The Society has had two consecutive and thoroughly entertaining evenings to start the year, the second being the judging by Andrew Barton, photographer, of the first ‘Open’ competition at the beginning of November. Showing neither fear nor favour, Andrew is always highly professional in his approach, being critical, but fair, in his remarks in equal measure, when commenting constructively and helpfully on each of the entries and the Society was extremely fortunate to be able to call on yet another highly accomplished judge.
Overall, he complimented entrants on the good quality of their submissions, adding that most of the prints had been “beautifully mounted”. In line with current off-island practice, Andrew judged ‘cold, on the night’, that is without the advantage of seeing the entries and being able to view the images in advance.
Drawing on his vast experience of over 30 years as a professional photographer, Andrew is locally based and continues to offer a uniquely personal and professional photography service. He is very well qualified, as most know, having been incorporated as a Member of the British Institute of Professional Photography.
Those who are more familiar with Andrew’s work, know that he desires to see ‘punchy’ prints and projected digital images and, in the case of mono images, for most to show a complete range from whites, to greys and through to blacks. Of course, he is quick to comment on poor cropping and composition too! It is probably fair to say that he likes to feature ‘people’ in his work, as and when appropriate.
In particular, Andrew had been greatly impressed by the clever technology being built into the latest mobile phones, which were now producing such excellent results, without the hassle of carrying around heavy gear, including a variety inter-changeable lenses. He commented most favourably on the images taken utilising mobiles, which were becoming increasingly sophisticated with, at times, surprisingly good results.
As the entries had been so good, it came as little surprise that several images had been so exceptional, that they had deservedly been awarded the full 20 marks.
Overall, the results were as follows:
The Colour Print Section winner was Jeremy Broome-Smith with ‘Buzz Off’. Jeremy also won the Mono Print Section with ‘Burnham on Sea Wooden Lighthouse’
The Projected Digital Mono Section was won by Sean Corlett with 'Milner's Tower' and Sean also won The Digital Colour Section with ‘Mushroom’ which Andrew also selected as the Best Image in the competition.
The new Mobile Phone Section was won by Nigel Owen with ‘Underneath the Arches’
Antony Hamilton gave the well-deserved vote of thanks to Andrew.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 18th November at the St John Ambulance Headquarters, off Glencrutchery Road in Douglas.
