Phil Pound has been preparing this Panel for the Associateship of the Irish Professional Photographers Association (IPPA) for 2 years. Thousands of photographs, many many hours of patient waiting, Irish weather, early mornings and keen observation. His massive effort and dedication were rewarded and acknowledged by  the IPPA with this award. A few words from the man himself ..............

   “ I did my A in the subject of Wildlife. There are twenty images placed as a panel of two rows of ten.  As with any Associateship you must have a panel that sits well together, the photographer must show a high level of competency with regard to camera use and knowledge. You must show a strong understanding of the use of light, colour, depth of field, composition and also be seen to be developing a distinct style at this level.

You will see from the panel that I included different subjects in varying light intensity and colour, with low key, high key and mid key use. And I tried to cover several different breeds of bird so that it did not look too similar.  I have been working on this for two years, having dumped many different panels in favour of this one.  A few of the images have been put into different competitions and the awards range from silver to gold to diamond. The previous version to this had a few mammal and macro insect shots in it, but I felt the panel did not sit well together and so went with birds as my only subject.

I am so pleased to have achieved it, it took a lot of hard work and I hate to think how many thousands of photos I have taken to get it.  I am glad not to have had to do it on film!! “