A Harpenden photographer has snapped up a local society's biggest accolade of the year for the fifth time running.
Paul Johnson has been named Photographer of the Year for the 2020/2021 season by Harpenden Photographic Society (HPS).
The society, which is in its 85th year, holds internal competitions throughout the season, with members entering colour prints, monochrome prints or digital projected images (DPI).
The top scoring images in each competition, as determined by an external judge, are awarded points which cumulatively count towards a final score. Due to Covid-restrictions, all the pictures were judged remotely and winners announced over Zoom.
Paul received the most points across all three categories, but also won the monochrome print category, and the club's two additional annual challenges: panel of three and audio visual.
The colour print category winner was Peter Whitehead and the winner of the DPI category was Peter Stevens.
Paul, who is HPS vice chair, has successfully held the Photographer of the Year title on four previous occasions.
He said: "It has been a tough year, but I was fortunate to be awarded a first and second place in mono prints in the last round that resulted me just pipping the other close runners in the post!
"There were some amazing images entered throughout the year by the many members who participated in the competition."
HPS chair Steve Collins added: “This is a tremendous and well-deserved result for Paul - who has been justly rewarded for his incredible skill and passion for photography, not only by becoming our Photographer of the Year for the fifth time, but by winning our other two annual competitions as well.
"It was also fantastic to see so many of our newest members enjoying great success this season in the competitions , and I would encourage anyone who has a love for, or would like to learn more about, photography, to consider becoming a member.
"Our new season kicks off in less than two months time, and we would love to welcome more of our local community to the society.”
The society begins its new season on Tuesday September 7, and new members are welcome. See www.harpendenphotographicsociety.co.uk for further information.
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