Murcia photo of the month October 2026

Here’s the October image of the month taken by the Los Alcázares Digital Camera Club (LADCC)

Those of us old enough may recall that there were times when photographs were only black and white. Colour didn’t start to become the norm until the 1970s, although it had become increasingly common in the 1950s and 60s. These days reverting to a black and white photo can provide a timeless and moody quality, and can be used by the photographer to emphasise shapes and shadows and even create a more abstract type of image. Taking away the colour aspect also helps the viewer to focus more on the texture, patterns and composition of the image.

The ‘Black and White’ challenge was put to LADCC members for this month’s competition. The judging was particularly difficult due to the wonderful array of really varied photos taken by the members. In fact, the top 12 images were all within one point of each other!!

Our top three pictures, below, show three very different takes on the black and white theme: a beautifully created scene of “Eight dominoes, four mirrors”, modern architecture featuring Sweden’s tallest building “Reaching for the sky” and a wildlife abstract shot of “A squadron of pelicans”.

Once again Gary Hull produced the members’ favourite shot with his dominoes and mirrors effect. Using a very scientific approach to his photograph Gary created a kaleidoscope, using two mirrors set at a 60-degree angle. When two mirrors meet in this way they divide a full 360-degree circle into 6 symmetrical sectors (one real and 5 reflected). He also placed both mirrors on a third mirror to double up on the reflections.

A straight line of dominoes would have created a hexagon but Gary wanted circles so he positioned the dominoes in curved lines to create his desired effect. The photo makes the viewer think that hundreds of dominoes were used but, actually, he only used a total of eight - four in the first curve, three in the second, and one in the back. The dominoes were illuminated from above with a small LED light. The reflection of the light was also captured in his image. As one can imagine, a vast amount of time and energy went into producing such a photo but what a fantastic shot…….!

Gary’s photo: “Eight dominoes, Four mirrors”

In second place was Klas Liesen who was inspired whilst seeing sun shining on Sweden’s tallest building, “Karlatornet”, some 74 floors and 240 metres high! His photo also gave the impression of a building being ‘unzipped’. When taking the photo Klas wanted to capture the bright sun shining on the surrounding clouds plus the building itself, whilst capturing the clarity of the blue sky around. He didn’t convert his jpeg shot from colour, but shot it directly by using his Fujifilm Arcos film simulation along with a digital colour filter, plus s-curve to increase the contrast.

Klas´ photo:“Reaching for the sky”

Our third placed photo of the month was a curious wildlife photo taken by Sally Gasston, who sometimes challenges the members’ photo appreciation with her style of photo. Sally saw that the black and white of the pelicans combined with the contrast of the shadows could make a great abstract black and white photo. She used a black and white filter, on her mobile phone, to amend the whole scene. The pelicans enjoy a daily feast from the leftovers of an Australian restaurant, watched by a horde of tourists! The fact that this is a regular daily occurrence means that the birds seem oblivious to humans and Sally could stand amongst them to capture her desired close up!

Sally’s photo: “A squadron of pelicans”

This popular camera club usually meets twice a month, at the Las Claras Centre in Los Alcázares, on the first Tuesday of every month and, often, an outing towards the end of the month, where the group gets together to collectively work on the topic for the monthly competition. With modern day technology we can all keep in contact for training sessions, sharing knowledge etc via ‘group chats’. We are interested in hearing from anyone who would like to join us when the opportunity arises. If you would like more information about the Club please do not hesitate to look at our website, www.ladcc.es, or email us at informationladcc@gmail.com