The 2010 IPF National Club Finals will be held in the Athone Institute of Technology on 24^th and 25^th April 2010. 

The competition is open to all clubs in good standing with the IPF.  There are no qualifying rounds.  The Rules of the Competition are the same as last year, with each club allowed to enter one Monochrome Panel and one Colour Print panel.  Entry fees are €20 for one panel, €35 for two panels.  

Completed Entry Forms together with the relevant fee (cheques etc. made payable to the IPF), and an A4 sheet containing thumbnails should be sent to Sarah Nix, 23 Oak Rise, Green Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.  Closing date for receipt of entry forms is Wednesday 14th April 2010.  It is not necessary to print the thumbnails on expensive photographic paper.  

Monochrome Prints will be displayed and judged on Saturday, and Colour Prints on Sunday.

The judges for the competition will be Jacque Denis and his wife Dedee, and Mr. Conrad Mularoni (see.... on this website).

Directions on how to get to Athlone Institute of Technology is available on www.AIT.ie/tools/wheretofindus.  The college is on the Dublin Rd, Athlone, not far from the Kilmartin Roundabout.For those wishing to stay in Athlone over the weekend.  

The Creggan Court Hotel, situated at the Kilmartin Roundabout, have special rates of €50 single, and €40 per person sharing double or twin rooms.  Booking should be made direct with hotel 0906 477777, quoting IPF.

The IPF Dinner has been arranged for the Creggan Court for Saturday 24^th April 2010.  Cost: €20 per person.  Please make your reservation with Sarah Nix at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it stating your name, club and the number in your party.

Further information available from the event coordinator Sarah Nix This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Click here for Competition Rules and Entry Form or go to the Downloads section of the website.

There will also be a Distinctions sitting on Saturday, ant the IPF AGM on Sunday.

To celebrate 25 years in existence, Celbridge Camera Club is hosting the First Celbridge International Salon of Photography.  

This is a digital only salon, open to photographers from all over the world, and is approved by the Photographic Society of America (PSA).

The salon consists of two sections – ‘Open’ and ‘Creative’ (Altered reality).

The closing date for entries is 30 May 2010.

Please visit this link for more information and the on-line entry system.  http://www.celbridgecameraclub.net/?page_id=246

The 2010 finals took place over the weekend of 13th & 14th February.  An excellent weekend of photography resulted in the best overall image prize being won by Morgan O’Neill of Mallow Camera Club.

FIAP acceptances were awarded to all images scoring 22 points or more in all three sections. 

Click here for Results and Report.

Marks for all images in the competiton available here.

Its that time of year when distinction fees are due. This year for the first time,  we are accepting payment by Paypal. There are two options for payment - annual or lifetime.

The annual renewal fee  is €25.00 p.a and the lifetime fee is a one off fee of €200.  There is also a reduced fee of €15 for Seniors.

Please include your full name and your distinction when paying - it will help us track the payment.

Fee options

Seniors Fee €15.00 Annual Fee €25.00 Lifetime Fee €200.00

Full Name

Distinction Type

Alternatively, payment can be made via Cash, Cheque, Bank Draft or Postal Order. Please make payable to the Irish Photographic Federation and send to:

Brian Hopper
Carra Puncha
The Square
Blackrock
Dundalk
Co. Louth

Colm Fitzpatrick, LIPF, has been interested in photography since his teenage years when he first bought a Russian made Zenith SLR.  Since then he has progressed to embrace the digital age, moving to a digital SLR set up in 2007.  Colm's main interest is Wildlife Photography, he has spent a lot of time on Bull Wall in north Dublin, photographing the many waders and other seabirds which occupy this UNECO protected oasis of wildlife in the heart of Dublin.

Colm hopes to travel further afield in the future to capture some of the wildlife of the frozen north.  He is planning a trip to the high Arctic to photograph Polar Bears and other arctic wildlife.  In the coming months he is also embarking on a new project photographing insects and hopes to learn more about the microscopic world of Macro Photography.

Colm’s awards and achievements to date include...

Image "Little Egret" Highly Commended In CIWEM International Environmental Photographer Of The Year 2009

Image "Fox" Won Best Wildlife in 2009 IPF National Nature Finals

Two page spread of image "Little Egret" in Sublime, a bi-monthly international lifestyle magazine

Images "Fox" and "Short Eared Owl" featured in "Photography Ireland 2010"

To see more of Colm’s work visit his website at www.colmfitzpatrick.net

The 2009 National Shield Competition was held in the Ballyfermot Civic Centre on Sunday 15 November.  The event was hosted this year by SatSun Photographic Club, Ballyfermot, and attracted an entry of 21 clubs.

The judges this year were Damien DeMolder, editor of Amateur Photographer, John Law, FRPS, MFIAP, Cambridge Camera Club, UK, and Tom Fairley, Banbridge Camera Club, NI.

2009 National Shield Results [Click here to download results]

Overall Winners
1st           Offshoot Photographic Society
2nd          Celbridge Camera Club
3rd          Dublin Camera Club

Monochrome Panels
1st           Celbridge Camera Club
2nd          Drogheda Photographic Club & Midlands Photography Club           (Joint Second)
3rd          Malahide Camera Club

Colour Panels
1st           Offshoot Photographic Society
2nd          Dublin Camera Club
3rd          Clondalkin Camera Club

Individual Awards
Monochrome Prints
1st           “Power Lift” by Martin Moran of Clondalkin Camera Club
2nd          “Always beyond the Fence” by Anil Kumar of Mountmellick Photographic Society
3rd          “Untitled” by Don Horne of Midlands Photography Club

Colour Prints
1st           “Local Woman, India” by Martin Sweeney of Drogheda Photographic Club
2nd          “Peppers” by Maria Kinsella of Kilkenny Photographic Society
3rd          “Lay Off” by Martin Moran of Clondalkin Camera Club 

Paul Stanley, event coordinator, extended thanks on behalf of the Irish Photographic Federation to SatSun Photographic Club and all the participating clubs who helped make this year’s event a success.