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JUST A FEW OF THE VERY KIND COMMENTS RECEIVED FROM VARIOUS CLUBS FOR JUDGING CAMERA COMPETITIONS OR FROM GIVING ONE OF OUR TALKS

Dear Dave

Thank you so much for what I have been told by many of our members was a wonderful evening.  I luckily witnessed the last three sections which were informative and helpful.

It makes a change to have so many members come up to me to say “get him back” – usually, it’s the moans and groans so you must be doing something right which these days is refreshing.

Suzanne Hancox
Programme Secretary
Kidderminster Camera Club

Hi Dave,

 Just a short (and belated) note to thank you for judging for us on Tuesday.

Our novices were engrossed by your clear and incisive comments and advice, and they all said they thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

 Thanks again Dave, best wishes to your better half Ange, and we hope to see you again soon.

Nicholas

Bromsgrove PS

Hi Dave

Just a wee thank you for joining us on Monday evening to judge our round of this year’s Mersea Challenge.

I have to say that I did appreciate and enjoy your style of critique. Every image was appraised with the same attention to detail, with precise and concise feedback with useful tips and pointers for the authors. Feedback from the club folk suggests they were of the same opinion. Mark, our club president appreciated your feedback for his “Sotavento Solitude” photo. Your comments suggested you saw the image exactly as he intended. It’s an image which both challenges and divides the judges. I’m no judge, but I’d certainly hang it on my wall.

John

Dingwall Camera Club

Dear Dave and Angie,

Your evening went down very well indeed!

Enthusiasm is infectious, and you "infected" quite a few of our members - well done

Derek

Desborough and Rothwell PS

Dave

I want to thank you, and say I have received good praise for your judging skill both from myself and from other members.

You will definitely be on my calling list.

Simon Hughes

Newport PC 

Hi Dave

On behalf of the members of Streetly Photograhic Club I would like to thank you very much for judging our Print Merit Competition.

A lot of members told me that they liked your style of judging and the advice you gave on how to improve the images too.

I would also like to book you again

Linda

Streetly PC

Dear Dave,

On behalf of the club can I thank you for yesterday. We readily recognise that judging is not an easy task and your comments and subsequent decision were much appreciated by the members.

We very much look forward to you visiting our club again in the not too distant future.

Glyn

Secretary,

Rugeley and Armitage Camera Club.

Hi Dave

Many thanks for your Zoom talk to Derby City on Tuesday.

I am also pleased to tell you that Tony, who hosted the evening, has been in touch with me to say that your talk made for ‘a satisfying, entertaining and inspiring evening’.  He also said your composites were ‘fascinating’ And that there were some very fine images of Scotland and southern Ireland.

I hope we can see you again

Ashley Franklin Derby City PC

Thank you once again from our members for a fantastic and enjoyable evening showing wot pictures you like.

We saw a wide range of lovely images with a very friendly narration to go with the talk as well.

 All the best and hope to book you again in the future.

 Chris

 Maidstone Camera Club

Hi Dave and Angie

Thanks to both of you for a great night of photography. Yet again I find myself inspired again to have another go after the last few months of disappointing failure in club and external comps.

Bryan,

Tettenhall PC

Hi Dave

Thank you for an excellent evening judging our print competition last week. Your comments were well received by all the members there, they were constructive comments and should help folk improve their work without being critical. 

I will be in touch soon.

Best wishes 
Vivien, Wall Heath Camera Club

Hi Dave
It was pleasure to welcome you to Yoxall on Wednesday last when you were judging our PDI and Print competitions.
I have been asked by our chairman and members to thank you for the professionalism and fairness shown to our images.

Barry 

Yoxall Camera Club

Dear Dave

Our thanks to you for the way in which you judged the whole evening. We were impressed with your comments, tips for improvement and humour while  judging.

We will definitely be inviting you to judge again.

Mike Calvert

Leamington Spa PS

Dear Dave,
Just a note to thank you for coming to judge our panel competition last week.  All the feedback was good and people particularly liked your focus on the way the images worked as a panel rather than evaluating them individually.  
Best wishes,
John

Dear Dave

You gave us a first class judging last night for which we thank you very much.

