SACC Chairman Mark Gorman presents Pakie O Donoghue with the SACC POTY Award.

To a delighted and packed Cabragh Wetlands Trust Building the winner of the 2017-2018 Nature Photographer of the year was announced. Pakie O Donoghue from the Blackwater Photographic Society picked up the award. Pakie was shocked at receiving the award but it was truly deserved. Pakie also picked up a Gold Medal for the Open Print Catagory. There was about 100 people in attendance and special thanks go to the Wetland Trust and to Thurles Camera Club for helping make it a fantastic event. Blarney Photography Club did the SACC proud running an excellent event and once again congratulations to all the winners and Pakie. All the results will be posted during the week.

All the entries are in and a great day awaits us at the NPOTY in the Cabragh Wetlands Centre, Co. Tipperary on Saturday. The Wetlands have no less than 15 different habitats including ponds, reed swamps, hedgerows, streams and wild flower meadows. You might even get a few shots for next yeras competition!!  Registration for prints will be at 9AM and closes at 10AM. We are delighted to have Des Clinton and Ita Martin bringing a wealth of experience to judging this great competition.  

The Cabragh Wetlands  are located on the R659 just 4km from Thurles and 5 km from the M8 Motorway off exit 6. Google Maps Link Here.

We are looking forward to a great day !

The SACC Regional Round of the IPF Nature is now open for entries  2017/18.

Entries must be completed online.

Entry Form

Click here to enter

This year, the finals weekend will be held on 17th of February in the Talbot Hotel in Carlow.

Do you want to win the title of IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2018? 

Well, get your entries prepared, the online entry is open until midnight on Sunday the 7th of January. 

The format, sections, fees, and rules will remain the same as last year.

Nature Photographer of the Year Sections:

• Print – Open
• Print – Theme – Flora & Fungi
• Projected Image – Open
• Projected Image – Theme – Irish Wildbirds & Wildlife
• Projected Image – Open – The Natural World

Entry fee structure listed below:

• One Section: €15
• Two Sections: €20
• Three Sections: €25
• Four or more Sections: €30

Closing Date:

Midnight on Sunday the 7th of January, 2018

Regional Competition

Saturday January 13th 2018

The Cabragh Wetlands Centre, Thurles, Co Tipperary.

The SACC regional qualifying round of IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/2017 took place last Sunday (January 22nd) at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust, Cabragh, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. And what a great day it was with so many wonderful images, and a large attendance in a fabulous venue.

The event was extremely well attended again this year with photographers travelling the length and breath of the region to be there. The glorious weather facilitated travelling and afforded members a chance to see the Cabragh wetlands. We are sure that many made plans to return and photograph in this wonderful natural environment.

Congratulations to all award winners, especially Dominick Moloney from Limerick Camera Club who was selected as regional winner with his stunning image ‘Himalayan Bumble Bee’.  We’d love to show you his image, and the other award winning ones, but we’ll have to wait until the finals are over next month.

Thank you to our judges, Kevin Murphy, FIPF, ARPS and Des Connors, FIPF, for their expertise in selecting winners in the various competition categories. It was a difficult task with so many stunning image entered on the day. Thanks also to Thurles Camera Club members for their valuable assistance on organising the venue, providing café facilities and helping with the running of the competition throughout the day.

Thanks to all at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust for the use of their amazing and beautiful venue. We’d encourage members with an interest in nature photography to make the trip to Thurles and are sure that it’d be worthwhile to add to your nature photography portfolio!

We’d also like to say a big thank you to Jim McSweeney for his beautiful calligraphy skills on the award certificates!

Report cards will be sent out shortly. Images were marked out of a maximum score of 18 points.  The qualifying mark for all sections was 12 points and above.

The competition results are available here: SACC Nature PotY Results

We hope to see you all again to Drogheda in a few weeks for the national finals and also hope to see some of our SACC photographers in the winners enclosure!

Gallery of Award Winners below:

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The SACC Qualifying Round of the IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/17 competition will, appropriately, take place at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust facility, Cabragh, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, on Sunday January 22nd.

This competition is one of the highlights of the SACC calendar as a large number of SACC members are keen Nature Photographers. The competition is the Southern Regional round of the IPF Nature PotY Competition 2016/17 and qualifying entries will go forward to the IPF national final.

For this years competition we’re delighted to welcome the following judges:

• Kevin Murphy, FIPF, ARPS
• Des Connors FIPF.

Event Schedule:

Qualifying prints will be retained and forwarded to IPF for National Finals.

Images that do not qualify for national finals can be collected AFTER awards ceremony.

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We wish all entrants the very Best of Luck! 

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We’re pleased to announce that the SACC regional qualifying round of the IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/2017 is now open for entries.

To read more about this competition, the themes for this year, cost of entry etc., please read this post on the IPF Website. You can also access the IPF entry link by clicking here.

The competition is open to all members of SACC affiliated club.

The closing date for SACC Regional entries is December 12^th 2016.

The SACC Nature PotY competition will take place on Sunday, January 22^nd at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust facility, Cabragh, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Please note this year:

• All entries should be made through the IPF Website
• You must upload a digital copy of all prints at time of entry.
• Please note the mandatory labelling system for all print entries. These labels are available for download from the IPF website. You can also access the download by clicking here.
• Please ensure that you enter the correct level as defined in the rules – pay careful attention to the definitions of the Advanced and Non-Advanced entry criteria.

For the 2016/2017 season, the sections in full are shown below (from the IPF website). For the full definition of themes, please go to themes page on the IPF Web site and refer to the rules. The first four sections below are run under the FIAP nature definition while ‘The Natural World’ is defined within our competition rules document.

• Print – Open
• Print – Theme – Flora and Fungi
• Projected Image – Open
• Projected Image – Theme – Irish wild birds and wildlife
• Projected Image – Open – The Natural World

Entry fee structure listed below:

• One Section: €15
• Two Sections: €20
• Three Sections: €25
• Four or more Sections: €30

Judges

We are delighted to welcome the following judges for this years SACC Regional round:

• Kevin Murphy, FIPF, ARPS
• Des Connors FIPF.

The SACC regional qualifying round of IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2015/2016 in association with Mahers Photographic took place last Sunday (January 24th 2016) at the Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery, Co.Cork.

The event was extremely well attended again this year with photographers travelling the length and breath of the region to attend. We were delighted to welcome Michael & Richie from competition sponsors Maher’s Photographic who were a very welcome addition to the event and with a massive variety of photography equipment available to play with on the day, there was many a photographer gone home wishing for that winning lotto ticket before the national finals in a few weeks!

Congratulations to all award winners, especially Charlie Lee from Clonakilty Camera Club who was crowned regional winner with his beautiful image ‘Golden Plover’.  We’d love to show you his image, plus all other awards, but as the judging of the finals hasn’t taken place yet, we have to refrain ourselves!

Thank you to our judge Gerry Kerr for his expert skills. Gerry had the unenviable task of judging solo due to illness of our second judge on the day. Thanks also to Clonakilty Camera Club for their amazing hospitality, to the Celtic Ross Hotel who looked after us all so well at a great venue and to the SACC Committee all their work relating to this event.