VALE OF BELVOIR/AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC

Two weeks ago 12 hardy photographers joined up from all over the state to photograph the beautiful Vale of Belvoir in the states North West, near Cradle Mountain. All members of the NPT (Nature Photographers of Tasmania) our mission was to capture as many and varied images as possible to highlight the conservational significance of this land newly purchased by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. As an unexpected bonus the photo editor of Australian Geographic Chrissie Goldrick flew down to join us and do a story on the project. Check out the April edition next year...

5 days of on and off rain and drizzle didn't deter us hardy folks from the daily dawn risings, though it did take it's toll on the evening socialising by the end...! I stayed an extra few days in an old cattle drovers hut on the land and managed to get a couple of beautiful clear dawns.

Just last night we all came together for a slideshow of the collected works of the project so far - talk about a fabulous body of work!

Here's a few of my contributions...

EPSON/NZIPP IRIS PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Ten days ago, on very short notice and after a candleburning late 5 am night, I managed to send off some entries to the NZ version of the APPA Awards - the Iris Awards.

The Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards are the only competition of its kind in New Zealand and were held at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP) annual Infocus conference in Wellington from 20-24 August this year.

This year the awards received a record number of entries.

The winners were announced last night at the Awards Gala dinner and I ended up winning five awards of the six entries I sent across. So needless to say I'm very happy about that! Two awards were in the Landscape Category and the other three were in the Wedding, People, and Creative categories respectively.

Thanks again to my guru printer Simon Olding and the wonderful Ian and Kim at Campbell St Framers for helping me create such beautiful imagery and to whisk them away on time!

What next? Hmmm...!

ABC STATELINE TV CLOSER

The lovely Airlie Ward has asked me to submit a slideshow for the closing section of the Tasmanian edition of the Stateline show on ABC TV this Friday 14 August.

The idea is to celebrate my two latest exhibitions and recent success at the Australian Professional Photography Awards. The show begins at 7.30pm and the closer will be the last article on the show before finishing at 8pm. So tune in and enjoy the viewing! I've never seen my photos on a television before. I wonder how they'll look?!

Come to think of it, I don't have a television, so I'll be knocking on a friends door with a few glasses of champagne at the ready to celebrate!

Aroha nui

Paul

VISUAL SYNERGY EXHIBITION

My latest exhibition is called 'Visual Synergy'. It is being exhibited in the Red Wall Gallery in the Republic Bar and Cafe, Elizabeth St, North Hobart June 21st - Aug 8th. The opening was a great night. Plenty of good people, good wine and beautiful Flamenco guitar by the legendary Paul Gerrard (thanks again Paul!). And good sales too!

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS - Epilogue

Well, I'm just getting my feet back on the ground in Tassie after an amazing couple of weeks in Sydney. To summarise my APPA Results...

Highest Scoring Print and Gold with Distinction Award in the Self-Commisioned Category.

Silver with Distinction Award in the Landscape Category.

Silver with Distinction Award in the Environmental Portrait Category.

78 Bronze Point Award in the Wedding Photojournalism Category.

Talk about stoked!!! I'll be having another go again in Melbourne next year for sure. Such a wonderful event - so much talent and hard work on display. I really got a sense of how much passion and comittment Australian photographers have for their craft, and also the depth of tradition and history in the AIPP organisation. I felt very welcomed as a newcomer and relished meeting so many gifted people. Peter Eastway, Christian Fletcher and Jackie Chan all gave me so much of their time - Jackie a whole day later in the week - I never expected such legendary photographers to be so open and giving with their time!!!

This is the other entry that won silver distinction in the environmental portrait category and the wedding photojournalism entry.

over and out for now...

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Well, here I am up in Sydney mixing it up with some of the best photographers in the country. The standard of work is exceptional and it's been wonderful to meet some of the photographers I've looked up to.

Things certainly started off with a bang for me. I'd only been there two minutes and Alan Moyle pulls me aside to let me know my first print "Desert Dreamscape" won a Gold with Distinction Award - the highest award you can achieve. Wow, that's quite an honour! A few minutes later my second print of this wave 'Touched By Light" won a Silver with Distinction Award in the Landscape Category. Talk about stoked!!! I'm off there again now to see how my other two prints go and learn a few things from the Master photographers offering workshops today. Here we go...

TASMANIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

Well last night was the night of nights for the Tasmanian Professional Photography Community with a day of intense and passionate judging across four categories, followed by the awards dinner. I won two silver and two silver with distinction awards for photographic excellence, had the highest scoring print in both the Wedding and Open categories and took out the Major Award for the highest scoring print of the whole event. Not bad for a first time entrant!

The images above are in order of lowest to highest scoring - with the last print above the text being the overall winner. Till next time...

Coldwater Classic Surfing Contest

This weekend I trekked out to the remote West Coast community of Marrawah to meet up with some of the best surfers in the world and get some shots them weaving their magic in the O'Neill Coldwater Classic. It lived up to all my expectations and more. These guys are true athletes. On the last day of the contest I lucked into the best seat in the house on a boat in the channel next to macking 6-8 foot barrels racing across Bluff reef - that's me in the middle on the boat. The surfers featured in order are... Damien Hobgood, Jordy Smith and Pat Gaudaskas - absolutely ripping...  Hopefully I'll get some of these published in ASL magazine.

Touched by Light Exhibition

My first true solo exhibition was held in Hobart in October last year entitled "Touched By Light". It represents a series of moments and places from throughout America, New Zealand and Australia that touched a chord deep within me, and stay with me still. A certain kind of light seems to reveal the magic in such moments...