National Shield 2023
The National Shield is for photographers who are considered non-Advanced by their clubs. The standard of our and other clubs’ panels on Saturday in Drogheda demonstrate just how good these photographers are. All of our photographers who were represented did us proud. All of you who entered competitions and submitted images throughout the last year helped to give us a wide selection from which to select our panels.
Mono
1. Portrait Tom Byrne
2. The last frontier Randal Howlett
3. Concentration Pat Byrne
4. Carbery Show 2023 Kay McCarthy
5. Laundry day Darius Matulevicius
6. Hemisferic Pat Collins
7. The cloudy depths Marilyn Boyd
8. Alone Ian Vosloo
As anyone who came will attest, the standard was incredibly high. We came 9th in the mono section and two photographs got Honourable Mentions, Laundry Day by Darius Matulevicius and Alone by Ian Vosloo.
Colour
1. Woodpecker Seamus Lennon
2. Venice awakening Maria O’Reilly
3. Just wondering Pat Shaw
4. Female Splendid Fairywren Anne O’Grady
5. Laytown races Owen Ryan
6. Break time Darius Matulevicius
7. Just smile please Gary Cabey
8. Bratislava Zoo lion Henry Bauress
The standard of Colour panels was equally high across the board. Apart from the top four clubs, the next ten were tightly bunched. We came 11th in Colour.
Overall we came 10th. For reference there were 19 clubs in the competition, so this is mid table. I believe a reasonable result given the standards.