News and Events
Double Triumph for Derrick's Kingfisher Portrait.
Derrick Leather has won the CACC Projected Digital Image Competition 2009 and FEPS' own Digital Image of the Year Competition
with his beautiful portrait of a kingfisher seen left.
The CACC (Chilterns Association of Camera Clubs) holds a keenly contested annual competition amongst its member clubs for the best projected digital images. The judges also select a single best image from amongst the entries. The 2009 competition was held on 5 April when all three judges voted for Derrick's kingfisher portrait as the best in show. On 11 May 2009 FEPS held its own Digital Image of the Year Competition. This is the first competition of its kind for the club since the decision was made to drop slide competitions from the programme. Judge Alan Colgrave ARPS of Harrow Camera Club had no hestitation in selecting Derrick's photograph as the deserved winner.
Derrick is a very worthy winner of both awards. The detail in the photograph is amazing. The close crop gives the impression that the kingfisher is a large bird but bird enthusiasts will know that it is very small. Also the bird is very elusive and sightings are far from common.
So can Derrick give us an insight into how he managed to take capture this beautiful image? Derrick has a friend who has a pond in his garden which backs onto the river Pinn.
For some time grey herons had been raiding the pond and then a pair of kingfishers decided to follow suit.
Derrick was invited to set up a hide in the garden. With help from a couple of youngsters who kept the pond stocked with
tiddlers from the river Derrick was able to take his photographs. But it was not straightforward as many shots had unsuitable
backgrounds such as brick walls and decorative garden shrubs. Plus the birds were perching on a statue in the pond which detracted from the natural look Derrick wanted.
He tied sticks to the statue hoping for a more natural pose but sadly the birds did not cooperate. Derrick was fortunate to make the most of this opportunity as the birds
have not been seen in recent months.
Shown right is the beautiful cup awarded to Derrick by the CACC.