Last night I had the pleasure of attending the third round of the NIPA inter club competition. As well as finally being a chance to meet John in the flesh, it was an opportunity to see what photographers in Northern Ireland were taking, the effects of different styles and get an idea of what actually works.

It also ended up turning into quite a handy overview of the power of layers and filter masks when editing images!

Looking at the photos on display my over riding reactions alternated between 'Wow' and 'I really suck at this'.

It was interesting to see how the judges had scored certain pictures. Shots I felt were breathtaking seemed to score average to high marks, whilst some of the winners (whilst brilliant, have no doubt) wouldn't have been on my top ten.I'd never considered things like the frequency the subject turns up in competition (lets be honest, if we live in Belfast we'll all take photos of the City Hall at some point). Equally people with the capacity to travel all around the world shouldn't win because their picture is from a far off land.

I believe the judges mentioned some/all of the pictures would be online soon and as soon as I get the link I'll post it.

I came away from the night inspired to keep on at this, though I've a brand new appreciation for how much I need to learn.

Still, as long as its fun...