Steam's Up

I think the last two months have been the busiest I have ever been - getting the first Steam's Up off the ground, and the accompanying Street Art competition - and fitting in a bit of paid work, and a couple of trips abroad with my work!  It's all over now, and we have the results!

Around 140 photographs of steam and diesel engines, landscape and people were printed out and displayed in the Council Chamber of WSDC. This was just the final short list, prepared by the judges, George Reekie of Taunton Camera Club, and Don Bishop, a well-known local professional photographer. They then went round the displayed images and chose the winners and runners-up in each category.

That's Jacob Fuller, by the way, the winner of the Junior section from Bishop's Lydeard. Runners up in that category were 2nd: Damian Slade, and third Jacob Fuller again. Damian Slade also had a highly commended photo.

In the Steam Category, Craig Hutchings from Taunton won first and second place with a couple of stunning photos. Third came Mark Pike, and Brian Burrows and Michael Quinn photos were highly commended.

The Diesel Category was dominated by Mark Pike, from Poole in Dorset, with just Ian Smith squeezing him out of second place.

In the Landscape category, the winner was Simon Osborne of Frome, followed by Mark Pike, again and Penny Chambers in third place.

The People Category had some great images.  The winner here was Dawn Hartley, from Minehead. All the winners were presented with Graphic Designer Pro 6 software, donated by Xara, the software that I used to churn out the 140 A3 glossy images that we displayed - and many of the posters! Second place in this category went to Martin Hope, with Michel Lowe third, and both Justin White and Mark Pike - yet again - highly commended.

The other star of the show was the Oce.ColorWave 600 colour printer, being demonstrated by Ian Guiver, from Oce.Besides printing out the winning photos in A0 format, Ian worked flat out printing jumbo sized images for any visitor for just the cost of a small donation to Oce's favourite charity.

That's Simon Osborne with his winning entry in the Landscape category - the glowering skies behind the signal box reflected the lousy weather that accompanied the first day.
We ran  a local competition alongside the photo competition, assisted by 10 businesses in Williton, who each donated £10 towards a prize for anyone who could find, and correctly identify, 10 photos of trains. I drew the winner from the collecting box at the end of the exhibition - 4pm on Sunday - watched by a couple of young lads, one or two others, and the Parish Council helpers.  I asked the young lad his name. 'Stephen' he said. Right, I'll see if I can feel your name out of this pile. I closed my eyes and put my hand in -and drew out his entry form! He had all the answers right, as well.  Not only that, he had arranged with his friend to share the money if he won!  We were delighted to give it to him (through his mum, of course). A dream ending to a great exhibition.  Those who entered, won, attended, or wished they had entered, all said they would like to see it back again next year.

Here's young Stephen Parsons who made a great finale to an excellent exhibition!