The first round of the club year saw an amazing 33 entries.The "Wild Things" theme seemed to be a popular one with IMAGES members.
The first place was for Rich Prowse with a beautifull image of a tiger and it's reflection in the water. Martin Rooney's shot of a bear from a very special position was this theme's runner up. The nice head shot of an eagle by Michiel Fokkema took the third place. Maarten Grootendorst had a different view on the wild things thema and showed a image of a guitarist that came 4th. The spooky image by Marcus showing sleeping bats was 5th.

Mick Finn was the star of the night, taking first place with his "Paris Lights" shot - a classic Paris scene with great capture of movement and light - and also 3rd place with "Moody Blues" - a moody shot indeed, capturing eerie blue and green lights in a urban scene. Al Borrelli took 2nd place with a very clever self-portrait - he used off-camera flash and a flashlight for painting with light in a single long-exposure shot, in which he appears to be holding a stick-figure of light in his hand. 4th place went to me (Marcus) with my "Heart within a Heart" - a ring positioned in the centre of a book, with an off-camera light source casting a double heart-shaped shadow. And Frederic Friboulet took 5th place with a dramatically-lit shot of Edfou Temple.

This night's round on "from Dusk to Dawn" was possibly the highest overall standard we've seen so far in this competition, and the very even spread of votes over a large number of entries reflects the fact that many of us had a hard time picking just 5 favourites from a large number of very high quality entries. Congratulations must surely go to everyone who entered and made this another fun and stimulating round. It's the old cliche, but if you didn't get a photo in the top 5 this time, please don't be discouraged! Keep entering in the rounds ahead - there are still lots of points up for grabs. And for those who haven't entered any of the rounds so far - don't be shy and get involved! It's been said many times before, but participating in the PoTY competition (and especially shooting specially for each new round, rather than dipping into your old archives) is a great way to develop as a photographer and learn about what catches other people's eyes.

So tonight's subject was "Emotion". We had a total of 22 entries, somewhat lower than previous rounds. Certainly "emotion" can be a difficulty thing to capture/portray when you're treading the fine line between demonstrating your chosen emotion clearly for your audience, yet at the same time trying to avoid cliches. But as always, we had a very fine selection of images to choose from, and once again the spread of votes seems to reflect that the opinions of the voters varied greatly, and there were no clear leaders way ahead of others.
Berbera van den Hoek took a very worthy first place with her dramatic concert shot entitled "Peter", which showed that hands can convey emotion as well as faces. Beautifully lit too!
Michiel Fokkema was 2nd with his black and white shot of a dancing couple entitled "Passion".
Marcus Richardson took 3rd with a portrait of a laughing girl entitled "Cheeky Monkey" and 4th with a shocked face entitled "Seen a Ghost".
Michiel completed a good night with a 5th place (although he insists it should have been first :)- a clever street candid of a mother and child both displaying "Frustration" in their own ways.

As always, congratulations to everyone who took part and don't be discouraged if you didn't get into the top 5 this time around. Why not make use of our critique gallery and post your photo for some feedback, especially if you're scratching your head and wondering why more people didn't vote for you!

This round was hosted "on location" for the first time, at Hans van Ommeren's studio as part of our evening(s) there. Despite the logistical challenges of submitting photos in advance, there was a solid turnout, with 20 photos entered. Once again we saw some really eye-catching and thought-provoking photos, so well done to all who entered and made it yet another enjoyable round. Moody black and whites or punchy loud urban colours seemed to dominate - there wasn't much middle ground!

1st place went to Marcus Richardson with "Fifth Avenue" - a New York street scene in black and white, with selective colouring to pick out a line of yellow taxis.
2nd place went to Michiel Fokkema with "Paris" - an atmospheric night-time black and white scene with many details and people, but drawing our eye clearly to a seated figure who seems lost in thought. We cannot but ask: what is he thinking about?
3rd place went to Al Borrelli with "Alley" - an Amsterdam street with a gritty, urban feel and two young men striding along, one of whom is raising a firm "don't take my picture" gesture. A very interesting shot not just aesthetically, but also because it raises some questions and key issues about street photography: what happened after this picture was taken? And in general, is it OK to take pictures of strangers in the street without asking their permission first? What would you do as a photographer in this situation - apologise and put your camera away, or shoot anyway and worry about the consequences later because it's a great shot that you can't resist?!
4th place went to Peter Theakston with "Paris Street" - clearly Paris is a favourite with photographers, and with good reason. Here Peter has made good use of HDR to emphasise a sense of loud, city craziness and movement in this colourful urban scene that packs a real punch.
5th place was shared between Peter Theakston and Al Borrelli - Peter's "Syracuse Street" being in stark contrast to his Paris shot in almost every way. A peaceful night scene in black and white with a busker on a street corner atmospherically lit by a street lamp.
Al Borrelli's "Amsterdam" was again a rather more peaceful scene than his other winning entry. Another black and white, this time acting as both a candid portrait (again, of a busker, a classic street icon) and a grand view of Amsterdam architecture at the same time. Not shown in the overview but the points are taken in account in the standings)

After Michiel's presentation earlier in the year on micro/macro equipment and techniques, this round gave the members a chance to try out their skills in the fascinating world of details that our eyes don't normally see. Once again, all the images entered showed a very high level of skill and creativity, and clearly many of these shots required great amounts of patience and experimentation!

Marcus Richardson took first place with "Come to Bug You" a macro shot of a grasshopper taken in the Artis zoo, Amsterdam. Al Borrelli grabbed second place with "Coffee and Cream Dreams", a macro shot of multiple drops of cream hitting coffee using a high speed flash/shutter combination. Al says: "The difficult thing was finding a way to have all the drops fall at different times!" Third place went to Mick Finn with his "Orange". Mick explains: "I used a plastic container and suspended the orange with clothes-pins. I used carbonated water and salt to make more bubbles. I placed a blue background behind the container. I tried different colored backgrounds but liked the contrast of the orange with the blue the best. I sidelit the orange to emphasize the bubbles." Impressive stuff, and sounds like a lot of fun too! Marcus Richardson took fourth place with another insect macro, this time a butterfly captured in a tropical greenhouse in the Noorder zoo, Emmen. Note the little orange bug on the butterfly's knee, which was spotted only after the shot was taken and viewed at full resolution! And in fifth place, Peter Theakston gives us a thought-provoking image entitled "That is the Question", utilizing the shallow depth of field that is the hallmark of macro photography, and forcing our eyes to the highlighted text.

Our final round of this year's POTY competition, and another chance for members to show off the skills they practiced in April's clubnight practical session on portraits.

Black and white images featured strongly in this round, although the winning photo was in colour and, curiously enough, came from one of the club's biggest fans of black and white, Al Borrelli, with his portrait of a friend, Gareth. During voting, many members were heard to remark on the similarity with Clint Eastwood! Al notes: "This was my attempt to duplicate those famous moody portraits of famous people that use minimal lighting to capture the character of a person. I'm particularly happy with the detail and use of depth of field." Second place went to Michiel Fokkema with a beautiful portrait of his daughter Ymke. Marcus Richardson took third place with a sepia-style shot of a young girl, captured in a spontaneous moment. Fourth place went to Peter Theakston, whose shot entitled "Marina" uses creative composition and selective colour on the eyes to grab the viewer's attention. Marta Fracassetti took fifth place with "Wild", a wonderful black and white portrait of a model in a bath utilizing dramatic lighting for great contrast and artistic effect. Marta used a medium format camera, black and white film, studio flash, and printed the photograph manually, "the good old way!", as Marta notes!