Horseboy Freckles Roger Ford

MICKI ASTON AWARD

Roger Ford FRPS

I was at the last day of the Appleby Horse Fair when it stopped raining and I saw the boy with the red hair and sailor suit in gentle soft light. I framed the shot to bring out the textures and the boy’s freckles.

Micki Aston

We were only given the option of choosing our personal favourites from the remaining images after the images that were awarded the Highly Commended, Commended, and our Gold Medal winning image were withdrawn from the selection process.

My personal favourite from those remaining images was chosen by me because I kept going back to look at it again and again. The boy’s face is arresting in its intensity, and I really enjoy the way the author has placed the boy far right in the image, yet with his head turning slightly towards us. I love his freckles and his lick of wayward hair. For me, the author has cropped the horses at the correct amputation point for this image, and the whole feeling here is of Irish horse owners? Or maybe horse trainers? The boy gives us the feeling that he is very used to being amongst horses. I also like the horse’s tail framing the left hand side of the image. One could argue that the boy is cropped a little tight on his head, but even that, for me, adds a very compelling dynamic.

Highly Commended Gloomy Sandwich

FRED BARRINGTON ARPS

The main architecture is a museum of Ocean and Surf in Biarritz, designed by Steven Hull.

I was attracted by the strong directional shadows and diagonals leading to the bench at the back. The strong shadows with the white architecture presented challenges in keeping details in both the shadows and the highlights.

Highly Commended Solitary Pursuit

MICHAEL LONGHURST ARPS

I came across this scene in a September mid-afternoon on the promenade at Sao Jacinto, a pleasant seaside town on the Atlantic-facing west coast of Portugal in a region prone to sea fogs. The twin structures, the symbolism of which was lost on me, flanking the lone angler formed merely a small corner of an oversized and visually jarring monument, far too big for its surroundings, to a deceased local person presumably of some importance.

Highly Commended Boy On A Train

ANDREW WOOD ARPS

This is a candid shot which was taken at an historical re-enactment event which takes place every year on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway celebrating ‘Wartime in the Cotswolds’. You cannot really plan these sort of photo shoots very much. It is more a question of seeing the image and reacting quickly enough to capture what you see. Street photography, in fact.

Commended Twisting The Light Marilyn Taylor Arps

This image has been quite successful for me, but hasn’t always been presented like this.

The bird is an egret, I think, and it was flying overhead when I was on holiday on the beach north of Mombasa. Shot against an unusually white sky, with a bridge camera. The background was shot in Kerala, amongst the tea plantations, quite late in the afternoon, with the sun going down.

Commended Age Gap

JOHN HOSKINS

I had seen this as a possible image when using the station, so went back with my camera. Frequent trains made it difficult to capture a suitable scene but I was lucky to find the young couple and the old lady, looking towards each other, although not necessarily at exactly the same time! The contrast between their ages gave me the title. Minimal editing was needed. Edited in Color Efex Pro using Bleach Bypass. Handheld at f4 at 1/20. ISO 1000.

Commended Breakwater Martin Ridout Lrps

This photograph was taken on the Norfolk coast in 2018, and will be included in a panel I am working on with a view to achieving my ARPS.

Although in rough weather the Norfolk coast is subject to terrible sea erosion, in calm weather it seems very docile, and the colours of sky, sea and sand together are very appealing to me.

A small amount of processing was added in Photoshop to slightly increase saturation and to smooth out the fine detail in the sea and sand thus enhancing the calmness of the scene.