News and Events
Val Walker sweeps the board in the Norma Bateman Rosebowl competition 2008.
The subject of this year's competition for the Norma Bateman Rosebowl was "As Good as it Gets".
With such a general title members were able to use their imagination in selecting their entries for the competition. Animals proved a popular choice
and a wide variety of dogs, cats, horses, swans and even a pig rolling in the mud kept the audience entertained. The general title
also enabled members to show off their babies and children, subjects which do not feature often in club competitions. The judge for the competition,
Caroline Jane Williams of Ealing and Hampshire House PS, had a very difficult job in whittling down the entries, particularly as each member was able to
submit four photographs to the competition. The winning picture, shown on the left, was a beautiful landscape, Italian Poppies by Val Walker.
Val took the shot in May 2008 whilst on holiday in the Po Valley in Northern Italy. She saw the poppy field had the potential to make a great shot when setting off for a day's activities, but the light was in the wrong direction and there was nowhere to park the car. Returning in the late afternoon the light was perfect and Val's husband, Mick managed to find a place to leave the car. Val took a number of shots from different angles and viewpoints, sometimes crouching down to get more flowers filling the picture. When she got home Val reviewed her images and realised that in many the bland sky let them down. After some experimenting she decided on a cropped version which excluded the sky but still showed the strong lines of trees leading into the picture. And, of course, the beautiful backlit poppies.
Val's success did not end there. When the winners were announced it quickly became clear that Val had managed to tune into the judge's wavelength. Her images won not only a highly commended but also second and third place. Val had swept the board!
Below is a gallery of Val's other winning images. From left to right, second place: Mist in the Valley, third place: Mating Blue Damsels and highly commended: Bath White amongst the Flowers.
The Norma Bateman Rosebowl competition is a digital competition which takes place every year in memory of Norma Bateman, late wife of FEPS member John Bateman. The judge, who is always a woman, chooses the subject for the competition. The 2008 competition took place on 24 November.