The latest meeting of the Isle of Man Photographic Society - the last meeting prior to the Christmas break and marking the halfway point in our winter season - was the opportunity to show a folio of competition winning images from the Lancashire and Cheshire Union (our parent organisation).

However, unbeknown to our audience, the folio included two images from club members.

The first was by Sue Blythe with an image of two of her dogs racing towards her and definitely having fun - an excellent example of the type of dog portraiture she offers in her work as a professional photographer.

The second was from Barry Murphy, of a fox being held in the arms of (perhaps) a farmer, this latter one obtaining the award of a ’commend from the judges.

Many of the other 60 or so images in the folio were what is known as ’composites’ - the merging of two or more shots to make the final image, frequently a ’character’ portrait set against a suitable background (a soldier against a battlefield scene, for example, and often taken at a ’re-enactment’ event).

These have been popular in competitions in recent years but which - perhaps due to over-use - are thankfully now becoming something of a cliche.

The earlier part of the evening was the society’s Christmas social - and with lots of nibbles, mince pies and other delights, proved a very popular part of the evening.

The next meeting in our formal season will be on Wednesday, January 9, when Club President, Chris Blyth, will be giving a presentation of his work.

The society meets on Wednesday evenings at the Art Society building in Withington Road, Douglas, starting at 7.30pm.

All meetings are open to the public and all are given a very warm welcome, non-members with an entry fee of £2. Full details of our programme can be found on our website www.iomps.com.

In the meantime, we would wish all our readers a happy and healthy new year.