It’s that time of the year again when the Isle of Man Photography Society’s regular meetings are prone to postponement or, even, cancellation in the interests of members’ safety.

The island’s roads can become quite treacherous during the winter months because of adverse weather.

It is often the case that residents are advised by the police against making unnecessary journeys.

Such was the case towards the end of November, because of the icy conditions, when the scheduled ‘practical’ tuition evening on the subject of ‘table-top reflections’ resulted in the difficult decision, taken by the committee, to postpone to a later date, hopefully, early in 2025.

However, though safety is always paramount, we photographers are a hardy lot - and so those members who gladly braved the heavy rain and wind at the beginning of December were richly rewarded with a splendid opportunity to view the results of the latest assignment competition, the subject for which was: ‘Song, Movie or Book Title’.

This competition was very kindly judged by John Morrison of Morrison Photos, the small, family-run, photographic business, recently relocated to 54 Buck’s Road in Douglas. Started by his father, the much-lamented and ever-popular Percy Morrison, the shop celebrated 30 years in business in 2017.

To add a bit of fun and interest to the evening, members were encouraged to guess the title of each entry in the competition, which they did with a healthy degree of eagerness, though some titles were much more obvious than others.

A wide range of subjects was on display, creating much interest, some notable successes and the guessing game added a touch of humour to the proceedings.

Barry Murphy received the top award for his image entitled ‘50 Shades of Grey’ which received 20 marks (out of 20), even though the image itself was not at all what might be imagined from the creative title, or from any knowledge of the film’s subject matter.

The judge’s personal favourite image on the night was also awarded to Martin Sanderson for his ingenious depiction titled ‘Robin Hood’.

Andrew Cairns’s image of ‘Little Women’ and Martin Sanderson’s images of ‘Sunshine on a Rainy Day’ and ‘Frozen’ also scored highly and attracted praise from the appreciative audience.

After the break for refreshments, the second half of the evening took the form of a series of projected images (and awards) from the 2020 L&CPU annual exhibition with added audience participation.

The Society is next due to meet at 7pm on Wednesday, December 18 for a social evening at the St John Ambulance HQ, off Glencrutchery Road in Douglas. Full details can be found on iomps.com

ANTONY HAMILTON