This week saw the judging of the first assignment competition for the Isle of Man Photographic Society, the set subject being On The Beach - a topic with a wide range of interpretation, and one fully explored by our members.

Our judge was well known local professional photographer, Clare Payne, who specialises in wedding and social photography.

She proved a very capable and articulate judge with an excellent commentary on the various images presented, and with interesting asides as to her own experiences with a camera.

She opened the evening by explaining her judging criteria - firstly the composition and the viewpoint taken by the author, then how well the technical aspects have been handled, and finally the creative elements and input of the photographer - which set the scene for her marking of the entries.

In the intermediate prints section, only two members participated, with Steve Johnstone taking the honours over Richard Shafto in both mono and colour with pleasing images of the beaches at Port Erin and at Glen Mooar.

The advanced group saw an excellent entry, with Sue Blythe’s image of Brooklyn Bridge in New York topping the mono section, while Claire Schreuder’s dramatic and well saturated shot of the beach at Cranstal emerged as the judge’s choice for the colour section and as her print of the evening.

There was a large entry in each of the digital categories, Janet Henry’s image of Glen Mooar beach winning the intermediate mono class.

Clare faced the dilemma of liking two images in the intermediate colour class, but since both were by Martin Sanderson, less of a problem than it might have been - her preference in the end being a lovely shot of waves on Laxey promenade taken from the pier.

Laxey pier again featured in the winning shot in the advanced mono class, Sue Blythe’s image of a storm surge breaking over the outer pier proving the judge’s choice, whilst Sue’s entry of a tern in flight also proved the outstanding image in the advanced colour section and as the digital image of the evening.

Society president Jeremy Broome-Smith gave the vote of thanks for a superb commentary and a much-enjoyed evening.

Our next meeting, on December 4, will be our second open competition of the season, including both prints and digital images, with Pat Tutt from the Western Society to judge for us.

The society meets at the Arts Society Building (Thie Ellyn) in Worthington 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.

Chris Blyth