It was a chilly December night. Early signs of Christmas in Mid-Cheshire were evident with a few illuminated houses. Twenty-one keen photography enthusiasts made their way into the Dingle Centre to get warm, exchange pleasantries before getting down to the real business of this month’s Open Competition.
Mid-Cheshire Camera Club welcomes back our judge for the night, Tilman Kleinhans (ARPS / EFIAP/b / DPAGB / BPE3*). Tilman is no stranger to MCCC and is one of our regular judges. Tilman Kleinhans is a member of St Helens Camera Club and has been involved in Judging since the mid-eighties. Tilman uses his photography as a means of communicating visually with the world - citing the words of artist David Stanley, “no image is complete until it reacts with the viewer.” Tilman adds it is this reaction that decides how successful that image is. This ethos was never stronger during this evenings competition because when it came down to the last few images it was the stirred emotion within Tilman that allowed him to pick his winner. A healthy crop of Prints and Projected Digital Images (PDIs) were ready for Tilman’s eagle eye.

Tilman is the quintessential judge when it comes to marking the photo artwork of others. He says enough to give the author feedback without damaging confidence. He recognises artistic flare almost encouraging it and he is happy to change his mind, promoting an image that on first glance did not make the grade. Tilman provided comments across all of the images he reviewed a summary of which appears below:

1. 

   Pearly Heath Butterfly
   Good use of reflections adds to the composition
2. Use of colour to depict mood in a landscape
3. Using matt paper in certain images enhances the look
4. Tilman likes to see straight horizons and the horizon should not split the image 50/50
5. Tilman commented on a couple of images how they were sharp, detailed and well-lit with fantastic colour combination along with the fact that the subjects were all on the same plane, however, the image was let down by poor composition. Tilman provided advice as to what he thought was the better composition.
6. Images need drama – flat contrastless images do not work
7. Tilman suggested that microphones should be cloned out where ever possible

After Tilman’s hard work the results were in.

Open Large prints
Position	Author	Title	League Marks
1st	Ray Girling	The Passenger	20
2nd	Ray Girling	One Horned Rhinoceros	19
3rd	Sheila Regan	Lakeside Colours	18

Open DPI's
Position	Author	Title	League Marks
1st	Ian Whiston	Male Lion Dawn Patrol	20
2nd	Ian Smith	Pearly heath butterfly	19
3rd	Ian Smith	Cormorant drying its wings	18

Congratulations to all the winners and runners up and a thank you to all the members taking part. A final big thank you goes to our Judge – Tilman Kleinhans who provided sound and honest feedback throughout the whole evening. We look forward to seeing him again next year.

For more information about the Mid-Cheshire Camera Club visit our website at ]www.midcheshirecameraclub.org or come along to a meeting on Wednesday evening at 7.45 for 8pm at the Dingle Recreation Centre, Winsford.