Collective Spectacle Curated by Northern Ireland Photographic Association

"This group show of selected works offers a variety of interpretations of visual spectacle by a range of Northern Ireland based photographers."

This exhibition comprises of 33 prints and 8 triptychs.

Of the 33 prints a staggering 11 of them are from BPIC members;

• Brian Bennett - Flowers
  
• Helen Weir - Suncatcher
• Mark Winning - Chasing Pigeons
  
• Mark Winning - The Cranes Belfast
• Mark Winning - The Peace Camp Downhill
• Mark Winning - Titanic Quarter Belfast
• Matthew Jeanes - Rough Skin
• Matthew Jeanes - The Rise
  
• Ryan Wilson - Cotopaxi Dawn
  
• Stephen Wilson - A Dark Tree
• Suzi McBride - Ghost Train

Congratulations everyone!

Please take a minute to stop by The Belfast Waterfront and view this exhibition, it is on display until the 29th June. 

This exhibition is part of the 2013 Belfast Photo Festival. 

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12/13 Season Review

As the 12/13 season draws to a close it's a great opportunity to thank everyone for making it a great season and to look back over the highlights from the last 12 months.​

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June 2012

• Club Trip: H.M.S. Caroline

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July 2012

• Club Trip: Ulster American Folk Park

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August 2012

• ​Stephen Wilson had an image selected as the runner-up in the BBC Countryfile Photo Competition
• BPIC hung an exhibition at Belfast City Hospital

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September 2012

• ​Brian Bennett received an EAPU Panel Award at the East Antrim Open
• Brian Bennett's mono print "Christine" was selected for inclusion in the NIPA entry in the Celtic Challenge 2012
• Karen McCrea, Melissa Gordon, Martin Lamb and Brian Bennett each had images selected for the Celtic Challenge
• Roger Eager's image came second in the Shorts Camera Club - My Titanic Belfast Competition

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October 2012

• Guest Speaker: Janine Walker
• Martin Lamb had an image selected for the Natural History section of the PAGB PDI competition
• Gareth O'Cathain received a Highley Commended in the 'Best black and white' category of the Belfast Zoo 2012 Photographic Competition
• In the NIPA Round 1 competition Stephen Wilson and Brian Maguire received  NIPA stars, Brian also received the top Colour Print honours
• Club Trip: Scott Kelby 5th Annual Photowalk

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November 2012

• ​For our inaugural Mentoring Competition, Mel Boyle achieved the top mono print and Saravanan Appukuttan had the top scoring PDI.
• Club Trip: Belvoir Photowalk
• In the NIPA Round 2 competition Stephen Wilson and Alan Lavery received NIPA stars

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December 2012

• ​Guest Speaker: Bobby Durston
• Club Trip: Continental Market

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January 2013

• ​Vivienne Beck placed first in the PDI section of the Roy Finlay Memorial Natural History Competition
• Club Trip: Donegal​
• Guest Speaker: Roy McKeown FRPS
• Guest Speaker: Glenn Norwood
• In the NIPA Novice Competition ​Gareth O'Cathain placed 1st in the Mono print section with "The Blacksmith", placed 2nd in the Colour print section with "Helen's Wool" and received a Commended for his PDI "Zimbabwe Danger".

  Mel Boyle received a commended for his Mono Print "Indian Labourers".

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February 2013

• ​In the NIPA Round 3 competition Matthew Jeanes received a NIPA star
• Guest Speaker: Carrie Davenport
• The winners in our internal Architectural competition were; Colour Print - Donal McCann, Mono Print - Russell Birch and PDI - Brian Maguire
• Brian Maguire won our Donegal Trip competition
• In the NIPA Round 4 competition Brian Bennett and Barry Lau received NIPA stars

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March 2013

• The following members had images selected for the 2013 Annual NIPA Exhibition; Alan Lavery, Brian Bennett, Mel Boyle, Barry Lau, Stephen Wilson, Gerald Gribbon, Russell Birch, Matthew Jeanes, Suzi McBride and Nolan Duffy.  Nolan achieved a PAGB silver medal, Mel received a PAGB Bronze Medal and Alan Lavery received two PAGB Ribbons
  
• Brian Maguire achieved his LRPS
• ​Martin Lamb was awarded with a Neil Marshall Medal in the Natural History section of the PAGB 2012 Inter-Federation competition.
• Guest Speaker: Ross McKelvey
• Gareth O'Cathain had one of his images displayed on the BBC News website
• Barry Lau reached the final of the Ballymena Rotary Club Young Artist of the Year 2013
• Guest Speaker: Paul Hanley
• In the NIPA Round 5 competition ​Saravanan Appukuttan received a NIPA star
• In the BPIC Photographer of the Year Round 1 competition Vivienne Beck was the Novice winner and Barry Lau won the Advanced category

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​April 2013

• ​Guest Speaker: Gerry Coe
• Guest Speaker: Jim Moreland​
• Gareth O'Cathain achieved his LRPS
• In the BPIC Photographer of the Year Round 2 competition Roger Eager was the Novice Winner and Dermott Sweeney won the Advanced category

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May 2013

• ​In the BPIC Photographer of the Year Round 3 competition Roger Eager was the Novice winner and Stephen Wilson won the Advanced category
• Roger Eager was named as the 12/13 BPIC Novice Photographer of the Year​
• ​Dermott Sweeney was named as the 12/13 BPIC Advanced Photographer of the Year
• The season wrapped up with a lovely dinner​

BPIC Photographer of the Year - Round 1

Hi All,

First of, well done to everyone who submitted images into the round. As last night demonstrated, the standard was extremely high throughout both categories with a wide range of photographer interpretations displayed.

