Set Subjects 2023-24
Here are the details for the Set Subjects in the 2022-23 season.
Set Subjects titles are released on January 1st each year for the Competition Year starting in the September of that same year. This gives at least 9 months for authors to capture their images. Indeed all images for Set Subject MUST be captured after the release date. Members must not use their ‘back catalogue’ from before that date (Jan 1st).
There is one exception to this each year. The Debbie Ram Seeker of Light is a Set Subject Title which runs every year alongside the other 5 annually named titles. The Debbie Ram Seeker of Light Award is always our first Set Subject which we run immediately after we return each September. The image for this competition can be captured after September 1st each year for the following September’s competition. This allows authors one full year to capture their image.
Please note that some dates may need to be changed but at least you can make a start at getting those set subject images. Corrections will follow as soon as I have the details.
| Date | Competition | Subject | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thurs 07/09/23 | PDI Set Subject 1 | Debbie Ram ‘Seeker of Light’ Award | This award will be given to the image that the judge believes has the best quality of light. The subject matter is unimportant. The primary subject should be well/sympathetically lit to bring out the best features and bring it to life. The light source can be artificial or natural or a combination of the two. Unlike every other other Set Subject Competition, each member can submit up to 2 images. However, only your highest scoring image will score points in the Set Subject League Table. (These images must have been captured after 1st September 2022) |
| Thurs 26/10/23 | Print Set Subject 1 | Sports & Games | This could be a dynamic piece of sporting action or maybe ‘capturing the moment’. If sport isn’t your cup of tea then perhaps capture a game of some sort in a still life image such as a board game. Alternatively it could be children or playing (with permission), or even adults!? |
| Thurs 14/12/23 | Print Set Subject 2 | Portraits | Not all of us consider ourselves ‘portrait’ photographers – as with all genres – if not, try going outside your comfort zone. You don’t need to necessarily think of ‘studio’ work, this could be a self-portrait or even a candid capture of a human or animal. It might be posed but it might not. |
| Thurs 11/01/24 | PDI Set Subject 2 | Scapes | The world is your oyster! These can be landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes or any ‘scape’ you like!? Scapes should hopefully capture the scenes and atmospheres of the great outdoors. Just as examples it could be a frosty or snowy rural scape, it could be an industrial scape of derelict buildings, it could be a sunrise or sunset or even at night, it could be almost anywhere you go!? Weather conditions can add substantially to your image. You could also consider using photographic techniques such as long exposure or ICM or even a fisheye lens. |
| Thurs 08/02/24 | Print Set Subject 3 | Action | We’ve had Sports already as a set subject, so now can you think of an image which captures movement or action. It could be a person, animal, object, vehicle….. To show the ‘action’ you might freeze a dynamic movement or try panning with a fast moving object or a slightly slower shutter speed which blurs the motion. It could even be quite abstract. Once again, think creatively. |
| Thurs 06/06/24 | PDI Set Subject 3 | A British way of life | We live in a multi-cultural world but what do you think of when you want to produce an image of something ‘British’? Is it Royal pomp and circumstance such as changing of the guards? Is it cheese rolling or bog snorkelling? Is it farmers working their animals or the land? (Hopefully it’s not sitting in a traffic queue or drunks fighting outside a pub on a Friday night or sitting watching I’m a celebrity…? Or is it?) The subject is massive and open to your interpretation and imagination. |