’When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ could have been the mantra on Wednesday evening, with the really cold weather ensuring that only the most determined members of the Isle of Man Photographic Society turned out for one of the few opportunities in our calendar to compete with a club from the neighbouring island - the annual two-way digital battle with the North-West Bristol Camera Club.

This is always a keenly fought competition, and with a slightly unusual format in that both clubs submit 30 images each, with both clubs appointing their own local judge to evaluate the images, every image being scored out of a maximum of 20 points - and the winning club depending on the accumulated scores from both judges.

In previous years, the judges have fortunately agreed as to the winning club - so no serious falling out - though the mark awarded to individual images obviously varies, sometimes quite substantially.

And this year was no different !

Our judge was well-known local photographer Steve Babb, who provided a well-paced commentary with remarks that met general approval and agreement - and whilst proving slightly more generous than the Bristol judge in his marks, both agreed that the Isle of Man Photographic Society entry was the winning one.

Steve’s result showed a total mark of 507 for the Isle of Man Photographic Society versus 466 for Bristol, whilst the Bristol judge gave a result of 494 versus 470.

The commentary as ever confirmed that the personal taste of the judge is always a factor - with Steve generally marking down images which had been heavily ’photoshopped’ or had an abstract quality, whilst images with a story to tell were more generously treated.

The only image from both clubs which earned the maximum score of 20 points from both judges was our own Jeremy Broome-Smith with his shot of a kingfisher with its catch of a fish in its beak, emerging from the water - a superb natural history shot which has proved a winner on several occasions.

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, March 14, will include a presentation by the Rev Coldwell.

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.