2024/5 Set Subject Rules and Guidance

The set subject competitions are hopefully structured in terms of difficulty.

  • Set Subject 1 – Low difficulty brief
  • Set Subject 2 – Challenging brief with a more technical aspect
  • Set Subject 3 – Creative approach required to meet the brief

Whilst not mandatory, the aim of Set Subject competitions is to encourage new work, rather than looking for back-catalogue images that happen to ‘fit the brief’.

In a change to previous years, set subjects 1 & 3 will be PDI only and 2 will be print only. This is to avoid too large an entry when prints and PDI are combined. Standard Club Rules on re-use of images and use of children’s images must be adhered to in these competitions.

For the 2024/25 season the Council have agreed to these subjects:-

Set Subject 1 – On The Beach

Competition Type – PDI only, maximum of two images per author

Hand-In: 7th November 2024

 The Competition Brief – The submitted images must be taken on a UK beach and the main focal point should be the physical beach environment itself, whether that be sand, shingle or rocks and that can be supported by secondary subjects such as people, animals, castles etc. Think ripples in the sand or reflections in pools or wet sand on an ebbing tide – the world is your oyster (well, the UK), but don’t get your feet too wet!

Set Subject 2 – Street Photography

Competition Type – Print Only, maximum of two images per author

Hand-In: 6th February 2025

The Competition Brief – Generally Street photography features chance encounters and random incidents within public places, and the aim is to capture images at a decisive or poignant moment by careful framing and timing. The image should neither be posed nor staged.  As always, be careful of your surroundings and respectful of others during this competition.

Guidance on photographing people in public is available >>Here<<.

Set Subject 3- Movie Titles

Competition Type – PDI only, maximum of two images per author

Hand-In: 3rd April 2025

The Competition Brief – Two “rules” only apply:-

  1. Your image title must be the title of a movie (as recognised as having had a UK Cinema or TV release on IMDB).
  2. The image you create must portray that title as closely as you can and not the theme of the movie.

Here are a few examples. For each we’ve tried to show what works, and what doesn’t.

  1. The Wind in the Willows – An image of willow trees, leaves blurred by the movement in the wind, fits the brief. An image of a rat, a badger and a mole driving a car doesn’t, even if we could infer that was the movie.
  2. The Fast and the Furious – Usain Bolt having a heated argument with anyone would be ideal. Cars/ bikes/ anything being driven fast, nope, no thanks, unless there’s also an element of anger.
  3. Where Eagles Dare – A pin sharp image of an eagle, soaring majestically over the mountains …… probably not as that’s not overly daring, it’s his day job. But if the Eagle was flying a Spitfire….. yes please.

Hopefully you get the idea. Whilst this is deemed a challenging competition, it should also be fun. Please use your imagination.