BSoUP's Photo-fish Hunt 2000

Reproduced from in focus 69 (October 2002)

The BSoUP International Photo Fish Hunt competition was held at Fort Bovisand, Plymouth on Sunday 2nd July 2000.

Each competitor was issued with a roll of 36 exposure film to photograph as many different species of fish in Plymouth waters as possible between 9.00 - 16.00 hrs.

Each film was then judged on a points system and the photographer with the most points was adjudged the winner.

Points were awarded for:

1. SIZE: the size of the subject relative to the film frame. The larger the subject within the frame the more points the photograph will receive. One quarter of the frame 1 point, one third of the frame 2 points, one half of the frame 4 points; two thirds of the frame 6 points; three-quarters of the frame 8 points, greater than three-quarters of the frame 10 points.

2. DIFFICULTY: the difficulty of photographing the subject. Freeswimming fish such as wrasse, bib, mackerel, and pollack, will score more points than bottom-dwelling fish such as plaice, flounder and topknot (unless the latter are swimming). Free-swimming 10 points; others 5 points.

3. ARTISTIC MERIT: up to 10 points con be awarded by the judges in this section.

Points ware deducted on the basis of:

1. EXPOSURE: subjects, which are incorrectly exposed. Minus 5 points.

2. FOCUS: subjects whose eye (or eyes) are not in focus. Minus 5 points.

3. ORIENTATION: subjects, which are not facing towards the observer. Minus 5 points.

4. COMPLETENESS: subjects, which have parts of their body (including fins) obscured or outside of the picture frame. Minus 5 points.

5. DUPLICATION: two or more photographs of the same fish. The first scoring photograph only will count.

So an excellent photograph of a free-swimming fish whose eye or eyes are in focus, correctly exposed, filling more than three-quarters of the film frame and scoring top artistic merit points would score a maximum of 30 points. A similar photograph of a bottom-dwelling fish would score 25 points. In contrast (in incorrectly exposed photograph of a bottom-dwelling fish, which was not facing the observer and occupied less than one-quarter of the film frame and whose eye or eyes were out of focus would score minus 19 points!

The total points awarded or deducted for each competitor will be calculated to determine the winner

2000 PHOTO FISH HUNT RESULTS:

The winner of the was GORDON JAMES who scored 163 points. GORDON was awarded the BSoUP International Photo Fish Hunt Trophy, kindly donated by the Image Centre, and a gold medal.

The runner-up was LEN DEELEY who scored 124 points. LEN was awarded a silver medal.

In third place was KELVIN CURTIS who scored 116 points and was awarded a bronze medal.

In forth place was MARTHA TRESSLEP with 112 points

Reproduced from in focus 69 (October 2002)