The Isle of Man Photographic Society continued its programme this week with the second open competition of the season, where the author is free to choose the subject matter for their images.

An excellent - and competitive - evening was ensured, with the membership providing more than 100 entries, as usual split between prints and digitally-projected images, between colour and monochrome, and between our intermediate and advanced members.

Judging is no easy task when the images are of high quality and with widely varying subjects.

Fortunately, Mike Radcliff, a locally-based professional photographer proved well up to the requirement. His comments were necessarily concise but relevant, his marking consistent, and his awards at the end of each section well accepted.

In the advanced colour prints, three authors with 5 images between them - Jeremy Broome-Smith, Sue Blythe and Annette Slater - all gained top marks of 20, but it was the latter with an image of a woodpecker close-up who got the judge’s favour.

In the advanced monochrome prints, Sue Leeming competed with Sue Blythe for the honours, both again having been awarded top marks for their entry, but Sue Blythe’s portrait - The Look Of Love - of a mum and dad with a new-born baby in their hands and excellent lighting gained preference.

Claire Schreuder dominated the intermediate prints in both colour and monochrome sections - two beautifully composed and lit cookery still-life images gaining maximum marks in the colour section, while her shot of Rome’s Colosseum gained award in the monochrome.

The digital sections proved extremely competitive with a wealth of top quality images.

The same three authors who dominated the colour prints again proved the ones to beat in the digital colour - Annette Slater, Jeremy Broome-Smith and Sue Blythe all gaining maximum scores of 20 and all with natural history images.

However, Sue Blythe took the award with a really close-up shot of a tiger, the whiskers and teeth pin sharp.

Annette again proved very competitive in the monochrome, vying with Nigel Owen for the award, both with top marks.

However, Nigel’s image - of a bowing iris almost in silhouette - gained preference.

New member Janet Henry emerged smiling in the intermediate colour section with a delightful image My Boy Pixel - a dog in a woodland surrounding - gaining maximum points, with Geoff Atkinson, Steve Johnstone and Claire Schreuder all in contention.

In monochrome, Geoff’s lovely shot of the Point of Ayre lighthouse against a beautifully captured cloudscape took the judge’s eye for the top award.

The society meets on Wednesday evenings at the Art Society building in Withington Road, Douglas, starting at 7.30pm.

All meetings are open to the public and all are given a very warm welcome, non-members with an entry fee of £2. Full details of our programme can be found on our website www.iomps.com.

Chris Blyth