This week the Isle of Man Photographic Society meeting was the first assignment of the season, entitled ’Three of a Kind’.

The Society was delighted to be able to have this as it had to be postponed from last year’s lockdown, and members had already submitted images.

Ray Davies was our judge. He was once a member of the Society until he became a father, his main focus of attention understandably shifting.

We were pleased to discover that his knowledge and enthusiasm have not waned, and he gave all our images a great deal of attention. He said he was very impressed with the quality of work displayed and he said that he might rejoin the club.

To comply with the theme, an image had to have three similar subjects in it, or it could be three similar images displayed together as one, a triptych.

A triptych can be one image creatively split into three parts.

The entries included a good mixture of all three kinds.

In the colour digital section, the winning image was a beautiful serene image of Oregon beach by Chris Blyth, who had artistically split the image into three and allowed the centre section to be larger than the others, helping it to stand out.

Ray said he would love to have that to look at during busy times.

Other equally good images with the same high score, Windsurfers, also by Chris, a photo of three dainty white Rabelera flowers by Martin Sanderson, and one of three hydrangea heads by Sue Blythe.

The mono digital images were again highly scored, with none gaining less than 16.

This time Andrew Cairns took the top spot with a clever photo called The Pretender, showing three bronzes of Joey Dunlop, Steve Hislop, and George Formby of ’No Limit’ fame.

An image of three beautiful-spoked wheels, also by Andrew, and one of razorbills by Steve Johnstone did well.

The colour print section top images had water-based connections, Puffins by Chris Blyth, Great Crested Grebes by Sue Blythe, and a beautiful image of three fishermen sculling their boats, which gained her the judge’s preference.

Finally, the mono prints contained some excellent pictures.

Ron Shimmin had three nicely similar small boats, Martin Sanderson had three images of Castletown lighthouse engulfed by a huge sea, and Sue Blythe’s overall winning image of the evening was called Scholars, three young monks studiously engrossed in their studies.

Next week we have our second open competition. The meeting starts at 7pm at St John Ambulance HQ off Glencrutchery Road.

The judge will be Dennis Wood. Guests welcome.

Ruth Nicholls

l The IoMPS gratefully acknowledges the continued support of the Arts Council.