Photo Comp Judges decision.

I was delighted to be asked to judge this competition and have to apologise for the delay in making my final decisions. In my defence not only have I been abroad but I have also been very busy with the gallery and commercial work in the last few weeks, sorry! After an awkward access to the images (needs to be much simpler to access and view next time guys!) I was quite surprised. Firstly that there were so few entries, just 11 in total, but then secondly by the one or two very high quality examples amongst them. This of course has made my job extremely easy as I have not had to create sets and subsets of short-listed finalists.It would be extremely unfair to judge the composite and heavily computer enhanced images alongside the straight shots, so I have made the decision to keep them as separate categories, regardless of how few the entries.In the straight photo category I am very happy with my decision to award Skull Shadow the first place, with a VERY close second being Snow Stream. Both showed an acute observation and an eye for the unusual. The Skull shadow had beautiful tonal range, colour and composition. This probably pipped Snow Stream to the post as I was desperate to see just a hint more contrast or tonal separation, though I loved the monochromatic choice of treatment.With regard to the manipulated images, there was a very clear winner (although heavily David Hockney inspired!!) with George Washington Bridge , whereby the use of multiple images allows the artist to shift emphasis from one element of the composition to another, picking up and highlighting details or observations that might otherwise be missed. Again I wish the original images had a little more clarity and tonal range but it was still a successful attempt. In second place I would go for Kilt and Bagpipes for its humour and composition. As an artist for whom the beauty of photography lies within its own phenomenal ability to reproduce tone and texture, I have always been highly critical of attempts to be painters through using computer buttons! I still stand by my view on this and painting should be left to skilled painters, but considering the category of this composition, I still feel the image deserved mention. As a tip, if I am ever asked to judge further competitions, never enter images which have used the art buttons in software packages A special mention should go to the Unicorn shot, which whilst lacking in technique, was nevertheless a rather beautiful image and innocently observed, quite haunting and was considered for second place.I should also say that were no bad shots amongst the entries, which is a good sign for AmeriCymru members Glyn Davies 2009