In the past judges have often tended to major on the composite or the individual pictures 

but not on both equally.   It was good to have all aspects of the exercise considered and commented upon

for once.

Graham

Potters Bar PS

Dave & Angie,

just a few words to say thankyou for your presentation last Friday for Malton Camera club. I believe that all our members who joined the presentation thoroughly enjoyed it and were suitably impressed by your shots. I personally thought the infrared shots were outstanding.

Tony 

Thank you so much for judging the comp and I have heard nothing but favourable comments from our members who feel that images were judged fairly and with good feedback (this is unusual feedback after an external judge has visited).  I am sure we will see you again if you are willing to come.

Maxine

Hagley Camera Club

Hi Dave and Angie

We (L&LPS) are incredibly grateful that you could make the long journey to give us your talk 'Pictures wot we like' and very impressed by your enthusiasm for photography.. It shows in your wide range of different types of images and amazing imagination in your creative compositions not to mention your animated delivery.

Jean Leicester and Leicestershire PS

Thank you Dave, for judging our images, your critique is invaluable, especially to the Standard Class.

We hope to invite you again in the very near future.

Sue

Droitwich Camera Club

Dave and Angie,

 

To thank you for this evenings presentation and the strong reminder that we should enjoy photography to create images that we like. It is a principle of our club where encourage our members to try new things and not worry about what others think.

 

Can I also compliment you on the broad mixture of images giving a variety to the talk and hence keeping it alive and fresh.

Huw Edwards

Aberdare Camera Club

Dear Dave and Angie,
Terrific! Truly terrific! Many thanks for another excellent evening. Great pictures accompanied by a super commentary. Informative, entertaining and humorous .... what more could we ask?! Superb! Have to say, in his Vote-of-Thanks Graham Walton said it all for me.


The most unexpected reward of being Programme Secretary is that, occasionally, you strike-up a relationship with friends who visit the club, perhaps just once a year, but you wish it was more. Friends whose company you know you would love to enjoy for an evening meal, or a pint or two.

That’s you two.

Phil

Shirley PS

Hi Dave,

I just wanted to write and pass on the thanks of all the members of Bromsgrove Photographic Society for your judging this week of our PDI Set Subject Competition. 

Your style of judging was greatly appreciated, giving loads of good advice without appearing either harsh or judgemental.  I can’t remember a single image about which you didn’t find something positive to say.  Your helpful, humorous and supportive way was immediately picked up by our members and I received a number of very favourable comments during the interval, which have also continued since Tuesday. 

We never forget how all our judges and lecturers give their time and expertise so willingly and without whom there would be no photographic societies.  It really is most appreciated.

Thanks also to Angie whose company we also enjoyed.

With very best wishes,

Nigel.

Competition Secretary, Bromsgrove Photographic Society.

Dave

What an excellent evening! Your depth of knowledge of photography and passion certainly came over to your audience who thoroughly enjoyed the event!

Stourport Camera Club

Good morning Dave

A very big thank you on behalf of Corby Photographic Club for a very enjoyable, informative and inspiring evening delivered in such a relaxed and friendly manner.  None of your enthusiasm or personality was lost on zoom which can often be the case.  The feed back from our members was extremely positive and on a personal note I would say that you showed us a wide and diverse genre of extremely high quality photographs that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Malcolm

Corby Photographic Club

Dear Dave

 

On behalf of the members of Droitwich Camera Club I would like to thank you for judging our "Open" DPIs competition yesterday evening.

 

You kindly suggested that members could heckle the judge, we are a quiet lot but, anyway, the judge wasn't deserved of heckling! 

You made the event enjoyable and your thoughts were really appreciated; the remarks made on each image helping all members not just the photographer concerned. 

The range of scores was good also. 

Sue, Dep Comp Sec.

Droitwich Camera Club

Hi Dave

Firstly let me congratulate you and Angie on a superb presentation at Wall Heath Camera Club on Wednesday evening.

