The Irish Times Amateur Photographer of the Year

The judges have chosen the best of more than 9,000 photographs

How do you pick the best photographs when there are so many good photographs to choose from? I think the honest answer is that you do so with difficulty.

A week ago 10 high-profile judges gathered in the main conference room at The Irish Times to face that task in a session that lasted seven hours. Over the previous five days the judges had worked, often into the early hours, sifting through more than 9,000 images taken by amateur photographers the length and breadth of the island. By the time we got into the conference room we had whittled the longlist down to about 350 photographs, in seven categories, through the online viewing and scoring application developed by the start-up company Picturk.

By this stage we had eliminated the also-rans, the pictures that for one reason or another didn’t make the grade. Sometimes it was for technical reasons; sometimes the photographs were just too predictable or dull.

The most difficult part of the judging process was coming to terms with each others’ values. Photography, like any art, is subjective: beauty and creativity are in the eye of the beholder. You could argue that three or four strands of photographic philosophy were represented in the room and that none of them has a monopoly on the truth.

I and my Irish Times colleague Brenda Fitzsimons represent, broadly, the tradition of photojournalism. Barry McCall is one of Ireland’s top fashion and commercial photographers, whose technical excellence is matched by his creativity. John Duncan of Source magazine, Tanya Kiang of the Gallery of Photography and Ángel Luis González, director of the PhotoIreland festival, come, broadly speaking, from the art-photography perspective. Mainstream amateur photographers were extremely well represented by Des Clinton and Michael O’Sullivan of the Irish Photographic Federation and by Daniel McCaughan of the Northern Ireland Photographic Federation. Canon Ireland, our partner in the competition, was represented by Shane Cowley, himself an accomplished photographer.

Winners

The first category that we judged was colour. The different perspectives quickly became clear. Some judges wanted to see something absolutely new and interesting; others put a stronger emphasis on perfection of composition and technical skills.

The rules of each category were checked, especially to do with the overall brief and the degree of digital manipulation allowed. The debate became robust, as we all expected. Scoring was by show of hands, interspersed by informed debate that sometimes changed minds.

As with any committee deliberation there was give and take and there were winners and losers. By the time we nailed the winner of the colour section there was a constructive dynamic in the room. We moved on through the other categories with a better idea of what we were looking for: something visually striking, fresh and done very well.

After we picked the winners and the runners-up in each category we turned to the Photograph of the Year and overall Irish Times Amateur Photographer of the Year awards. We chose Shadow Man, by Aideen McFadden, as Photograph of the Year mainly because it intrigued us. It has a wonderful mysterious, almost end-of-time quality, and strange and beautiful lighting. We chose Amaia Arenzana as Irish Times Amateur Photographer of the Year quite easily: her work jumped out as having a consistent vision and style. There was a sense of continuity that was quite different from some otherwise good work in which common themes were being repeated.

Given the quantity and quality of the entries, we inevitably had to leave some great images on the cutting-room floor. And any one of us judges might have picked different images. But I believe that our final selection is fair and shows the depth and scale of talent among Ireland’s amateur photographers.

Full list of winners

Photographer of the Year:Amaia Arenzana

Best Picture of the Year:Shadow Man by Aideen McFadden

 

Colour:

1st  God In The Lane by Mike Finn
 
 
2nd Boora Bog Parklands #1 by Bob Morrison
 
 3rd China: Bus Park by Michael O Grady
 
 
Monochrome:

1st Shadow Man by Aideen McFadden
 
 
 2nd Nude by Joby Hickey
 
  3rd Dissolve by Mads Bruun
 
 
Open:

1st Ad Infinitum by Amaia Arenzana
 
 
2nd Into The Mist by Philip Sliney
 
 
3rd Dreaming In Colour On AW by Amaia Arenzana
 


Nature:

1st Synchronised Snacking by Des Cannon
 
 2nd Sparring Egrets by Kieran Phelan
 
 3rd Food For A Long Journey by Norma Gleeson

Travel:

1st The Train To Rosslare by Aoife Hester

2nd Desert-truck-stop-Yemen by Bronwen Casson

3rd Dubai Skyline by Declan Kilcourse

Portrait
1st Daria by Ferdinand Von Korff Schmising

2nd Harry by Derek Byrne

3rd Face by Ann Francis

Source Category

1st Empty Spaces by Claire Duggan

2nd Folk Souls by Cristiano Del Mar

3rd In God We Trust by Alistair Waddelld