National recognition for Mullingar Camera Club President

On May 17 in Mullingar Arts Centre the Irish Photographic Federation (IPF), facilitated by Mullingar Camera Club held their May distinction sitting.

The distinction sitting sees individual photographers present their work before the distinctions judges, who assess whether the applicant should be awarded the relevant distinction for which they applied. There are three levels of distinction; Licentiate, Associateship and Fellowship.

The Fellowship distinction, the highest level, requires a panel of twenty prints accompanied by a written statement of Intent stating what the panel is intended to achieve, to be presented to a group of Assessors appointed by the IPF, all of whom are Fellows of the IPF.

The panel must sit together as a cohesive body of work and demonstrate the applicant’s distinguished ability or style in a specialist area of photography.

Mullingar Camera Club President, Colm Kerr, was awarded his Fellowship distinction at the May Distinction sitting. No stranger to awards, in 2019, Colm received a Gold Medal for the Commercial Videographer of the Year category and in 2020, was awarded six bronze and three silver medals at the Irish Professional Photographers and Videographers Association (IPPVA) Awards for his contributions to architecture, fine art, and commercial photography. He was also IPPVA Overall Photographer of the Year 2023 and was honoured as the Fine Art Photographer of the Year 2023.

Colm has often said that, because he was inspired by Mullingar Camera Club members’ images at a club exhibition that he visited, he considered pursuing photography. Since joining Mullingar Camera Club, he has developed his own unique and personal style of photography.

His flair for architectural and fine art photography set the basis for his panel of images, while his creative side further enhanced his approach to the panel, as the following extract from his Statement of Intent makes clear:

“As a building grows from the shadows of the street towards the light, so does the interest in how it will look when it’s finished. How will it blend in with its surroundings? When these new giants are finished the focus changes to who will occupy this office? Then the interior becomes the most important part for the occupants and sometimes the outside view if they have time.”

It was the exterior view, looking up towards the sky that captured Colm’s imagination and allowed him to create a stunning panel that resulted in his well deserved award.