Category Archives: Competitions

ECCG ‘Motion’ Competition – 07/03/2017

With 28 entries, our recent internal competition, themed ‘Motion’, drew the biggest entry in a while with a wide interpretation of the theme. The image above by Zane Llewellyn won Grade A and also took the overall highest score of the night across all Grades.

The breakdown of the final results was as follows:

Grade A was a tightly contested affair all through the voting process but Zane Llewellyn won out by 9 points in the end from Gráinne Davies in second and Finbarr O’Shea in third.

Grade B saw Jim O’Neill once more in first place winning with 23 points to spare from Noelle Lowney in second and Eileen Upton in third.

Sonja Eisenberg came first for the second time on the trot in Grade C followed by Jim Curtin in second and Karina Leeson.

In the overall scores across all grades, Zane Llewellyn and Jim O’Neill had equal scores but the tie was split by the number of higher scores received giving Zane the edge and first place while Gráinne Davies took the third spot.

Well done to all concerned.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

An Eventful Twelve Months for ECCG

Apart from completing the normal hectic schedule of over fifty shoots, twenty club meetings, several competitions, a beginners’ photography course and a one-month exhibition of fifty framed images to name just a few, the last twelve months has truly been an eventful period for East Cork Camera Group.

Finbarr OShea LIPF

Back in March 2016, Finbarr O’Shea went to the Irish Photographic Federation Distinction (IPF) Sittings in Portlaoise where his panel was successful and gained him a Licentiate of the Irish Photographic Federation (LIPF).

Click here to see Finbarr’s successful panel.

Zane Llewellyn LIPF

In September 2016, Zane Llewellyn went to the IPF Distinction Sittings in Celbridge, Co. Kildare and he too entered a successful panel and was awarded an LIPF.

Click here to see Zane’s successful panel.

At the IPF Distinction Sittings at Thurles, Co. Tipperary the following November, Gráinne Davies became the first ever member of East Cork Camera Group to be awarded an Associateship of the Irish Photographic Federation (AIPF) which was the cause of great celebration for Gráinne and the club. Also at this sitting, Anthony O’Connor and Denis Barry were both successful and were awarded LIPFs on the day.

: Gráinne Davies AIPF

: Anthony OConnor LIPF

: Denis Barry LIPF

Click the links to check out Gráinne’s, Anthony’s and Denis’s successful panels.

Gold Medal Winner – Kevin Day

To round out the year, Kevin Day went to the Southern Association of Camera Clubs (SACC) Qualifying Round of the IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/17 in January this year and scooped one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals and three Honourable Mentions. This fantastic result qualified Kevin to go forward to the IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/17 earlier this month where he won one Gold and two Bronze medals as well as one Honourable Mention for his Red Squirrel studies.

You can see Kevin’s impressive winning images here.

All in all, a very successful year and 2017 is already as busy as last year and who knows what more good fortune the year will bring.

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click on the ‘Contact Us’ link above and leave us a messge.

How I Took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn

08 Zane Llewellyn - Weather

The shot above got Zane Llewellyn a first place in Grade A in our recent ‘Weather’ competition held at the Midleton Park Hotel on Tuesday 07/02/17. This is how he made it:

This was shot from the upper floor in Cahir castle with my old trusty Canon Powershot S5, 1/60s @ f/4 due to the poor light. The group of tourists were stopped as they listened to the tour guide. It was raining pretty heavily as they huddled under their umbrellas. The guide was standing directly below me, so the group was naturally facing my direction.

I liked the colour of the photo, but the large expanse of grass on the right was distracting from the colours of the umbrellas.

In Photoshop, I masked the individual umbrellas and the man, and put a black and white filter over it to remove the colour.

The poor light left the umbrellas looking a bit dull, so I boosted the colours with a colour blend layer.

I liked that one guy wasn’t bothered by the rain, I left him in colour as a focal point. This is helped by his position at the bottom of a leading line, the corner of the castle.

Well done Zane!

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

How I Took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg

Sonja Eisenberg certainly isn’t one to let the grass grow under her feet! Only a few weeks a member of East Cork Camera Group and competing in her first internal competition, themed ‘Weather’, Sonja only went and won Grade C with the image above. This is how she did it:

It was taken on a Ryanair flight from Cork to London in late January 2017, just after take off around 11am. Shot out of the right hand side of the plane looking down on water. Shot on NIKON D3000; AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm lens; f/3.5-5 . Raw File; ISO 200, 30mm, -0.67 ev, f13, 1/640. Sunny setting, centre focus.

Post processing: brought up the overall light but reduced the highlights, increasing the contrast and colour. Also increased definition and reduced down noise as much as possible; there was also a slight vignette and some sharpen intensity. Post processed on the iPhoto in-built adjustment tool on MacBook Air.

Well done Sonja!

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

How I Took that Shot – Joe Keniry

Not only did Joe Keniry take first place in Grade B in our ‘Weather’ competition held on 7/2/17, his image was the highest scoring image across all grades, a fantastic feat. This is how he made it:

This photo was taken on the 26th October 2015 at Youghal front strand.

It was a very stormy day and high tides were predicted. As I wasn’t that busy, I took the afternoon off and went to Youghal. There was a gathering of about 20 people viewing the large waves crashing over the wall. I was taking a few shots from a distance when I noticed a young boy dodging the sea spray. I felt there was a shot there so I stayed with him and then, luckily for me but not for him, he got caught under a huge wave breaking over the wall. So I thank him for that perfect shot on that not so perfect day!

I used my Nikon D7000, 50 mm lens, 1/250 sec, F/9, ISO 400.

Well done Joe!

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.