The latest meeting of the Isle of Man Photographic Society provided lots of interest for our audience - the first half being an assignment competition on the set subject of sports and leisure, and the second half the showing of the results of our monthly fun project, this time the December theme of reflections.

Our judge for the assignment competition was Geoff McCann, managing director of a local copier and print company with considerable experience of photography and, perhaps understandably, with a stated affection for print rather than digitally projected work.

His comments were brief, sometimes humorous, but very much to the point, with an expectation, for example, that images for the subject required ’energy’ and ’movement’ to create atmosphere, emotion and impact, and to draw the viewer into the image.

The advanced colour prints were first up, with Jeremy Broome-Smith gaining selection as the judge’s favourite in this section - a motorbike shot Me and My Shadow at Church Bends where the rider and bike were clearly in motion and with the shadow defined against the background scenery.

Sue Blythe demonstrated her expertise with the award in the advanced mono prints - a lovely canine action portrait, Dog Agility.

In the intermediate group, Claire Schreuder took the honours in both colour and mono prints, a delightful and pin sharp show-jumping image Eyes Forwar" in the colour, and an image of a child hanging upside down from a swing in the mono, The Isle of Upsidedown - a ’different approach’ to quote our judge.

The advanced colour digital again saw Jeremy Broome-Smith in favour, a superb (if nervous) selfie of his legs in a kayak, a curious seal very obviously taking a very close interest in his toes!

In the advanced mono section, Barry Murphy emerged with the award, a striking and characterful portrait The Mechanic taking the honours

Mike Howland’s image of a trials biker climbing a steep grass bank was the stand-out image in the intermediate digital colour while Beryl Quayle’s image of a kite surfer at Port Erin gave her a well deserved award in the mono section.

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, February 6, will be a presentation by Suddahjit Sen with support from Phil Metcalf, on landscape photography.

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.