What a great celebration of photography at our seventh annual Awards Gala! The Scarlet Regency Cabaret was decked out in it’s finest speakeasy decor – all bathed in warm glowing red light. Art deco lamps, feathers and many nostalgic accessories were strewn around our night club. Even a table was dedicated to the display of cameras from years long past. Music and videos of the 1920’s & 30’s were streamed through our AV equipment. Best of all, many members donned period costumes to make the evening feel quite authentic. And food, glorious food, overflowed our serving tables – a treat for every taste bud. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event to make it such a "roaring" success.
We started a bit early this year so that it wouldn't be too late when we were eating. Two slideshows came before the meal – the first was a gorgeous scenic show from Gilles Bisson on his trip this past summer to Newfoundland. Following that, we up-tempo'ed the music and saw a spirited interpretation by our members of the month’s theme challenge -’Round the Bend! The later set of images have been uploaded to our public Facebook page for your review.
Following our meal, the audience was introduced to their hosts for the Awards Presentation, fresh back from a trip to New York. Luckily they had a great camera crew along with them for their trip, consisting of Chris Ward, Mike Montgomery and Dave Robinet. The rest, well if you weren’t there, you will need to hear from someone who was. David Gilbert & I did hear a lot of laughter going on, prior to our entry!
Then we got down to serious business – namely, handing out well-deserved awards in 23 categories of photography. For each of our award categories, we had four competing images. The winners and runners-up will be posted on our webblog shortly. In addition, I will be posting the full awards presentation slides on our Youtube channel. In total, 21 individuals took home awards hardware.
About half way through our awards show, we paused to watch a 7 minute review of everything the club has been up to, over the past 12 months. It was fast paced and backed by up-beat cabaret music. And finally, the awards show ended with a little “soft shoe” from David & myself - with a little help from some well know performers from the 1920s – 1940s.
At the end of the night, I was actually awarded with a trophy as Best Club President – the first thing that I’ve won in seven years at the club. Not sure exactly who my competition was though, seeing I’ve been the only club president over that time frame! The trophy was appropriately filled with Smarties – I heard somebody say something about “smarty-pants” or something like that! I do, very much appreciate the heart felt sentiment. Thanks to you all.
Here are the 2019 winners of the respective award categories:
Award
|
Winner
|
Image Title
|
Use of Colour
|
Mary Robinet
 |
Umbrella Haven
|
Candid/Portrait
|
Ian Dickinson
 |
Proud Mother
|
Wildlife/Animal
|
John Dufour
 |
Out Foxed!
|
Shallow
|
Janice Ruggles-Bolton
 |
Three Little Chicks
|
Nightscape
|
Dave Tugwood
 |
Night Reflections
|
Fall Splendor
|
Joanne Arbuckle
 |
Morning Mist
|
Funniest Foto
|
Joseph Leduc
 |
Long Exposure
|
Urban Life
|
Leonard Buffett
 |
Urban Transport
|
Architecture
|
Mags Kandis
 |
City Tribute
|
Slideshow of the Year
|
Larry Tayler
 |
Tasmanian Grace
|
Monochrome Plus
|
Marilyn Sprissler
 |
Towering Sanctuary
|
Photographic Print
|
Don Taylor
 |
Nepal Holy Man
|
Feathered Friend
|
Daphne Creasy
 |
A Bird's Eye View
|
Winter Scene
|
Joseph Leduc
 |
Mush!
|
Abstract
|
Margaret Liddon
 |
Enchanted Forest
|
Use of Texture
|
Paula Martin
 |
Checkers
|
Classic Composition
|
Deb Walters
 |
Motherhood
|
Macro
|
Don Taylor
 |
Swallowtail in Flight
|
Use of Space
|
Bert Jenkins
 |
Mystery Island
|
Floral
|
Gail Hamilton
 |
Tulip Classic
|
Landscape
|
Mike Montgomery
 |
Mist Rising
|
Use of Light
|
Alan Jenner
 |
Daybreak
|
The major award of the night – Photographer of the Year – was awarded to Gilles Bisson. Gilles was very deserving of the award, consistently producing exceptional images throughout the year, while actively participating in many of our theme challenges and outings. In addition, he assisted with club presentations and member slideshows over the course of 2019. Congratulations to Gilles.
Our Theme Challenges for the coming two months are – Picture Perfect for December and Structurally Speaking for January.
We wish everyone a very safe, happy and healthy Christmas and holiday season.
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