By Noel Bunce
Have you ever noticed the beautifully formed, singular liquid drop or splash, in television and newspaper advertisements pertaining to beverages like coffee and the explosion of effervescent bubbles in vitality drinks and lemonade?
Have you noticed how these wonderful images appeal to your taste buds?
Ever noticed ads based around summer vacation destinations where a holiday maker dives into an ocean pool and thousands of refreshing bubbles burst forth with the aim of enticing you and your wallet to warmer climes?
These then were the themes that lead to Pakenham Camera Club’s third and final challenge topic of their 2021 competition year; Water Splash.
Be it at the ocean or in the pool, under the shower or in the bath, mixing drinks, watching rain fall or simply experimenting the choice of style was in the hands of the individual image maker.
As with the club’s previous challenge juxtaposition, liquid splash is around us every day, so much so that we rarely take any notice of it. Then, when given a task to capture and freeze it in time with a camera we tend to scratch our heads and think, what makes a splash?
The shooters were certainly firing in the Gunn household as the challenge unfolded with Karen and Wayne taking out the quinella while Helene Hudson finished third.
For Wayne it was his second challenge victory on the trot as Two Bells, a colourful dunking of two capsicums into a fish tank saluted. Exploding through the water the complementary colours of the red and green projectiles filled the tank and the immediate area above the water line with a plethora of bubbles and splashes, many infused with the reflected colours of the vegetables.
Karen’s offering Splat, was timed to perfection, just an instant after a water polo ball hit the liquid surface of a swimming pool. The resulting explosion captured the deepened colour of the ball’s reflection in the crater like eruption zone.
Strawberry Splash by Helene Hudson, another colourful exhibit received judge Adrian Smith’s nod for third place. Combined with the dark background the mainly red reflection in the thousands of small, and in places, tightly bunched bubbles created as the fruit pierced the water ironically mimicked single and bunched blackberries.
As strange as it might seem in these Covid times, where stories of parents being driven to drink by virtue of the ordeals of home schooling abound, there were few images presented based around alcoholic beverages.
One that took the eye of the judge was Splash by Rod Stone. Splash offered up beautiful golden and clear liquids overflowing into a martini glass and received a highly commended award as did images by Helen Cross, Julie Oates, Karl Pagenstecher and Susan Sventek.
The PCC has announced the much anticipated Pakenham National Photographic Exhibition will be conducted during the month of December. Members of the public who wish to enter the exhibition, which will be conducted over twelve digital sections, are invited to go to www.pakenhamnational.org for details.
Entries close on 12 November and the exhibition will be online from 1 December.