All images were stunning and the mono were of the highest quality I have seen for some time and, along with informative notes on technique and Photoshop presentation, a wonderful evening. 

John Birch WHCC

Hi Angie & Dave,

Thanks for the very interesting and informative lecture you gave us last Wednesday.

Pat

North Birmingham PS

Just a note to say "Thank you" for judging our 4th Aggregate Competition earlier this week. I received favourable feedback, and comments included:

- I thought Dave spent enough time on each image, generally said something positive and made sensible suggestions for improvements.  I thought his final selections were, on the whole, about right, although there were, as always, a couple of rejected images that I thought he should have gained awards.


- I thought Dave did a good job. He always tried to make positive comments while adding suggestions for improvement. There were a small number of images where Dave stated that the photo did not have enough impact to be successful in a club competition. It's a tough message to receive, but I think he was right to say it. 


- We should invite him back, and I think Dave is already on next season's programme.


- Enjoyed Dave Tucker’s judging last night and his sense of humour!


- Lovely sensitivity in Dave Tucker!

- I thought Dave did a good job.  I thought both his positive and critical comments were very helpful to me (and, I would hope, to the authors).  I agreed with most of his final choices - I thought there was an interesting variety of approaches from our members.  

 

- I liked Dave's open mindedness and positive approach. He had something good to say about every photo, and his criticisms were delivered in a way that should help people improve. 

 

-  I thought that overall he was a very fair judge with some constructive comments on all images.

 

- I would have included any negative comments, but there weren't any!

Looking forward to your next visit.
Many thanks
Rhys  

Dear Dave and Angie,

On behalf of our club, many thanks for your enjoyable talk on Tuesday evening. It's very unusual to have a presentation by two award-winning photographers in one evening and you both showed us a wide variety of work.

Your skilful use of compositing was put to good use in your pictures of Ragged Victorians and other re-enactors, producing some powerful images.  It was also good to see infrared pictures in your opening sequence.

Your enthusiasm for pictures that you like certainly came through!

With all best wishes,

Gill Haynes LRPS

Programme Secretary, Worcestershire Camera Club.

Good morning Dave

I do hope you and your wife got back to Walsall safely and the journey was incident-free.

From our perspective, your judging was spot-on: several members commented to me about how good your constructive comments were, and I thought the overall delivery and commentary was excellent

Richard Kenny

Rushden and District PS 

We so enjoyed meeting you and Angie and seeing the 'Pics wot you like', we very much liked them, too!  I hope we will be able to invite you back again sometime in the future.

Mary

South Birmingham PS

I’m sure all those present were most impressed with the constructive comments you made about some of the images ~ especially in the ‘Novice’ section. This is one of the best ways to increase awareness and spur people onwards and upwards with the quality of their photography and, as such, you did it perfectly!

On a personal note, I was very pleased with your way of explaining the more technical aspects of producing a competition image with comments about things to avoid such as very light objects at the edges of an image or the dangers of ‘over-sharpening’ and the problems that particular technique can throw up.

All said, you did a perfect job for us

 Alan Lawrence ARPS Programme Secretary

Wolverhampton Photographic Society

Just a quick note to thank you for last night. We, at the Club, thought that it was an excellent evening greatly helped by your judging. Your comments were very constructive in relation to individual images as well as to the requirements for a successful panel. For a number of our members it was their first entry in a panel competition so your comments were encouraging as well as being very useful to them.

Thanks again,

Graham

Lichfield Camera Club

Hi Dave

Many thanks for another terrific evening at Shirley Photographic Society - the audience agreed, we enjoyed a real masterclass in how to put together a panel-of-quality.

Your constructive critiques were excellent; always helpful and well-observed. Recognising that judging is far from an exact-science, your thoughtful and perceptive comments confirmed your choice of the winning panels ... worthy winners, we were all agreed. Truly terrific!

