Twenty-eight photographers ? including two newcomers who took prizes ? made the cut for the Photographic Show at the Bermuda Society of Arts, which is displaying 67 pieces of their work this week.

BSoA director Peter Lapsley said: "There were 35 artists who entered work and 28 artists were selected.

"Out of 110 pieces entered, 67 were chosen to be displayed. The jury was made up of three qualified people who like to remain anonymous.

"They do however provide feedback for the works that were juried out in order to help the entrants improve their work. It was very hard this year, but the selection panel last year was also very tough. This year, although the number of entrants went down, all the works entered were of a good quality!

"So it seems to be working and hopefully people will view it as a positive thing."

Mr. Lapsley said the winners of the different categories were Amanda Temple, who won Best in Show for "Caf? Quadri" and Makiko Hall took the award for Best Black and White Photograph for "Shooting from the Hip, Sprint Street, NYC".

Sheila Woodbridge was awarded Best Series for "Finger Licking Good ? Burma", "Photographer ? Burma", "Blue Daze ? Vietnam" and "Lucky Door ? India". Bruce Stuart took Best Colour Photograph for "Las Ninas de las Locos".

Asked what were the most common themes this year, Mr. Lapsley said: "We always get a lot of flowers and landscapes, however this year has seen many people diversifying their interests, which is really very positive.

"Not that there is anything wrong with landscapes and flowers, but when you see a great deal of work it is always refreshing to see people tackling either different subject matters or the same subject matter, but in a different manner.

"Robert Rogers' landscapes and Charles Anderson's abstract urban landscapes are good examples," he said.

Mr. Lapsley singled out Mr. Rogers as a photographer to look out for.

"I think that Robert Rogers for the last three years has been the photographer with the best overall body of work in regards to technical ability and a fresh way of shooting Bermuda," he said.

Two first time entrants also took prizes, he added.

"This year Makiko Hall and Sheila Woodbridge have both entered work and won prizes for their categories. We haven't previously shown their work before so I hope to see good things from them in the future.

"To be honest, we have a great spread of photographers from the professional to the amateur and they are all moving forward with their work which is a pleasure to see, and the reason we exist."

The Society has also seen a shift from to digital imaging and printing in the last few years. This year, the bulk of the pieces on display are digital, Mr. Lapsley said.

"Wow! Yeah, digital is here. There are now more digital than photographic prints. With the technology leaping forward and the quality of the output (prints etc.) getting better and better ? you now have people shooting with film, then scanning and producing digital prints.

"This is a change from people having Photolabs taking their digital files and printing them on photographic paper. As the inks become more archival and with companies like Kodak discontinuing its black and white film, or Agfa going out of business, I think the digital print will become the standard."