This proved to be too good an opportunity to miss recently when members of the Island’s longest established Photographic Society ventured out for an evening in the darkened streets of Douglas’ fair City! Fortunately, it was dry and quite a mild night and we were really delighted at the fantastic turnout for this Urban Photography project, away from the warm comfort normally afforded to us at the St John Ambulance Headquarters off Glencrutchery Road.
Once again, we were extremely fortunate to be guided on the night by professional photographer and life member of the Society, Andrew Barton of Andrew Barton Photography, who is always so supportive and helpful to our members and also most generous with his time. He was on hand to advise on camera settings and other technical issues. Not many British photographic clubs are so fortunate and we are very grateful to him for all the time and effort he readily devotes to helping us.
After beginning the photo shoot in the Chester Street Car Park, the group moved on to Villiers Lane (off Howard Street) where the original Sea Wall can still be seen! Then, it was off to Regent Street and the area near Marks & Spencer before heading back through Strand Street to Guttery Gable Lane.
Two experienced models accompanied us for the evening, Rachel Moonan and James Aitchison, who provided excellent subjects in various poses in the available street lights and, occasionally, using one work light.
The impressive results achieved on the night were then reviewed by Andrew Barton at last week’s meeting when he also judged the first of our ‘Open’ competitions. This proved to be a successful competition for Geoff Atkinson who was awarded first place in the Colour and Mono Prints Classes, with ‘Master Frank Returning’ and ‘Left or Right’ respectively, and also in the projected Mono Class for ‘Last Train Leaving’. Ron Shimmin and Geoff Atkinson were joint second place in the Colour Prints, and Nigel Owen gained second place with 18 points (out of 20) for two prints in the Mono Prints Class. Lara Howe and Barry Murphy were joint second place in the projected Colour Class, with marks equal to Geoff’s but his image was preferred for the top spot. However, the best entry on the night was judged to be by Barry Murphy with ‘On the Crest’ in the projected Colour Class and another of Barry's images also gained second place in the projected Mono Class.
New guests are always most welcome to attend, subject to a small charge to offset our running costs. Please check our website www.iomps.com for more information. We next meet on the 16th November for “Isle of Man by Drone” with Craig Goffin and entries are due in for our first Assignment Competition “People”
By Antony Hamilton
