Morpeth Camera Club: Paul wins Browell Trophy for Natural History

Members were able to enter up to three digital images to compete for the Browell Trophy – a silver salver that was presented to the the club in 1985 in memory of a former member Jack Browell, who had a great interest and knowledge of the subject.

For this contest, George Ledger from Consett and District Photographic Society was invited to view and comment on all entries before selecting his award winners.

A respected NCPF judge, George has a passion for photography with a quest for exploration and learning about the natural world that has led to him gaining many awards and a portfolio of published images.

A large variety of different natural history subjects had been captured and George stated that it was always interesting to see how other photographers had approached this genre of photography.

Across the 44 images there were examples of plants including Dandelion, Thistle, Rosebay willowherb and Orchid. Butterflies, damselflies and hoverflies were captured in close up, together with caterpillar, crickets and fungi.

Birds in flight were well represented by Gannets, Geese, Gulls and Terns, whilst Curlew, Pigeon, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greenshank and Swans had been recorded in their natural habitat.

Several images were not local to the area and a beautifully coloured Narrow Billed Tody, a Sloth and young in a forest canopy and elephants on the plains all added to the diversity of the entries.

Throughout the evening, George offered advice on shutter speed, composition, backgrounds, light and depth of field. Angle of viewpoint is very important and filling the frame has always been a given for natural history photography, but George stated that in recent years there has been a clear shift towards showing more of the environment and lifestyle of the subject.

Following a well-informed and interesting critique of all the entries, the judge announced that he had highly commended four images – with awards going to Canada Goose by Paul Appleby and Mating Kestrels also by Paul Appleby, Wood Pigeon by Karin Jackson and Gull with Lunchtime Snack by Glyn Trueman.

Moving on to his top five selections, Greenshank by Glyn Trueman was placed fifth, Spotted Orchid by Sue Dawson was fourth, Prince of the Meadows by Carl Harper took third place and Juvenile Kestrel by Davy Bolam was runner-up.

First place and winner of the Browell Trophy for Natural History went to Arctic Tern by Paul Appleby.

George stated that there had been a lot of images in the running for a top five place and that members should not be disappointed as the standard had been so high that fine margins had come into his decision-making.

Co-chair Roseanne Robinson then thanked George for his time and effort in making it an enjoyable evening before refreshments were served.