This week, the President of the IOM Photographic Society, Jeremy Broome-Smith, welcomed back members for the start of our regular Wednesday evening meetings and hoped they would enjoy the superb facilities at our new venue of the St John Ambulance HQ. The meeting however, started on a sombre note a minutes silence in memory of Richard Shafto, our webmaster and a long-term member of the society, who sadly passed away during the summer.
Jeremy then introduced Pat Tutt to judge our Annual Print competition. Pat is Secretary at the Western Society, an acclaimed and highly qualified photographer herself, with an excellent eye and the presentational skills to enable a very clear explanation of her rationale in judging our images. She had very obviously taken considerable time and care in evaluating the entries with little escaping her eye composition, colour casts, the type of paper used, irritating highlights, blocked up shadows for example, all came in for comment but all done in the most positive way to help develop the skills and understanding of our members.
The competition covered 4 print sections mono, colour, nature and creative, split between the Intermediate and Advanced groups, so 8 classes with more than 80 images for comment and marking.
The Intermediate group proved very competitive, but ended with just two members splitting the various trophies on offer Martin Sanderson winning the mono section (and Ballure Cup) with Loch Reflections, as well as the creative section (Carnane Cup) with Water Crown, whilst Steve Johnstone took the honours in the colour section (Coombe Cup) with Starry Night and the nature section (Ballaragh Cup) with Red Kite. Other members of the group, Jonathan Carey and Richard Shafto, entered some excellent images gaining placings but ultimately just missing out on the prizes.
Similarly, some familiar names emerged as winners in the Advanced group cream always rising to the top - Barry Murphy winning the mono section (and Bridge Cup) with Eccentric Framing but again after some intense competition in particular from Sue Blythe. This image also won the Mackie Cup as the best mono print in competition. Sue however reversed the situation in the nature section, winning the Caraghan Cup with Morning Stretch. The colour section demonstrated Pats talent as a judge, awarding a top score of 20 to images from Chris Blyth, Sue Blythe and Ron Shimmin in recognition of their quality, each completely different in treatment but then choosing Ron Shimmins image Shipshapes as the overall winner (the Sanderson Cup) given its colourful and exuberant presentation. This also gained the Redwood Trophy as the best colour print in competition. Ron completed a good evening in also winning the creative section with Shapes and Shadows.
Antony Hamilton gave the well deserved vote of thanks.
The Society gratefully acknowledges the continuing support of the Arts Council for this event, one of the highlights of our seasonal programme.
The Society now meets at the St John Ambulance HQ on Glencrutchery Road, Douglas, all meetings open to the public (with a modest fee for non-members). Our next meeting is on Wednesday 21st October when Neil Morris, Managing Director of Manx Birdlife and a conservation expert will be judging the Bank Cup whose assignment this year is nature. More details of the Society and its programme can be found on our Facebook page and on the website at www.iomps.com
By Chris Blyth
CAPTIONS:
IMAGE 01: Red Kite by Steve Johnstone
IMAGE 02: Water Crown by Martin Sanderson
IMAGE 03: Starry Night by Steve Johnstone
