What a competition! Our club season has come to a close for the summer, and we certainly finished in style.
Congratulations to everyone who took part in last night’s Blackwater Photographic Society Photographer of the Year competition.

Advanced

A nail-biting finish! Kieran O’Mahony and Paul Madigan tied on 140 in the open tjop 5, with Kieran taking the title on the 7th-image tie-break, 25 vs 24. John Flynn finished close behind on 136 — just four points separated the top three!

Kieran O’Mahony — 140
Paul Madigan — 140
John Flynn — 136

Intermediate

Jim Heffernan — 117
Brian Power — 106
Geraldine Dennehy — 96

Non-Advanced

Sheila Horgan — 116
Brendan McPhillips — 114
John Ward — 109

2026 Photographer of the year: Kieran O Mahony

Best Overall Image: Kieran O Mahony

Best Monochrome: Kieran O Mahony

A huge thank you to everyone who entered, and to our judging panel: Vivian Buckley, Seamus Mulcahy, and Breda Kiely Morgan. We truly appreciate the time, effort, and expertise you gave to the evening. A massive Thank you to John Brennan our Competition Sec who had everything in order and everyone in check for the night to run as smoothly as it did.

Well done to all! 

Please see below for a taste of what was on show last night.
Have a great summer — we’ll be back in action again this September!

We are very pleased to announce that we have received a grant of €900 through the 2026 Small capital investment grant from Cork County Council. This has enabled us to purchase a new backdrop and stand as well as new studio lightning equipment for club use.
This will be of great benifit to our club.
We are very greatful to the Cork county council for their support.

Blackwater Photographic Society was delighted to welcome guest speaker John Tait from East Cork Camera Group to our club meeting last Monday night.

John treated us to a wonderful presentation covering a wide range of photography, including wildlife, landscape, and sports photography. He shared some truly stunning wildlife images from the beautiful East Cork coastline, featuring short-eared owls, yellowhammers, snow buntings, and much more.

During the second half of the evening, John took us through highlights from his most recent trip to Sweden, where he showcased incredible prints of golden eagles, black woodpeckers, and other remarkable wildlife.

He also spoke about the importance of printing photographs so they can be properly appreciated and enjoyed for years to come.
We would like to sincerely thank John for making the journey and for delivering such a fantastic night.

His presentation was both inspiring and engaging, and he held the attention of our members throughout the evening.

Some more great news today for Blackwater Photographic Society on the Competition front! Our own Paul Madigan has been awarded a FIAP Gold Medal for his stunning image ” *Cattle Egret* ” at the *FIAP Nature Biennial 2026* .

Ireland took 1st place in the Print Section, winning the prestigious FIAP World Cup. Both Paul’s image and Kieran O Mahonys print images were a key part of that winning panel. This is a great achievement at a global level.

We are delighted to also share that Paul Madigan, Kieran O Mahony and John Flynn BPS were also part of Ireland’s digital panel. And all three of our members — Kieran, John, and Paul — each had 2 images accepted in the Digital Section (6 out of 20 iages in total digital images from Blackwater).

For the full announcement and details of all the Irish award winners, check out the Irish Photographic Federation’s post on Facebook.