The meeting format of the Isle of Man Photographic Society this week was tutorials, however before the tutorials commenced, Tony Curtis Chairman of the IOMPS announced that His Excellency Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer, KCB, DSO, MBE had graciously agreed to act as Patron of the IOMPS during his term in office on the Island.
The tutorials for the evening covered, the new IOMPS website which can be found at www.iomps.com, two different types of techniques for creating window mounts for prints to be submitted into competitions.
The evening commenced with a tutorial on the navigation of the public facing aspect of the website where the purpose of each section was explained. One of the key benefits of the website is that it is now mobile friendly and presents well, whichever device you may use to access the website. Following the walkthrough of the public facing section of the website, there was a similar walkthrough of the members area where we were shown how to manage our personal information, and how to upload photographs for the competitions which run throughout the year. Improvements to the website from a members perspective allow those who have competed in the various competitions to keep track of the photographs uploaded, the score awarded for each entry and a league table showing progress throughout the year.
The evening continued with two practical demonstrations on how to cut a window mount in which to mount printed photographs for either personal use or for competition entries. One demonstration used very simple and low-cost equipment such as a mount cutter, steel ruler, some aluminium angle as a guide and a pencil. While the other demonstration utilised more elaborate equipment such as a Mount Cutter and a homemade template for aligning the photograph prior to sticking onto the window mount and back cover. Both methods created professional looking results in a similar time.
The next meeting will be held on the 20th of October and will be a practical evening covering various aspect of lighting. All are welcome to attend and for non-members there is a modest entry fee, all meetings are held on Wednesday evenings at St John Ambulance HQ on Glencrutchery Road, starting at 7:00pm, full programme details can be found on our website www.iomps.com.
The IOMPS gratefully acknowledges the continued support of the Arts Council.
By Andrew Cairns
