PRESS photographer Frank Dwyer admits he was a little worried when we picked the theme #abstract for November's Press Camera Club competition. It's a concept that is just so ... well, abstract, he says. He wasn't sure what club members would come up with.

He needn't have worried. Members rose to the challenge magnificently, producing what Frank believes are some of the best photographs we've had so far.

The flexibility that the theme allowed meant that entries showed off the full range of techniques and skills available to a photographer using modern technology, he said. There are close-ups using macro lenses; images of familiar objects or scenes taken from unusual angles or perspectives; and others that have been digitally manipulated to create striking effects.

Choosing a shortlist - and ultimately a winner - from among the wealth of entries wasn't easy. Different people will have different ideas, Frank admits.

But after much agonising, he picked out Barney Sharratt's lovely image of a dovecote reflected in the lake at Rowntree Park as his overall winner.

It is a beautiful, shimmering image. "And yes, we know what it shows, because Barney tells us in his caption," Frank says. "But he has still managed to create a genuinely abstract image out of something real."

Frank's two runners up were Jonathan Allison's 'abstract selfie', which has something of the geometrical, beguiling quality of an Escher painting; and Heather Storr's image of... well, we don't quite know. "It's a bold, bright, energetic photograph - and it is genuinely abstract," Franks says. "We have been discussing it in the office, and none of us can tell what it actually is!" Which is probably as it should be...

Wer reproduce Barney's winning photograph on these pages, together with the two runners up and a selection of Frank's 'highly commended' entries.

We hope you enjoy them. And if you have, why not consider entering the December competition yourself? The theme will be announced next week. If you're not yet a member of our Press Camera Club, don't worry. Joining couldn't be easier. Simply go to Facebook, type in Press Camera Club, sign up, and you're away...

Stephen Lewis