The second of our Open Print Competitions was the subject of this week’s meeting of the IOM Photographic Society, being judged by Dennis Wood, vice chairman of the Western Society.

Dennis is a frequent and welcome visitor at the IOMPS, always giving great value in his judging, and always with a very easy and supportive presentation style.

This year, his commentary had a distinct ’culinary flavour’, with allusions to photography being very similar to cooking - and the cook (or photographer) having to use skills to mix the various ’ingredients’ such as composition, colour, contrast, tonality etc to concoct the final product - the ’dish of the day’ or the print.

The Standard Group produced a range of excellent prints, Paul Dougherty winning the colour prints section with a lovely and very evocative image of a wheelwright craftsman making a cart wheel in a traditional way, the metal flange being hammered on to the wooden wheel.

Lara Howe’s beautifully executed shot of two abandoned boats on Dungeness came out on top in the Mono section, the tonality and composition being noteworthy.

In the Intermediate Group, Beryl Quayle and Joy Brodie traded places - Beryl winning the Colour section with a pin-sharp image of Liverpool Pier Head and the Liver Building taken from the sea, whilst Joy won the honours in the Mono section with a sepia image, apparently of a young miner against a sombre brick wall, the lighting artfully highlighting the subject.

seascapes

The Advanced Group provided a large entry in both Colour and Mono Prints, but only one winner in both sections - Jeremy Broome-Smith producing the winning images in both with both being seascapes but each given a widely differing treatment. His Colour image was a long exposure shot of a beach scene, the movement of the water around a rock in the foreground reduced to a swirl of mistiness, whilst his Mono entry was of a huge wave crashing against a massive rock cliff, the water cascading down the face, the action caught in great detail.

Jeremy’s colour image - ’Coulmeenoole Beach’ - was awarded ’best print in competition’". Club president Chris Blyth gave the vote of thanks for a well-constructed and well-delivered commentary by our judge.

The society meets at the Art Society Building (Thie Ellyn) in Withington Road, Douglas, with all meetings starting at 7.30pm.

Our next meeting, on Wednesday, November 29, will include an Open Digitally Projected Images competition. Meetings are open to the public, and all will be given a very warm welcome. Full details of our programme can be found on our website at www.iomps.com.

Winners

Results : Standard Colour Prints - Paul Dougherty (1 & 4), Deb Turk (2), Lara Howe (3), Kevan Osborn (5 & 6). Mono Prints - Lara Howe (1), Deb Turk (2), Jonathan Carey (3). Intermediate Colour Prints - Beryl Quayle (1 & 3), Joy Brodie (2 & 4). Mono Prints - Joy Brodie (1 & 2). Advanced Colour Prints - Jeremy Broome-Smith (1 & 2), Ron Shimmin (3), Sue Blythe (4), Bob Servante (5), Chris Blyth (6). Mono Prints - Jeremy Broome-Smith (1 & 4), Barry Murphy (2 & 3), Sue Blythe (5), Bob Servante (6). Best Print In Competition - Jeremy Broome-Smith with ’Coulmeenoole Beach’

Chris Blyth