SMCC Member Wins International IGPOTY Award

International Garden Photographer of the Year - Competition 17

South Manchester Camera Club is delighted to announce that one of its members, Tony North, has been announced a winner in the International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition (IGPOTY).

Thousands of photographers across the globe submit their finest images to this internationally acclaimed competition in the hope of being selected. Tony went to Kew Gardens in January 2024 to receive his award in the 'Square Crop' contest for this amazing close-up image.

Tony tells us that this portrait of a dew-encrusted individual is a blue-tailed damselfly, Ischnura elegans. He captured it close to home, at Reddish Vale Country Park, Stockport one early morning.

He used a macro lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter to increase the magnification even further. He then focus stacked multiple images to ensure the beautiful creature is resplendent from the whiskers around its mouth to the sharp spikes on its tail.

Winning images from this IGPOTY competition are on show at Kew Gardens until 10th March 2024 and they then tour the UK as well as stop offs in Germany and the USA. 

Tony has been a member of SMCC since 2016 and he currently runs the Club's Macro Group. Throughout the year he takes members on regular trips to capture stunning macro images of insects, fungi and plants in parkland, woodland, and National Trust and RHS gardens. He also organises indoor workshop sessions where members can learn the technical skills needed to create these evocative images.  

He is currently channelling his expertise in creating beautiful works of art which represent the natural world at its best into the new realm of writing a book.  A provisional title for what Tony hopes will be the best resource out there for macro in the field is The Art of Macro,  Photographing Insects in the Field. Watch this space for a publication date!

To learn more about Tony's photography visit www.artofmacro.com and if you are interested in joining the Club, here is some further information on our Join The Club page.