The island’s three photographic societies met in St John’s last week for the annual “3-Way Battle”.
This year, it was the turn of the Western Photographic Society to host the Southern and Isle of Man Photographic Societies for this friendly digital competition, in which each club enters 30 digital images with no more than five by any one member.
It is a great opportunity to enjoy a variety of superb images while meeting up with members of the other clubs, and the packed room witnessed a tightly-contested event with very few high scores as judge Steve Woodley assessed the images.
Steve apologised for being “harsh” and “picky”, and explained that the images were generally of such a high standard that he had to award mostly low marks to differentiate between them and his top picks. However, his often humorous comments were balanced and consistent and he had clearly put a lot of work into assessing the entries.
The overall result was:
1st: Western PS – 411 points
2nd: Isle of Man PS – 409 points
3nd: Southern PS – 401 points
Dorothy Flint of the Western won the individual trophy for “Restless at Sunset”, an image of a horse and rider splashing through shallow water, which scored 20 points. “Underwater Kingfisher” by Sue Blythe (IOMPS) was second with 19 points and “Farnborough Flypast” by Doug Allen (WPS) was third with 18 points.
The majority of the 90 images received 12 points but notable scores for our members’ images were 17s for Anna’ Mayall’s “Lonely” and Georgina Shaw’s “The Watcher”, and 16s for Georgina’s “Flamingo” and “Yellow Drops”.
15 points were awarded to “Cat’s Eyes” and “Going Underground” (Andrea Thrussell), “Dandelion Drop” and “Germ Barrier” (Georgina), “In the Spotlight” (Sue Clegg) and “Sunset Watchers” (Jim Gibson). Well done to everyone for their entries and especially to Georgina for such a high individual contribution.
Our thanks again to the Western Photographic Society for hosting us; after organising last year’s competition we know how much hard work and planning goes into the event!
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 2nd December when Clare Payne will judge the entries to the ‘Food and Drink’ competition.