Novice

1st - Vivienne Beck - Seagulls

2nd - Roger Eager - Beacon

3rd - Brian Maguire - Binnian

Advanced

1st - Barry Lau - In Time

2nd - Dermott Sweeney - The Shower

3rd - Brian Bennett - Seagull

Once again, well done to everyone who contributed. It's still very much anyones game with two rounds to go!

Please take some time to view the full novice and full advanced submission galleries.

NB - There will be NO official club meet next week due to being Easter. The club will resume 11th April 2013.

Have a Happy Easter.

Thanks,

Barry Lau

Chairman

NIPA Annual Exhibition 2013

Hi All,

I am absolutely delighted to say that BPIC has yet again done amazingly in the NIPA Exhibition! We have managed to get a massive 14 images accepted in both the print and PDI sections, which is fantastic considering only 75 can go forward for the whole of Northern Ireland.

Acceptances from the following members:

• Alan Lavery x 3
• Brian Bennett ARPS x 2
• Mel Boyle x 2
• Barry Lau ARPS
• Stephen Wilson
• Gerald Gribbon
• Russell Birch
• Matthew Jeanes
• Suzi McBride
• Nolan Duffy

Award Winning members:

• PAGB Silver Medal - Forgotten Ballerina - Nolan Duffy
• PAGB Bronze Medal - Sikh Cycles - Mel Boyle
• PAGB Ribbon - Alone - Alan Lavery
• PAGB Ribbon - Doagh Island - Alan Lavery

Congratulations to everyone that got an image selected and to those who managed to gain an award. All of the images will be on display at the Belfast Waterfront from Wednesday 13th March.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed into the exhibition.

Thanks,

Barry Lau

Chairman

PAGB Silver Medal - Nolan Duffy - The Forgotten Ballerina

PAGB Bronze Medal - Mel Boyle - Sikh Cycles

NIPA - 12/13 - Round 3

On Friday the 1st February the round 3 judging night took place at BPIC, here's how we fared.

PDI

• Gareth O'Cathain - Passing Through - 9
• Stephen Wilson - Looking Up - 9
• Julie McGovern - Triangles - 7.5
• Dermott Sweeney - Light Triangle - 7

Mono

• Matthew Jeanes - Rough Skin - 10.5 (Starred Image)
• Stephen Wilson - Windows - 9
• Gerald Gribbon - Doomsday - 9
• Mark Davison - Triangles - 9

Colour

• Russell Birch - Sunshade - 10.5
• Brian Bennett - Titanic Triangles - 10.5
• Gareth O'Cathain - Head For Heights - 9
• Gerald Gribbon - Titanic Triangles At Sunset - 7.5

After round three BPIC is sitting in 4th place with a score of 277 points, congratulations everyone!

Following is the top scoring image from each category, and here is the full round 3 submission.

Gareth O'Cathain - Passing Through

Matthew Jeanes - Rough Skin

Russell Birch - Sunshade

NIPA - 12/13 - Round 1

On Thursday the 25th October the round 1 judging night took place at Christian Brothers, here's how we fared.

PDI

• Karen McCrea - Woodland - 11
• Mark Davison - Mouse - 10
• Brian Bennett - Field Ready - 10
• Vivienne Beck - Piggy Back Ride - 9

Mono

• Brian Bennett - Friends - 12
• Karen McCrea - Freckles - 8
• Alan Lavery - Milan - 8
• Brian Maguire - Wondering - 10

Colour

• Brian Bennett - Sunflowers - 10
• Stephen Wilson - Lone Tree Sunset - 13 (Starred Image)
• David Donnelly - Down The Duff - 11
• Brian Maguire - Havana Dude - 14 (Starred Image - Top Colour Print)

After round one BPIC is sitting in 4th place with a score of 99 points, congratulations everyone!

Following is the top scoring image from each category, and here is the full round 1 submission.

​Karen McCrea - Woodland

​Brian Bennett - Friends

Brian Maguire - Havana Dude - Starred Image - Top Colour Print

Celtic Challenge Selections

Please see attached list of accepted images for the Celtic Challenge.

Well done to Karen McCrea, Melissa Gordon, Martin Lamb and Brian Bennett who each had one image selected.

A special mention to Ross McKelvey who had eight accepted!

Brian Represents

Brian Bennett's mono print "Christine" was selected for inclusion in the NIPA entry in the Celtic Challenge 2012, being organised on 22nd September by the Welsh Photographic Federation (WPF).

13th Sep - Basics & Distinctions

Last night was the first proper session of the this season and we kicked things off with a packed session.

Basics

Karen McCrea gave a great presentation on the basics of photography.  For those that are still struggling with the juggling act you might find this cheatsheet useful, it's a handy resource for your camera bag and was found here.

Distinctions

Donal McCann  FRPS then gave a fascinating talk on distinction panels, specifically RPS and IPF distinctions.  We were treated to a selection of club members who displayed and discussed their distinction panels;

• L Panels: Helen Weir   LRPS & Melissa Gordon  LIPF
• A Panel: Brian Bennett  ARPS

Brian Bennett discussing his A panel

Brain's ARPS Panel

Next up Jim Moreland   FRPS FBIPP talked about the RPS and Fellowship panels.

Finally Ross McKelvey  ARPS DPAGB BPE2 discussed PAGB and FIAP distinction routes.

Information

Here is a handout detailing RPS assessment dates throughout 2012/2013.  

Housekeeping

The Committee would like to extend its thanks to everyone that helped to setup and clear away the room.  As you can see, with such a large turnout that help is invaluable in ensuring that we kick off and finish in good time.  There'll be plenty to do throughout the year and we'd ask that people pitch in as and when they can.  Thank you.

Brian Bennett Receives EAPU Panel Award

We're delighted to announce that Brian Bennett has recently been awarded this EAPU panel award at the East Antrim Open.

Here are images from his successful panel.