Grampian Eye 2019

Grampian Eye is an annual photography competition among camera clubs in the North East of Scotland. Grampian Eye 2019 was hosted by Visions Photography Club at the International School Aberdeen on Saturday 27 April 2019. Grampian Eye 2019 supported two charities: One to One and Archway. We raised around £3000 via ticket sales, raffle tickets and generous donations of prizes.

Next year the honour of organising the event goes to Forres Camera Club, we wish them good luck.

The day was deemed a success by all those who put up messages on the GE 2019 Facebook page. Thanks are due to the hard working Visions’ team, special mentions to Anna Horne for getting amazing amounts of donations from sponsors, Annette Murty for dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, David Drage for putting the images in a powerpoint and getting it to the judge, producing the program booklet and taking photos at the event. Lynda Gordon for looking after the money, Pamela Adams and Claire Harrower for selling record amounts of raffle tickets. And finally Susan Gordon (el Presidente) for keeping a steady hand on the tiller and making sure we all worked together as a team.

Thanks also to the staff at the International School of Aberdeen who went out of their way to make sure everything went smoothly and provided excellent food and drink on time. Also of course many thanks to all the generous donors of raffle prizes,

Thanks also to Peter Paterson, our judge who after an early start was on his feet talking to us for many hours. He did an excellent job of commenting on aspects of the images that could have been improved by paying more attention to making sure the depth of field was adequate for the subject, cropping out things that detracted from the image etc. A new term (to me at least) was Photoshop grey, meaning areas of the image that should have been brighter but were instead a dull grey colour.

It was an early start on the Saturday of the competition, fortunately coffee and bacon rolls helped to fuel us while we got ready for the 200 photographers. Below a selection of images taken on the day by David Drage and Rob Romani:

Ready!
Annette getting ready
And they arrive
Registration
Pamela and Claire selling raffle tickets
Lynda, Anna and Kevin
Michéle Emslie (on the right) stand
Checking out some of the raffle prizes
Still quiet then,
Mike and Annette at a registration table
Dreich day to start with for Alan Meek..
Alan Gawthorpe checking in
John Lewis stand
David, Alan and Kevin from Visions
Bon Accord
Early morning coffee
Raffle stand
First arrivals in the theatre
Stage manager
Opening address by Susan Gordon
Nearly the final image
Tea break
Raffle under way!
Will I win something?
Raffle Prizes
And the winner is…
Vision’s Susan and Pamela elated at coming second!
Euan Fraser receiving the Grampian Eye winners cup from Peter Paterson
President’s choice: Concentration – Billy Watson
Winning image – Shimmering Dawn – Alan Meek
Alan Meek
Lenny Smith receiving the prize for runner up image from Judge Peter Paterson
And you are somewhere there, probably…

Participating clubs

Thursday, 9th May 2019: Grampian Eye 2019 AGM at Visions – Ruthrieston Community Centre – Holburn Street

The full set of draft rules can be found here

Minutes of the 2018 Grampian Eye AGM can be found here

The judge

The judge for Grampian Eye 2019 was Peter Paterson FRPS MFIAP MPAGB.
Peter Paterson has been taking photographs for over 50 years starting mostly in Monochrome which he processed in the darkroom. His main subject interests are Landscape, Still Life and Abstract, both in colour and mono. He exhibits his photographs in various Photo Salons around the world. He gets great pleasure from sharing his photo technique with others through talks to Camera Clubs and Societies. He presently serves on the A and FRPS Fine Art Distinction Panel. He is a member of Edinburgh Photographic Society and the Scottish Photographic Federation of which he is a past President.

Peter’s website can be found here.

The charities supported by Grampian Eye 2019

Grampian Eye is a non-profit making event and, each year, any surplus funds are distributed to charities chosen by the host club. Visions Photography Club has chosen the following two local charities: One to One and Archway.

ONE TO ONE

Established in 1998 and based in Aboyne, with outreach rooms in Banchory, One To One provides free confidential counselling for a range of mental health issues for the residents of Lower Marr and the surrounding area. Funded by the Local Healthcare Partnership, and generous donations from local people and groups, One to One is currently training 15 new volunteer counsellors which will more than double the number of clients they can serve and should half the current waiting times.

one-to-one website

ARCHWAY