The IOM Photographic Society provides a weekly programme of meetings during the period late September through to late April each year, a very busy schedule of presentations, competitions and the occasional practical workshop. As with every society on the island, the committee has had to be very aware of its responsibilities this year, particularly to its older members, but despite the obvious pandemic constraints of recent months, the programme fortunately has been maintained almost as normal.
With Christmas and the New Year behind us, the society is now into the second half of the programme, with much to look forward to. Presentations are always eagerly anticipated the enjoyment of a relaxing evening looking at a fellow enthusiasts images, and understanding and appreciating their motivation and skills and perhaps gaining some ideas to try for oneself are all part of the pleasure. So Tony Curtis, Jeremy Broome-Smith, Chris Blyth, Andrew Cairns and James Brew are all included in the schedule and whilst Tony and Jeremy have yet to reveal their chosen topic, Chris will be presenting on the subject of Americas National Parks, Andrew on Japan, and James on his Landscape Photography.
We have one more Open Competition and two Assignments in the programme the assignments being book, film or song title and three of a kind - titles sufficiently vague as to give our members considerable room to manouevre in their endeavours to produce winning images! The competition season finishes in late March / early April with our Annual Competition, usually with a visiting judge from across, but this year we are very much looking forward to the return of two local judges, each with experience and expertise Clare Payne to judge our prints, and Marianne McCourt the digital images. There are also two external digital battles in the programme one with the North West Bristol club, the other a three way battle with the Oldham and Rochdale clubs. These have both been regular events in our annual programme, and regarded as very useful as a gauge of our competitiveness with similar UK based societies.
A practical is planned for later this month, and will probably involve some macro table-top work with water droplets, oil and water, and perhaps some studio lighting work.
Meantime, last week I featured work from several Intermediate members, this week I have included some images from our Advanced members which I have particularly enjoyed I hope you do too.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 13th January when club member Tony Curtis will be presenting a folio of his images the topic yet to be confirmed but Tonys presentations are always interesting so an evening much anticipated. The meeting will be held the St John Ambulance HQ on Glencrutchery Road, starting at 7:00 pm. Full details of our programme may be found on our Facebook page or on our website www.iomps.com Our meetings are open to the public (non-members with a modest entry fee), and all will be given a very warm welcome.
By Chris Blyth
CAPTIONS:
IMAGE 01: Cactus by Ron Shimmin
IMAGE 02: Long Tail by Jeremy Broome-Smith
IMAGE 03: On Silver Sands by Barry Murphy
