I hope everyone had a great Christmas with family and friends. And I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and may you take many great photos!
We have talented club members and below is a selection of the photos that I personally found interesting, beautiful, moving or otherwise and stood out from the many images that were posted on Visions FB pages during 2023. These are not in any particular order of merit, just picked out by your web site editor Rob Romani. So here goes:
Sunrise over Dunnotar Castle by Don Nealon. Great sky and the swooping path made this stand out from the many i’ve seen of Dunnotar.One of our new members, Kate Spink took this image of a short eared owl in flight. Possibly even the same one as the one by DL. Just in the right place of the frame, swooping with intent.Appropriate Seasonal image of this vintage steam train by Duncan Milne. Lots of steam just in the right places.A photo from Graeme Youngson’s pigeon project: Bus stop roof. This image came Second place in the Nature category of AP’s magazine Photographer of the Year. Typical high contrast treatment in the GY signature style. Well done! And Graeme was equal 2nd overall for the entire APOY competition, amazing for someone who specialises in street photography and is also the official non-pro Brechin football club photographer.David Lynch produced some stunning astro photos this year, but this was by far my favourite.Dave Lynch does more than just astro photography. This short eared owl image was my favourite of his excellent collection.Monochrome rendition of downtown Calgary by Annette Murphy. Strong shapes and patterns and just the right amount of contrast. Atmospheric autumnal photo by David Drage. The sunlight’s rays filtered by the trees lifts this above the ordinary.Grouse in the snow by Linda Di Mayo was a well deserved winner of Visions’ Photo of the Year competition. I totally agree with the judge who awarded this with a first place. Fantastic colours and a nice out of focus background. A slow shutter speed shows the falling show as stripes, good thing the grouse kept still. Well done!Casares in southern Spain by Susan Gordon. This is just great in monochrome so the shapes and patterns of the windows and buildings dominate the image, rather than the eye being distracted by colour accents.Marius Fabian took this long exposure on one of our club outings. He left enough space so the globe (created by spinning burning wire wool) is framed by the rectangular tunnel entrance at the beach.Not Trevor Stuchbury’s usual subject matter of landscapes, but his entry in the Pattern competition was one of my favourites. A collage of various access covers is different and works very well.Another owl shot, this time by David Drage. The backlighting makes this stand out from many of the others I’ve seen. Graeme Youngson in his element, red on red taken in Bo-Kaap, South Africa. Just brilliant!Andy Reader took this great shot of a wave crashing into the southern breakwater at the harbour. The contrast between the well lit wave and the dark clouds is perfect. Award winner at Grampian Eye.Past Hydrangeas by Pamela Stuart won an award in the Grampian Eye competition. Simple, delicate arrangement on the dark background draws the eye to the inticrate patterns of the flowers.I love this moody image of a lone tree in the mist by David Lee.Part of the V&A in Dundee and its reflection by David Drage. Lovely tonality and strong lines.Mags Grosvenor took this on a club outing to Stonehaven. I like the stripes and the lovely pastel colours, without the person in the water it would not work so well.Andy Reader captured this on a Visions outing to the harbour area. The sun only briefly appeared but mr Reader was ready to press the shutter.
So there you are. I hope this shows the variety of excellent images Visions club members took this year. If none of yours are in this selection, remember there are more than 40 members and I set out to choose just 20 I liked.
Visions Photography Club 
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