September 2025 – Sport

Judge: Barney Douglas

So, it’s been a bit of a while since I was judging, and I am delighted to be here for the sport competition this month.

Sport has played a great part in family life over the years. My grandfather, William “Billy” Wood, met the young Matt Busby when he was first signed by Manchester United. They became lifelong friends. Although he too had hoped for a career in football, the severe loss of hearing he suffered as a child prevented him from playing professionally. He did play fourth tier and while still playing he was appointed Treasurer of the Manchester Football League, a role he held from 1922 to 1957.

This photo, taken just a few weeks before the Munich air crash, shows him with several Busby Babes at Old Trafford, credit: Manchester Evening News. He was scheduled to travel on that ill-fated flight, but when my mother suffered complications carrying my younger brother, my grandparents travelled to stay with us in West Sussex for a few weeks. It may well have saved his life.

Billy’s son, my father, had absolutely no interest in football, but he was fascinated by chess, and became Cheshire Junior Chess Champion in 1939, aged just 15. As an adult he turned his attention to the green baize table, and was a county ranked snooker and billiards player for some twenty years. My abiding memory of that will be watching him win the weekly tournament at Butlins at Bognor Regis in 1959 (?), only to be tapped on the shoulder by none other than John Pullman and being invited to appear in the demonstration match against the world champion that evening.

My sports skills are limited and I was pretty useless at both football and rugby, although I occasionally took a snooker frame off my father. However I could run, and was somewhat disappointed to be omitted from my school’s middle distance squad throughout my final year. But, as they say, revenge is sweet, and I took the school 800 metre title beating the entire team squad on my very last sports day. That interest does run in the family, and I watched proudly as my daughter smashed her school’s 400 metre record when just 15 years old in 1994, a record which stands to this day.

She and my granddaughter are now accomplished equestrian riders competing in regional events with their two Arab horses, Canyon and Alpha.

You may recall from earlier competitions I have judged that my favourite subject is ballet, so it will come as little surprise to know that my early photography often included gymnastics. Nowadays I’ve gone full circle to my grandfather’s roots, and shoot football regularly for a major Middle Eastern sports website, whilst also being official photographer to FC Pays Arédien here in Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, Haute-Vienne, France where I now live.

Anyway … enough of what I have been up to. Let’s get to the judging. The subject of this month’s competition is Sport and there is a good selection here. The top three places were tight. There’s virtually nothing to separate them. A different day with a different judge as they say … but I have to make a decision,

Enthusiasm – White Balance

Zoom in on the two photos on the left, lower row:

The white balance, (the Kelvin colour temperature) is different. The face on the right has a slightly green tinge, and on the left is more natural. It affects the shirt as well a little. The message is this – unless there is a specific reason, don’t use auto white balance, especially on multiple exposures.

Please check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMzbF5naXTQ