As almost everyone now owns a mobile phone with an inbuilt highly sophisticated and good quality camera it is only right that photographic clubs and societies should keep pace with the changing times and embrace this technology.

The Isle of Man Photographic Society, the oldest in the Isle of Man, is striving to acknowledge the growth and convenience of such devices by accepting the development of newer technologies that can no longer be ignored.

Of course, certain aspects, such as the use of Artificial Intelligence, would still be considered a step too far and is still not permitted in competitions to this day.

On the second Wednesday meeting in March, further evidence of the Society’s forward-looking approach to photography was in evidence for all to see at the St John Ambulance headquarters, off Glencrutchery Road in Douglas, when it hosted an open competition devoted purely to images taken using a mobile.

The committee was rewarded by welcoming a good attendance for a fun, more relaxed evening.

With mobiles being so convenient it can avoid the need to carry more expensive, heavy, cameras and equipment around, especially when traveling to foreign places.

So good is the quality of these commonplace, convenient devices that it is now very difficult to distinguish between images taken on a mobile phone and those taken with unwieldy, expensive, cameras.

As was evident from the attendance on the night and the number of entries, from no fewer than 10 of the members, mobile phone photography continues to grow in popularity.

There was a total of 36 entries and society president Andrew Cairns had decided to encourage audience participation by providing a voting slip for those present to award their own marks anonymously.

There was no invited judge for this competition, but members were asked to award marks from one to five to each of the entries (but not to their own), to introduce an element of impartiality and ensure absolute fairness.

These marks were collected and the scores combined to produce the three most favoured images, which were: 1=, ‘Foggy Forest’ (63 marks) by Sean Corlett; 1=, ‘Sea Arch’ by Martin Sanderson; 2, ‘Foggy Sunrise at Corfe Castle’ by Sean Corlett.

After refreshments, the president reminded members that entries for the eagerly anticipated annual photographic competition are needed to be received by the committee by April 1 and added that the committee hoped to arrange an outdoor photo shoot with photographer, Jason Kinrade, for early April.

Details of this will be posted online at www.iomps.com

ANTONY HAMILTON