Congratulations to the 90 participating IPPA members who took part in the Happy Faces Day 2012 campaign which raised a record breaking €80,000 in much needed funds for the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation. 100% of the proceeds (not just profits) will benefit The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation, and all costs are met by the participating members and by our generous sponsors, Canon.Here is the ten finalists photographers work who took part in the IPPA Canon portrait award which includes images taken during the Happy Faces Day event.

The 2012 Winners are:

Corin Bishop AIPPA (Overall Winner)

Joe McHugh LIPPA (Runner-up)

Nicole Le Saout LIPPA ( Runner-Up)

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Mick Quinn FIPPA as the new chairman of  IPPA Judging for 2012. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude to Vincent O’Byrne FIPPA who has given so many years of valuable service to the Association during his term as chairperson. The IPPA awards are a major highlight in the IPPA calender year. Council have made a full review of the awards programme with the aim of maintaining a standard of excellence in photography as a priority. To start the ball rolling Mick Quinn kindly hosted a judge’s training weekend with Kevin Wilson FIPPA who is a renowned international judge. Taking on board Kevin’s advice we decided that the Olympic style of awards (i.e. gold, silver, bronze) is something that resonates with the public and is universally understood. Mick carried out a comprehensive review of the last two of years awards and the specific scores that were awarded in each category. With this in mind we have reduced the number of eligible categories from 17 to 13.  All disciplines are still represented within the categories for 2012/2013. One of the major changes is that ‘Diamond’ is no longer awarded, meaning that ‘Gold’ sits where Diamond was previously awarded. One distinct difference will be that for the end of year judging when participants are required to furnish printed images, each photographer may use Gold, Silver and Bronze images as part of their qualifying portfolios and single images.

Under this new system the standard required for ‘Bronze’ is considerably higher than previous years. I would advise and encourage members not to be put off by these changes as we are looking to help and improve the standards of everyone’s photography. The judging evenings will also change and be held in two sessions, a social photography session from 2-5pm and a commercial photography session from 6-9pm. A timetable has been devised with judges who are trained in their chosen fields judging the categories that they specialise in. By having separate judging sessions we are drawing on a wider pool of expertise and offering more constructive judging to help members understand and improve the standard of their photography. These judging sessions will be recorded and made available online for members who cannot attend. The first judging heat is May 14th with a closing date for entries of May 9th. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Mick at judging@irishphotographers.com or the IPPA HQ

I would like to wish each participating photographer the very best of luck for 2012!

Gareth Byrne FIPPA

President

The Categories for 2012/2013:

Aodan Enright of SmarterEgg discusses innovation with the IPPA.

IPPA Awards from IPPA on Vimeo.

A week or so after Peter O’Donnell triumphed at the 2012 IPPA National Photographic Awards, we were able to have a quick interview with him over the phone.

He talks about his win, his photography, his vision and the important person who has supported him every step of the way.

2012's prizes © IPPA 2012

The IPPA Annual National Photographic Awards were held last night at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. In all 37 awards were handed out across a wide range of photographic disciplines.

The big winners on the night were Peter O’Donnell, who won IPPA Photographer of the Year for the second time in three years, and Henk van Kooten, who won the inaugural IPPA International Photographer of the Year.

Another notable domestic winner was John Ryan, who picked up no fewer than four category awards.

Full list of winners

Architecture Single Image: Donal Murphy
Architecture Portfolio: Donal Murphy
Best Bridal Portfolio International: Jose Luis Guardia Vazquez
Bridal Portfolio: John Ryan
Commercial Single Image: Peter Clayton
Commercial Portfolio: Donal Murphy
Fashion Single Image: Cormac Byrne
Fashion Portfolio: Owen O’Connor
Fine Art/Human Form Single: John Ryan
Fine Art/Human Form Portfolio: John Ryan
International Fine Art/Human Form Single: Henk van Kooten
Landscape Single Image: Peter O’Donnell
Landscape Portfolio: Peter O’Donnell
International Open Art & Creativity Single: Henk van Kooten
International Open Art & Creativity Portfolio: Henk van Kooten
Open Art & Creativity Single: Dermot Byrne
Open Art & Creativity Portfolio: Michael McLaughlin
Pets Single: Maria Dunphy
Pets Portfolio: Maria Dunphy
Child Portraiture Single: Nicole La Saout
Child Portraiture Portfolio: Tanya Crosbie
Classic Portraiture Single: Joe McHugh
Classic Portraiture Portfolio: Tanya Crosbie
Press & PR Single Image: Chris Bellew
Press & PR Portfolio: Chris Bellew
Pictorial and Travel Single Image: Enda Cavanagh
Pictorial and Travel Portfolio: Michael McLaughlin
Wedding Classical Portfolio: Paul Callaghan
Wedding Reportage Single Image: John Ryan
Wedding Reportage Portfolio: Robert Mullan
International Wedding Contemporary Portfolio: Jose Luis Guardia Peinado
International Wedding Contemporary Single: Jose Luis Guardia Peinado
Wedding Contemporary Single: Paul Callaghan
Wedding Contemporary Portfolio: Corin Bishop
Wildlife Single Image: Philip Pound
Wildlife Portfolio: Philip Pound
IPPA International Photographer of the Year 2012: Henk van Kooten
IPPA Photographer of the Year 2012: Peter O’Donnell

Interviews on the night

Vincent O’Byrne, Chairman of Judging, IPPA National Photographic Awards 2012

Gareth Byrne, IPPA President

John Ryan and Peter O’Donnell (IPPA Photographer of the Year 2012)

Henk van Kooten (IPPA International Photographer of the Year) and Chris Bellew

Maria Dunphy

IPPA member Paul Dorrell has produced this promotional video to help get the message out about Happy Faces Day.

The Jack and Jill Foundation is this year’s IPPA Happy Faces partner. If you’re not sure what the foundation does, have a listen to the interview below that IPPA council member Roger Overall did with John Gaffney, a father who had to come to terms with a terminally ill baby daughter.

Parents of children born with life-threatening or terminal brain damage receive little or nothing in the way of help from the state. In John Gaffney’s case, his family didn’t receive any state assistance until two days before his daughter passed away. Jack and Jill did help, though, providing nursing and respite help during the ten weeks that John’s daughter lived.

If Jack and Jill were to go away tomorrow, and the children it looks after were to go into hospital to receive the care Jack and Jill provides at home, it would cost the state €45million annually. A sobering thought. Yet the foundation only receives just over a tenth of that in aid from the government.

If you’d like to participate in this year’s Happy Faces initiative, time is running out. Take action today.

And if you’d like to buy the calendar of semi-naked referees, here is the website mentioned by John in the interview: ISRS Cork.

The preparation for IPPA’s Happy Faces charity initiative is underway and participating members are attending training sessions to learn how they can get the most out of the initiative.

The first one was held on Monday in Dublin. Other meetings are scheduled during January at locations throughout the country. You can find out more and still sign up by clicking on the dedicated Happy Faces webpages.

Meanwhile, member Paul Dorrell has produced this video of the Leinster training event.

Canon Digital Cameras and lenses and Serial No’s

EOS 1D Mk 3 No 525487
EOS 1D Mk 3 No 525829