Today’s National Wildlife & Nature Competition, with some brilliant results and plenty of awards coming home!

Firstly, a huge well done to Kieran O Mahony, who had the difficult task of judging today’s competition. With a huge number of images across six different categories, it certainly wasn’t an easy job, and it was a great honour for the club to have one of our own selected as a judge.

We were also delighted to see our members presented with their awards from the FIAP Wildlife World Nature Biennial and Monochrome Biennial. Kieran O Mahony and John Mullane received their Honourable Mentions, while Paul Madigan received an Honourable Mention along with a FIAP Gold Medal. 🏅

The success continued in today’s competition, with John Flynn taking Gold in Natural Landscapes — a fantastic achievement! 👏

Paul Madigan also had a brilliant day, picking up Gold and Silver in Open Wildlife, along with four Honourable Mentions — one in Open Wildlife, two in Wetland Birds & Waders, and one in Natural Landscapes.

To top off a fantastic day, Paul achieved the highest combined points total from his best 16 images entered across the competition, earning him the title of Nature Photographer of the Year! 🏆📸

A brilliant day all round and a fantastic showing from Blackwater on the national stage.

Congratulations to Kieran, John Mullane, John Flynn and Paul, and well done to everyone involved!

A Strong Start to the New Season at Blackwater!

Week two of our new season saw another great turnout as we turned our attention to Distinction Panel Building.

With distinction season approaching, the night was all about learning how to bring a collection of individual photographs together into one strong, cohesive panel — looking at layout, balance, flow, presentation and how images can complement each other as a complete portfolio of work.

Another enjoyable and productive night at Blackwater Photographic Society, and we’re only getting started!