I have been a bit busy recently and not been able to put many pictures into the monthly competitions run by The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers. That said however, last month i put three pictures in and i am pleased to say that i received two Silver Awards in the Monochrome and the Landscape Categories.
In the Monochrome Category, i entered this black and white shot taken on the pier at Weston Super Mare. I am tempted to call the shot, ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’!
When i first started photography in the eighties, i was very much inspired and influenced by the famous photojournalist, Don McCullin and a lot of my work was in black and white using Ilford HP5 film. I had some success as a freelance photographer and had a variety of pictures published in magazines and newspapers. While this picture is far removed from wedding photography, it’s very much the kind of style i like to do for myself and is very McCullin influenced.

The second Silver Award went to this landscape picture taken on the same day as the picture above. I was touring around the area of Weston Super Mare and Portishead and i saw this church up on a hillside in the distance. After a drive and a bit of a trek, i got this shot.

Both these photographs will now qualify to be reconsidered for a possible upgrade to Gold status at the end of the year. Last year, two of our Silvers were upgraded, so we are hoping for the same again.