Golden Harvest 3rd Stu Wilson - Heading Out after the Storm |
26th May - the above comment about 'results' is wrong. Sorry, I only requested critique and placings. I should of asked for results (not accepted/accepted/merit/honours). Because of my error, no images where being 'seen' on this critique page. So I've had to update ALL images with a MERIT results just so the images can be seen. It will not impact 'end-of-year' points. This will be rectified for next year. Once again, I'm very sorry for the error. Carol
From our judge - John Boyd
"Good evening All. It has been an honour and a real pleasure to see your landscapes. I hope I have given credit where it is due and that you enjoy the images as much as I have. In assessing any work I think about the photographer's interpretation of the subject, how the technical aspects support that interpretation and the emotional impact of the result on the viewer. I think that just as much as any other subject, landscape images should be conveying a story, not just recording a pretty picture, and I think you have all done well in that respect. Please remember though that the opinions expressed and placings are just one person's view, and others are likely to see things quite differently. Congratulations to all on an excellent show, and especially to those to whom I have given a placing. Thank you for entrusting me with your work."
Print - all A Grade
| Title | Critique |
| After Sunset | Good use of the vertical format and lovely framing. Excellent colour detail. Shame about the surface spot top right third, but not taken into account. |
| Calm before the storm | I love the way the foreground contrasts with the storm beyond. Well arranged, but I would like to see it reversed so we have a single white focal point. |
| French Pass | I think the focal point is a boat which leaves too little land to be a landscape according to the definition, in my opinion. If I'm wrong I'm sorry, but it makes no difference to the placing and abstraction. Good to see experimentation. |
| Hokitika | Lovely colour, mood, and quality. While I empathise with the wish to include those stones, I feel it is stronger with the foreground cropped almost to the water so the emphasis is really on those wonderful clouds. Very close to the top 3. |
| Punakaiki | Competent work well presented. Arrangement is good but it doesn't hold my attention as some others do. |
| Morning Glory | Better as a projected image because this doesn't have the same overall luminosity. Perhaps a glossy paper would better realise its potential. |
| Some more Wanaka Trees | An interesting monochrome as it seems to be blue in some of the water and top left. Good tonal range and well balanced. |
| Sutherland Stream | The stream has the silkiness of liquid mud. Well composed, but is stronger reversed because the interest is left of centre and you would then have a strong lead in. |
| The Blowhole | Excellent timing and it is good that you have caught sun in the important area making the most of the splash and almost getting a rainbow. Frame well filled and well composed. |
| Wintery Wonderland. | An interesting colour palette which fits the story well. Good strong focal point well placed and exquisite detail. You could try this reversed. |
Digital
| Grade | Title | Critique |
| A | Across Cloudy Bay | I don't think the potential of this image has been fully realised. Removal of the colour cast results in better defining of the different bands of colour in the sea and makes the headland much more graphic. Arrangement good. |
| A | Autumn in the Vineyard | Excellent colour, pattern, depth of field and arrangement I feel that the colour of the sky lets it down and contemplated cropping it off, but that would have been detrimental to the composition Well seen. |
| A | Dreamscape | Landscape on a grand scale. That wonderful S curve is in just the right place and the clouds build to a big one to add special interest top right. Well taken, and a contender. |
| A | Early Morning Kaikoura | Soft colour and very nice proportions. The central arrangement works well in conveying a restful feeling. |
| A | Early on Lake Mapourika | To me, this conveys everything the given definition of landscape seeks. It truly captures a sense of “space” and “place” and tells a story of the scene. I particularly like the bottom branch on the focal tree, and the way the cobwebs are lit. Lovely work. |
| A | Ebb 'n Flow | Good still textured rocks contrasting with the smooth movement of the water which has a veil-like appearance in the foreground. Good arrangement with the eye being led through to the focal point of the white rock on the headland. |
| A | Lake patterns | Lovely lighting and reflections in this well arranged image. I would have liked to see a little more of the wake and perhaps less of the trees on the left, but it has been very well seen. |
| A | Lone Cloud ~ Black Birch | Very simple and effective with the eye being lead from the left by the plants, up to the pyramid and then that lovely cloud. The simplicity would be further enhanced in monochrome. |
