This week the third assignment competition, Water, was held last week.

The judge for the evening was Doug Allan who was introduced by our president, Jeremy Broome-Smith.

There was a very wide variety of subject matter submitted and our judge welcomed this variation.

Naturally, rough seas and waves created by the recent storms were popular subjects, but there were also many tranquil scenes and some novelty shots showing splashes frozen by the cameras flash.

Doug was uncompromising but fair with his comments, and always explained why he had not awarded a higher mark.

Often this because the picture did not fit the brief: i.e. there was very little water in it or water was not the main subject.

He pointed out that many of these photographs were in fact very good and might do well in a different competition.

The intermediate monochrome prints section was won by a very highly commended photograph of the waterfall on the Silverburn River by Steve Johnstone.

Steve also claimed first place in the colour section for his photo of Sunset on Incoming Tide.

In the advanced section for monochrome prints Jeremy Broome-Smith (Silver Surfer) and Chris Nichols (Flowing) tied on points for first place, but Jeremy’s print was deemed to have the edge and he was awarded first place in this section.

Ruth Nichols was the winner in the advanced colour prints section with her Magnificent Cascade.

This image was also judged to be the best print of the competition.

In the digital sections Beryl Quayle won the first place in intermediate monochrome (and best digital image in the competition) for a shot of Glen Maye waterfall with icicles. In the colour section it was another picture of stormy weather that won first place - Stormy Waters by Michael Howland.

Once again it was a weather photograph that took first place in the advanced monochrome section and Sue Blythe’s Storm Force was the winner and advanced colour was won by Barry Murphy with an image titled Manx Draught - a peat-coloured stream that did indeed look like beer.

President Jeremy Broome-Smith thanked Doug Allan for the very thorough and detailed judging of all the photographs.

Our next meeting is the battle with North West Bristol Camera Club on Wednesday, March 18.

The society meets at the Arts Society building (Thie Ellyn) in Withington Road, Douglas, on Wednesday evenings, all meetings starting at 7.30pm, and all open to the public (with a modest fee for non-members).

More details of the society and its programme can be found on our website at www.iomps.com.

Richard Shafto