Invicta vs OPS friendly, 14th March

[Ian Stedman]

Hi,

I represented the club tonight at the Invicta vs OPS inter-club competition. Andy Smith judged and a good critique of the images was provided by him. The standard of images from both clubs was very good.

The final score was Orpington 264, Invicta 271. We did not score any 20's the highest mark was 19 for Chequered blue <latin name provied> by Keith Woonton.
Full scores are attached to this post. Of note was the fact Invicta selected 4 images from one photographer!  If we'd known, we could have put a few more of Peter's into the competition

Invicta_vs_OPS_Mar_2024.pdf

I have discussed dates for next year, will aim to hold the competition via Zoom to get wider audience participation.

[Chris Sawyer]

Good effort by OPS in the circumstances.  Not only did Invicta have one photographer entering 4 images, there was also another who entered 5.  Not really representative of their club, I think.  

[PeterH]

I think we can claim a moral victory! Make sure it’s limited to two per photographer next time….

[Ian Stedman]

Hi,

Despite losing, it was an enjoyable evening, as always a good chance to see other's work and approaches to photography.

Upon arrival I met Keith, one of the two who visited us last year and was guided into their new meeting room, the main hall was hosting a martial arts class. Their new room is about the size of my lounge at home (9m x 3m) and their usual complement of 7 members were present. When we last visited 5 years ago, meetings where held in the main hall, there was 20+ members from Invicta and they had a gallery system for print competitions. Now they have a challenge holding print competitions due to lack of space.
They were worried if more from OPS arrived, they might need more seats! Another 5 members later joined via Zoom. All their meetings are hybrid Zoom/in person to help keep  their numbers up, as some don't travel at night. I wish we had known about this, a Zoom meeting link could have been shared, something I did mention!

I was made to feel welcome and had a number of discussions with various club members. Like us, times are getting tight, financially but they have 17 members, compared to our 22.
Their membership fee is lower than ours, which would make the finances even harder to balance. I'm told we were in a similar way 8 years ago, membership dwindled due to a block of people leaving en-masse with  the resulting financial problems.

As I said, it was an enjoyable meeting and everyone was hospitable. I was proud to represent us. The quality of our work shows, in the KCPA diamond jubilee, we beat Invicta by 5 points and gained a merit award for Brands Circuit, by Barrie. We enter these competitions to compete, not to make up the numbers.

We'll host a rematch next year and play by the rules.

PS Don't forget to submit your PDI of the Year  selections.

[Chris Sawyer]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the update on Invicta. "Location, Location, Location" comes to mind.

[hammettsr]

A Zoom link would have been very welcome. Hopefully this will be available next year.

The Chequered blue butterfly has the very unmemorable Latin name: Scolitantides orion

I would say we won as they appear to have cheated. Perhaps the remedy next year would be to limit the total number of images submitted by each group to 20.

Steve