| A | Mackenzie Layers | A very elegant sweep of the foreground ridge and strong contrast with the snow behind. While I enjoy the sky, to me the landscape is uncomfortable in the square format and I therefor suggest a crop from the top to just below the white cloud on the left. I know the maker won't agree though. |
| A | McLean Falls | Technically excellent with just the right shutter speed to allow the water to move. To me, the weight of the composition is on the left which begs the question if it should be cropped to remove all the light area to the right of the falls. |
| A | Morning Glory | Good luminosity across the frame and focus like mine is in the morning. This has lovely atmosphere and tells the story well. |
| A | My Big Back Yard | Very dramatic, but for me a little over-polarised. I wonder what more you have of the foreground as it seems rather truncated and more of it and less of the sky might have been better. |
| A | Power and Access | Good proportions and the poles provide elegant links to the snow. A contender. |
| A | Rakaia River | A brilliant portrayal of a braided river. This could be very successful in Natural History. |
| A | Rarangi Beach. | An excellent interpretation, but perhaps a little jarring on first viewing. Suggest you crop from the top to remove the bright cloud, leaving a one third two third proportion. |
| A | Robin Hood Bay | The light on the sand makes this. Good arrangement. Try darkening area above the horizon and brightening the rest. |
| A | Seaward Kaikoura's | Excellent crisp and fresh feel. Good use of the foreground tussock. Suggest slight brightening. A very strong contender. |
| A | Torrs | Although Scots might pronounce with 2 Rs, there should be only one. Look like hungry chicks Good tonal range. Suggest crops from bottom and right to just include one foreground rock, plus narrow white border. |
| A | Wither Hills | Lovely atmosphere and recession. Suggest crop of half the sky to make more of the white cloud along the ridge. |
| A | Wither Hills sunset | Nice recession and colour. Suggest you crop half of the sky and increase the light of the lovely wedge of foreground texture. |
| B | Alpine Allure | Lovely clouds and foreground but the lighting on the mountains is a bit flat. If you have more of the base of the lupins I suggest you include that to give them a base and raise the horizon line. |
| B | Autumn Reflections | The pattern and colour in the water is delightful. Suggest you crop half of the sky to focus attention there and perhaps into the autumn tree from the left to eliminate the light trap there. |
| B | Dusk near Tahunanui Beach | Good use of the foreground water, and I wonder what colour it would have had. There is good detail in the foreground if that is brightened. |
| B | Evening windstorm Danakil (North Ethiopia) | Lovely colour and atmosphere. The arrangement is perhaps a little heavy on the left. |
| B | Golden Harvest | An inspired breaking of the rules. The band of clear water, disturbed just in the right places, reflects the band of cloud and it is the matching of all the band widths that is the strength for me. This is interpretation at its best. |
| B | Heading out after the Storm | It is the gulls and the story that lifts this one for me. I wonder about the central yellow, but it does all work well. Good arrangement and story. |
| B | Mt Ruapehu | Well exposed but quite flat lighting. I would have liked to see Mt Ngarahoe (not Ruapehu) further to the right to better balance the arrangement. |
| B | River Sunrise | Lovely colour in the water especially and I suggest you consider cropping half of the sky off to make more of that and perhaps from the right to place the poplars on the top right third. |
| B | Sunset at the Aorere river mouth Collingwood | A glorious sky with a strong focal point in the cabbage tree and good reflection in the water. The dark top right corner is a bonus, retaining the eye in the frame. |
| B | The end of another magical Marlborough day | Nice sky but I find the angle of the foreground off putting. Consider cropping into the dark area above the cemetery which will still retain the recession of the hills and I suggest increasing saturation. |
| B | Wither Hills from Wairau | Lovely repeating ridges and it's just unfortunate the angle of light didn't make more of them. Nice colour, and you nearly go the spoonbill. |
| C | Glacier Country | A wonderful sweep of glacier but it is all a bit featureless. Suggest more saturation to bring out the colour and a little darkening to increase the interest in the crevasse area especially, which then might become more of a focal area. |
| C | sunrise reflections | Perhaps too much of a good thing which divides the interest between top and bottom. Suggest you crop half the sky to below the big cloud or even into that lovely dark cloud to ensure focus is on the reflections and that piece of wood which adds interest in a plain area. |
| C | Wrapped | Good depth of field and arrangement. I suggest the foreground be brightened a little. Good use of the light on the hill. |
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