Dundalk scoops the Rosebowl trophy yet again
Congratulations to Dundalk Photographic Society on their wonderful success in this year”s National Club Finals! The finals saw 26 clubs vying for the honour of Top Club and the competition was particularly fierce with a fantastic range of high quality images on display. A big well done to anyone who got to represent their own club on any of the panels this weekend as the standard was as high as anything we have seen – the future of Irish photography is a very bright one indeed.
Thank you to Mullingar Camera Club for hosting the event and assisting the event coordinators with the difficult task.
Also thank you to Westmeath County Council for use for their fabulous venue, the county buildings.
Club Awards
Overall
1st Place – Dundalk Photographic Society
2nd Place – Drogheda Photographic Club
3rd Place – Cork Camera Group
Colour
1st Place – Dundalk Photographic Society
2nd Place – Drogheda Photographic Club
3rd Place – Cork Camera Group
Monochrome
1st Place – Drogheda Photographic Club
2nd Place – Dundalk Photographic Society
3rd Place – Dublin Camera Club
Individual Awards
Colour
1st Place
Fairy Princess by Michael O”Sullivan – Cork Camera Group
2nd Place
Music Box by Ciaran de Bhal – Dundalk Photographic Society
3rd Place
Haunting by Michael O”Sullivan – Cork Camera Group
Highly Commended
Boys will be boys by Tony McDonnell – Dundalk Photographic Society
Poise by Niall Brownen – Cork Camera Group
Monochrome
1st Place
Molly by Adrian Parkinson – Drogheda Photographic Club
2nd Place
The Parents online casino by Terry Conroy – Portlaoise Camera Club
3rd Place
Carrelet by Maggy Morrissey – Dublin Camera Club
Highly Commended
Mistress of Darkness by Michael O”Sullivan – Cork Camera Group
The Coalman by Noel Marry – Mid-Louth Camera Club
All Panels
Colour
Monochrome
| Panel | Club | Monochrome Prints | Colour Prints | Total |
| A | North Kerry | 428 | 462 | 890 |
| AA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B | Mullingar | 460 | 459 | 919 |
| C | Midlands | 438 | 447 | 885 |
| D | Satsun | 422 | 442 | 864 |
| E | South Kildare | 404 | 466 | 870 |
| F | Menapia | 423 | 465 | 888 |
| G | Dundalk | 507 | 533 | 1040 |
| H | Offshoot | 430 | 464 | 894 |
| I | Cork | 487 | 519 | 1006 |
| J | Drogheda | 518 | 520 | 1038 |
| K | Clondalkin | 416 | 472 | 888 |
| L | Malahide | 465 | 476 | 941 |
| M | Mayo | 425 | 440 | 865 |
| N | Waterford | 483 | 444 | 927 |
| O | Mountmellick | 433 | 445 | 878 |
| P | Mallow | 447 | 435 | 882 |
| Q | An Oige | 393 | 400 | 793 |
| R | Blarney | 438 | 411 | 849 |
| S | Mid-Louth | 495 | 494 | 989 |
| T | Dublin | 501 | 494 | 995 |
| U | Portlaoise | 488 | 484 | 972 |
| V | Tallaght | 427 | 461 | 888 |
| W | Kilkenny | 478 | 479 | 957 |
| X | Wexford | 446 | 461 | 907 |
| Y | Palmerstown | 451 | 452 | 903 |
| Z | Celbridge | 498 | 466 | 964 |
Congratulations to all the winners. Very high standard overall. It seems to get higher and higher every year. Great organisation too – a credit to those involved.
With all the portraiture and studio modelling amongst the winners it’s like an IPPA competition. I guess with a lot of the top photographers almost semi-pro its natural that it would go that direction.
I don’t recall previous years numbers , I think there is 26 entries this year out of 85 Member clubs. It must be the case that a lot of clubs don’t feel it worthwhile to compete (maybe they are too small to afford the studio work and models or trips to eastern Europe villages). Good photoshops skills are also very evident in the top photos. It takes time for those skills to filter down to smaller clubs. Landscapes taken in Ireland seem to have taken on an air of “seen it all before” low scoring. It’s also an expensive business too putting a panel together. Maybe the IPF could consider a Division 1 / Division 2 to allow smaller clubs to have something to compete for.
Debbie,
The National Shield is a competition for all non-advanced photographers in clubs and will be held in November. This is the ideal competition for clubs who may fell that their standard may not meet the standard of the club finals. We would encourage all clubs to enter the National Shield especially if they have not entered a competition before.
Darragh
National Shield Coordinator
Agree totally with the first comment.It is just more like the IPPA than the IPPA themselves. There is no point in entering IPF competitions now if you don’t shoot portraits. While they are undoubtedly well done, ultimately, endless panels of portraits become quite boring. The idea of putting up a panel used to be to display a variety of images that hung well together but sadly this seems to be no longer the case and that’s probably why so few clubs bother to enter.