Phil Moorhouse

Shirley PS

Dear Dave

Everyone enjoyed the evening and the consensus was, as Stewart said, that your appraisals were balanced and helpful:  what more could we want from a judge?  We were also impressed with the fact that you got through 74 prints by 10 o’clock without it feeling rushed.

Best wishes to you and Angela,

Michael

Stratford Photo Group

Hi Dave

 

Thank you for judging our Annual Creative Competition earlier this week. I received feedback from members and their comments included:

 

- I thought Dave was very good and I think he appreciated the quality and diversity of our images.  He said quite a lot about each image and, sooner or later, you are going to run out of new words! I was happy enough with his selections but I was most impressed with how he got into the creativity of our images.

 

- Dave was very positive about all images and I learned a few tips which is always good.  A tough choice to make from a lot of good images but I think his selection was fair.

 

- It was good to hear from somebody who appreciated and looked deeper into the photographer’s creativity.  I liked his sense of humour, too.  

 

- I liked Dave's simple approach to reviewing the creative images. He didn't try to identify the original photo; he didn't try to guess the processing techniques; he didn't try to understand the images; he simply looked at the image in front of him and commented on what he saw. So often, the simple approach is the best. As Dave said, in a creative competition "anything goes", but I think he was correct to point out mistakes such as erroneous artefacts, or over bright areas. I felt his comments were delivered in a helpful manner. I was happy with his final selections. I'd be very happy to see Dave returning as a judge during next season.

 

- An entertaining judge, without malice who constructively motored on giving mainly constructive criticism, and also giving his satisfactory comments when he saw what he considered a good image. Liked his brash approach, lets have him back again.

 

- I would like to see Dave as a judge again.

 

As you can see, our members enjoyed your style of judging and would like to see you return. Once I find good judges I like to invite them back. This is particularly true of judges capable of reviewing and judging creative work.

 

Best wishes Solihull Photographic Society

Dave

It was a great pleasure to have you judging….

Your judging was excellent – so much so that, as you know, had I had my diary with me, I would have booked you on the spot for next year.

I always reserve only the very best judges for those occasions and you certainly filled that criterion.

Thank you again for a super evening.

Anne Stourport Camera Club

Dear Dave

I have already been told what a good evening it was and what a great judge you are with helpful and sensible comments - once I tackle our programme I would love you to come back and judge again if at all possible.

Best wishes Sue

Kidderminster Camera Club

Thank you

all

Dear Dave

It us who owe you our gratitude for a successful evening. It was indeed a good inter club battle and I personally thoroughly enjoyed seeing some amazing images from the other clubs. And, those images were judged fairly, correctly and with purposeful comments by you, and in my opinion that is what a photographic competition should be about.

Best regards

Keith Watson Chairman

Dunchurch Photographic Society.

Hi Dave and Angie,

Just a quick note to say a big thankyou for you fabulous presentation yesterday evening. Your love of photography and your ability to communicate your wonderful skills was truly inspiring.

With best wishes and thanks from all at Princes Risborough.

Alun

Hi Dave and Angie 

Just a note to say thank you very much for last night. I have had messages from members, they really enjoyed your talk, every bit of feedback was positive! I think the variety was great and your banter, you make me laugh and the pair of you remind me so much of Will and myself :)

Helen

Secretary, Malton CC

Dave

Thank you so much.

The positive feedback from our members was unanimous. 

It was definitely one of the best presentations I've seen  in my time at the Club in quality, helpful tips and relaxed presenting. I really enjoyed it.

Brian

Chairperson Workington and District Camera club

Hi Dave,

Well, you did it again last night!

You always, always, always come up with the goods for Wolverhampton Photographic Society and last night was no exception.

I was most impressed with your casual and friendly method of delivery coupled your clear and unambiguous explanation style.

You did On1 credit last night and I'm absolutely certain that several of our members may well switch to it.

From post-presentation chat after you'd left the meeting, the way you explained both selective adjustments and your demonstration of selecting a figure from a background totally blew many of us away.

Obviously, you were a big hit with WPS last night as you always are and it was good to see Angie working alongside of you.

Alan

Wolverhampton Photographic Society

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