Lesley Porter LIPF

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of our dear friend and fellow member Lesley Porter on Friday morning. Our deepest sympathies and thoughts are with her husband Stewart and the rest of their family at this very difficult time.

Lesley was a really lovely warm person, a fabulous photographer and much respected by all of our members. She was just recently confirmed as BPIC Novice Photographer of the Year, and she leaves a huge legacy of fantastic images, some of which will be on display later this year at the Belfast City Hospital exhibition. Her love of photography stayed strong throughout her illness and it is both fitting and poignant that her LIPF panel was successful at Mullingar today, where IPF officials praised Lesley's work.

Lesley will be greatly missed by everyone at BPIC.

POTY Results

BPIC Advanced Photographer of the Year 2017 is -

Brian Maguire

Brian has been the epitome of consistency over the year with 14 images selected out of 42. No less than 4 were either starred by NIPA or selected as top image in POTY rounds. Brian’s win is well deserved and a recognition of his abilities and commitment to the high standards the club aspires to.

Congratulations and well done Brian.

BPIC Novice Photographer of the Year 2017 is -

Lesley Porter

The quality of Lesley’s work is reflected in the fact that out of 42 submissions 12 of her photographs were selected in the various rounds of the competition. That’s a success rate only bettered by one other club member.

Congratulations and very well done Lesley.

Overall BPIC Photographer of the year for 2017 is

Brian Maguire

Brian pipped Lesley by only 5 points. Both should be appreciated for the consistently high quality of the work they submitted throughout the year but Brian shaded it by the number of stars/first places he achieved.

Congratulations again go to Brian.

BPIC Success at NIPA 2017 Novice Competition

Each year the Northern Ireland Photographic Association hosts a 'Novice Competition' to allow all folk, new to photography, to compete in a competition that is only open to them. The competition is organised by NIPA for individual members of its member clubs.  There are actually three competitions - one each for Monochrome Prints, Colour Prints and Projected Digital Images. The Novice Competitions are to encourage genuine novices to submit work at a competitive level and is open to all those photographers who comply with the NIPA Novice definition. Entries for the competition are selected by members of NIPA clubs from their own work.

This year's competition was held at The Fountain Centre in Bangor on Saturday 8th April 2017. The three judges were Louise Borbely (Central Photographic Association), Hugh Wilkinson (Catchlight Camera Club), and Brian Maguire (BPIC).

In what was a very strong field, BPIC members enjoyed some great success, winning a total of seven certificates.  And here are the winning images.

2nd Place - Monochrome Print - Old Medical Records - by Lesley Porter

3rd Place - PDI - Frozen - by Lesley Porter

Highly Commended - PDI - Aurora - by Lesley Porter

Highly Commended - Colour Print - Calm Day at Portstewart - Lesley Porter

Highly Commended - Colour Print - Winter Flow - Jim Murray

Highly Commended - Colour Print - Evening Skye - Jim Murray

Highly Commended - PDI - Pine Island - Glen Banna

More LIPF Success for BPIC!

A huge congratulations to Mark Overell and Kate Thompson for both achieving LIPF accreditation at Celbridge on Saturday 24th September 2016.

2016/17 Membership is now open!

Membership for the new season is now open!

The programme for the new 2016-17 season is still being worked on, but is already looking great! We have some really excellent guest speakers lined up – in addition to the return of our regular favourites – such as Nigel Fleming (Professional Studio Lighting), and Glenn Norwood (this season demonstrating his really creative studio work), we also will have guest speaker slots by many distinguished guests, including Des Clinton FIPF EFIAP ESFIAP MFIAP FRPS IPF and  Peter Gordon AIPPA, IPPA Irish Professional Photographer of the Year 2014, FEP European Photographer of the Year 2013, IPPA Irish Professional Photographer of the Year 2013! 

Other highlights of the new season programme will include our own club organised studio lighting sessions, a presentation on drone photography, a mock judging session to give everyone a real feel for what it is like to be a NIPA judge, the return of the Mentoring competition, a session on photo-processing workflows, practical nights, club trips, NIPA and Photographer of the Year competitions, and of course a return of the popular “Lightroom & Photoshop by Dummies” sessions. 

Existing and new members can renew/join BPIC by completing the online application form here.

Lionel Mitchell LRPS

Well somehow we missed this in the news section of the website earlier this season, so it's time to put things right.

Lionel Mitchell LRPS (February 2016) - well done Lionel!

New Committee Elected

Thursday 19th May saw the Annual General Meeting of BPIC take place at Morton Community Centre, and the election of a new committee for the year ahead.  Elected were:

Brian Maguire (Chairman)

Mark Overell (Vice Chairman)

Julie McGovern (Secretary)

Michael Byrne (Treasurer)

Kevin Vernon

Roger Eager

Glen Banna

Kate Thompson

LIPF success for David Wright & Paul McMahon

A massive congratulations to the latest BPIC members to achieve LIPF accreditation!

Both David Wright (freshly-crowned BPIC Photographer of the Year in Novice category) and Paul McMahon (already holder of the LRPS) achieved success with their respective panels at the latest IPF Distinctions sitting in Mullingar.  A nervous wait for both Paul and David, given that no AIPF distinctions were awarded and only 2 fellowships.

Here are the successful panels.

Paul McMahon LIPF LRPS

David Wright LIPF

And here are the happy smiling recipients:

Belfast City Hospital Exhibition - selected images

Congratulations to all those who had images selected for the BCH exhibition this year. The selected images were put up on display at Morton on Thursday evening. The following members had images selected:

Kevin Vernon (2)
Brian Maguire (2)
Russell Birch (2)
David Wright (2)
John Lawell (2)
Bernie Deighan (2)
William Strain (1)
Michael Dynan (1)
Matthew Canning (2)
Roger Eager (2)
Julie McGovern (2)
Adrian Wheeler (2)
Lionel Mitchell (1)
Paul McMahon (1)

The exhibition at the hospital will be August, dates to be confirmed.

Photographer of the Year 2015/16 Results!

After a closely-fought battle this season that went 'right to the wire', Thursday 5th May saw the climax of the BPIC Photographer of the Year Competition, with Roger Eager once again lifting the Advanced title and David Wright taking first place in the novice category.

Congratulations to both winners and indeed to all who took part this year.  The linkage between the NIPA rounds and the POTY rounds made the competition particularly exciting and the standard of images submitted in all rounds was very high.

Top ten placings were as follows:

Roger Eager 58 Winner Advanced

Brian Maguire 56

Michael McNerney 47

Paul McMahon 43

David Wright 38 Winner Novice

Lionel Mitchell 32

Russell Birch 31

John Lawell 28

Kevin Vernon 28

Adrian Wheeler 24