APPA Awards Gala Dinner

new and leaving AIPP Presidents getting down!

my Gold award this year!

my Gold with Distinction Award from last year!

Well, with some well needed recovery time after the APPA Cocktail Party, some random street photography sessions and a trip to the One Gallery to see some of Murray Fredericks supersize prints it was time to man up for the night of nights - the infamous Australian Professional Photography Awards Gala Dinner!

Set amongst the glowing chandelier's of the grandiose Paladium Room in the Crown Casino, there was no shortage of glamour milling through the room!

A record number of entries had meant a busy time for the judges this year. Interestingly a kiwi won the Landscape Category for the second year running (maybe that means I'll have a better chance of winning it one day?!) The Highest scoring print when to a young Dan O'Day from Canberra with three of the 5 judges scoring it a staggering 100!!!

A big congratulations to Tony Hewitt for becoming one of the very, very few Grand Master Photographers in the world. You deserve it Tony!

Plenty of dancing went down till the pumpkin hour hit at 12, then the revelry continued through to the wee hours of the morning at the afterparty.

Here are a few photos of the event... It's a wonderful atmosphere there. It's also a great way to meet some very talented people and view some cutting edge and progressively creative work!

I highly recommend it!

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2010

The Biggest Event of the year in the Photography calendar set off in style at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre in June. A new element to the judging system where you could see each individual judges score live lent a fabulous transparency to the process and made it much more interesting I feel.

It was all over pretty quickly for me this year. All on the first day in fact! It started with a bang with another coveted Gold Award (thank you judges!!!), followed closely by a Silver with Distinction, then two more Silver Awards. So four out of four and enough points to gain my associateship in the AIPP which I will receive next year. Pretty happy with that!!

So with all the big stuff over for me I managed to settle down for the rest of the event and enjoy all the trappings on offer. I checked out some of the latest buzz software and equipment, enjoyed some late night judging sessions and managed a respectable 1.30am at the APPA Judging cocktail afterparty, , etc...

I really enjoyed the lecture series, with the standouts for me being a late sat night session of the best under water photography I've ever seen (thanks Kevin), a handshake and steely eyed look from the infamous war photographer Tim Page and a delicious presentation of Murray Fredericks SALT Documentary and stories of his new Greenland project (thanks for the copy of the the film Murray!)

Thanks to all the super hard working APPA Team and volunteers for creating such a seamlessly run event...

Here are my winning prints from this year.

Looking forward to Sydney in 2011...!

ABC RADIO INTERVIEW with Hillary Burden

A few days ago I was invited to participate in a 4 way interview with ABC's Hillary Bunker about a continuing project I have been involved in - namely photographing & documenting Tasmania's unique Vale of Belvoir ecosystem and landscape. A lot of interest has been generated about the project from the current article featured in Australian Geographic. The somewhat legendary Grant Dixon and organiser of the project Matt Newton rounded out the panel. We spoke of the incredibly high conservation value of the Vale, the deep lineage of wilderness photography in Tasmania, new interpretation of landscapes by the upcoming photographers and the changing methods of viewing in this new digital age...

Here is a link to the current Aus Geo Article.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/tasmanias-veiled-beauty.htm

and also to the radio interview itself...

http://blogs.abc.net.au/tasmania/2010/07/tasmanian-wilderness-photography-vale-of-belvoir.html?site=northtas&program=northern_tasmania_drive

I have just applied for a space in an alternative exhibition of imagery of the Vale to be held over the summer at the world class Wilderness Gallery at Cradle Mountain, then down in Hobart from March. Wish me luck!

Here are a few more of my recent Vale Images...