The Light Weaver Chronicles

CAPTURE MAGAZINE: THE ANNUAL

2011-12-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

Capture Magazine is Australia biggest selling Professional Photography Magazine and at the end of very year they pull together a terrific representation of what they've deemed as some of the best photography to come out of Australia and New Zealand over the preceeding year. I was very lucky to be included in that collection for one of my images in the Documenatry Category. This was taken at a remote area on the East Coast of the North Island of NZ, Kaiaua Bay, as part of the annual Tologa Bay Horse Race event that's been running for almost 50 years. I felt like I was in a timewarp back into the 50's the whole time I was there... I'm super grateful for the acknowledgement and a big shout out to Mark and Armani at Capture for all their hard work collating all the work from the two countries!

WOMEN IN THE LENS EXHIBITION

2011-10-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

I have just been accepted into a fabulous exhibition exploring the beauty of the feminine form called 'Woman in the Lens'. It's a collection of 100 images by some of the world's most famous photographers including:

Annie Liebovitz
Helmut Newton
Herb Ritts
Man Ray
Bert Stern
Lisa Tomasetti
Patrick Demarchelier

It's an amazing privilege to be up on the wall with the likes of these wonderful men and women. A big thank you to Philip and Millie at Source Photographica for welcoming me into the show! The exhibition runs from October 18-30 at Source Photographica Gallery, 1A Rose St, Brighton, Melbourne, Victoria. If you can, get yourself in to see the show in person - I think it's quite exceptional and definitely one of the few collections like it in this part of the world!

For those of you who won't be able to get there in person, here's is a link to the online gallery...

http://www.sourcephotographica.com.au/womeninthelens.html

I have a series of four images in the show, three from remote areas in Tasmania and one from a few weeks ago in Switzerland, here are a couple to enjoy...

None of this would have been possible without the awesome support of my beautiful lady Mandarine Montgomery, definitely a wonderful co-creation here with this series... Thank you so much darling, let's do some more!

OVERSEAS PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR FINALIST AT NZIPP 2011

2011-08-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I had to have a crack at the trifecta...! I sent five entries over the Tasman to the New Zealand Professional Photography Awards a few weeks ago, which was just now finished being judged in Rotorua. I came away with five awards out of five - a Silver with Distinction and Bronze in the Classic Portrait Category and a Silver and Two Bronze in the Landscape Category. This not being cool enough already, it gave me enough points to finally win my Masters of Photography MNZIPP! Woohoo!!!

To top it off I was announced as a finalist for the Overseas Photographer of the Year for 2011 (pretty funny given that I am a proudly a kiwi, but I'll take it!). Sue Bryce took the win with an absolutely phenomenal set of entries - three Gold and one Gold with Distinction!

I wish i was over there for this one! Maybe next year?

Here 's a link to the very clean and slick NZ Pro Report with all the winners and their award winning entries... there's some absolutely gorgeous work - totally worth some time - so treat yourself!

http://issuu.com/daspray/docs/nzipp_proreport_infocus_2011?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2011

2011-08-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well the night of nights for Photography in Australia has been and gone in it’s traditional whirlwind style….It was the biggest yet with a record number of entries over three huge days of judging streamed live all around the world.

My lovely lady Mandy came away with a prestigious Gold and three Silver with Distinction awards and the coveted title of Runner Up Australian Portrait Photographer of the Year. So proud of you Mandy, you totally deserve it!

Mandy and her Gold Award - awesome!

Mandy when one of her winning prints was announced...

I came away with my Associateship Award, a Silver with Distinction and two Silver awards in the Landscape Category which was cool.

Shireen Hammond and my Silver with Distinction Awards!

High Silver Award

I camped out this year with the very talented and multi award winning crew from Exclusive Photography in Melbourne (including last years Portrait Runner up Damien Bowerman and Portrait Winner Chris Ian). We didn't exactly rough it lounging out in our high rise Penthouse apartment on the edge of Darling Harbour... Thaks for such a great time you guys!!!

Me and the Exclusive Photography Crew

The APPA Awards dinner went off in fine style, a super enjoyable night...

Hiedi Klum, eat your heart out - here's the beautiful Mandarine Montgomery!!!

Announcing Mandy's Runner Up Portrait win

Myself, Rob & Shireen Hammond, and Fiona Harrison

Getting my Associateship Medal

Celebrating!!!

Master of Photography Mandy!

Mandarine and Jackie

Mandy and I

Congratulations especially to Christian Fletcher for his landscape win and him and his brother Michael for the Fusion title win also. Superb work from the twin photographers!

The standard each year keeps reaching new heights - there's some seriously creative people out there!!! I can't recommend highly enough the value in competing, watching the judges delve into the images, soaking in the feedback, creating connections with other gifted photographers and touching base with the technological advances that the PMA show provides as part of the package. Just fantastic!

Doing a bit of 'product research' at the PMA show

I'll be back for more, but first I'm having a crack at the NZ Professional Photography Awards for 2011. Here we go!!!

TASMANIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2011

2011-05-08T03:10:00.000-07:00

Well, this week has left me with a few bags under my eyes, a better knowledge of what I don't know about the art of printing, some glassware for the mantelpiece and a very deep and genuine smile... After a few weeks of tossing and turning in my sleep over what to put in, and an all nighter of printing on the last day, I managed to get 12 prints in to the EpsonTasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year awards held here in Hobart. After an intense and fascinating day of judging, and a fair bit of breath holding, I was announced Tasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year for 2011. On the way I picked up the titles of Landscape Photographer of the Year, General Photographer of the Year and Runner up Portrait Photographer of the Year to boot.

Somebody joked about needing a trolley!

Here is a web gallery of the winning images...

http://gallery.me.com/paulhoelen#100596

Six categories were judged by a panel of five judges and the scores of the four prints in each were added together to determine the highest score and overall winner for the category. Sometimes the scores varied widely and this generated some fascinating and very educational debate. It's amazing what people can see within the imagery. We had two new categories this year, Landscape and Family, and a record number of entries. I entered 12 prints and 11 of them won awards. I came away with one Gold, four Silver with Distinction and six Silver Awards all up. Woohoo!

It has definitely been a goal of mine to do well here, but to do this well has just blown me away!

I have many people to thank: the judges for their eloquent words and discerning scoring - particularly Andrew and Robyn Campbell; the Tas AIPP Board for all their hard volunteer work and for pulling a bonus prize out of thin air for me; Ian & Ruth at Campbell St Framers for their fantastic mounting and helping me squeak my entries in on time, but most of all I have to thank the beautiful Mandarine Montgomery - her discerning eye with image selection, subtle retouching skills, patient explanation of photoshop tools to a complete hack like me and fantastic support through all the crazy hours were the main reason I made it here! Thank you Mandy...

CRADLE MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS GALLERY

2011-03-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

After a decade or so of ogling some of the worlds best landscape photographs at the Cradle Mountain Wilderness Gallery - I finally have some up of my own!

II have several images up as part of a large two room group exhibition. The exhibit is called Vale of Belvoir and has been created by a collective of some of the best Wilderness and fine art photographers in the state. We worked over a year photographing the Vale - a unique area of great conservational significance due to its cultural history, rare and endangered herbfields, rich carniverous marsupial population and - well - plain beauty!!! It has thankfully now been purchased by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy which will go a long way to preserve this magical, wild and precious part of the world... Some of the photographers involved are Rob Blakers, Grant Dixon, Simon Olding, Wolfgang Glowacki... the list goes on. Needless to say the calibre of the work is exceptional! Enjoy!

There was an article in Australian Geographic earlier last year about the photographers and the project. A very successful one and one I'm very privileged to be a part of!

Here's a couple of images of me enjoying the show!

JADE ULANI YOUNG -SInger/Songwriter

2011-02-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

Jade is a beautiful young singer and songwriter from down here in Hobart. I've been watching her grow into herself and her gifts for quite a few years now, and just a couple of nights ago she played her first big live performance at the Republic Bar - the home of live music in Hobart. She played beautifully, with a confidence and eloquence well beyond her years - fabulous set Jade!! A few hours before her performance we came together for a spontaneous shoot and a video recording of one of her original songs. Here are a few of the images from the day...

THE ASWPP EDGE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2010

2011-01-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

I was just jumping on a plane to NZ to shoot the R&V Music Festival when a friend e-mailed through that I'd won the Open Wedding Division of the ASWPP Awards for 2010 in Australia. Stoked!!! I'd like to thank the ASWPP for their beautiful glass trophy (never had one of those!) and I'm super excited about putting the $2000 or so of printing prizes to exceptionally good use! Here is the winning image...

NZ PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

2010-10-04T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I'd try my luck again over in the land of milk and honey - it is my homeland after all! I put in six images for the IRIS Awards and came away with five awards, so I'm very happy with that. This year, in particular, I would have been happier to be there in person, as it was held in Queenstown at the peak of the ski season in September!!! Next time!

I was awarded a silver and two bronze awards in the Landscape category, a bronze award in the Portrait Category and one more bronze in the Illustrative Category. The standard was exceptionally high this year and some of the images this year are incredible. I highly encourage you to have a thorough look, there is some exquisite imagery...

http://www.nzipp.org.nz/NzippWeb/Default.aspx?tabid=343

I also now have achieved my honorary associateship (ANZIPP), which means I can add to my Australian one and put a few more letters behind my name!

I've included a couple of images I put in this year's awards. The triptych was shot on my trusty Canon G10 (always in my pocket) at a rock outcrop in Dodges Ferry, Tasmania and the other was shot on a walk on a protected Peninsula south of Auckland NZ, just next to a beautiful Maori Pa site set above the water's edge. Enjoy!

GAIA HEALEY: PHOTOGRAPHY MENTOR PROJECT

2010-08-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Over a large part of this year I've had the absolute privilege of mentoring the lovely and multi talented Gaia Healey through her Year 8 Independent Project based on the photography medium. She produced a beautiful hardcover book of her images and a gorgeous and eloquently written journal of her whole project which she presented in an evening last week to all the Year 8 teachers, families and mentors. She also produced a lovely web journal through the process... check it out!

http://gaiahealeyphotography.blogspot.com

She has a terrific eye for the elements of subtlety and grace, as you can see, and showed a lot of committment to follow through on her project - despite some funky setbacks! It was awesome being your mentor Gaia, thank you so much for asking and putting up with me jetting off all the time! Keep up the great work, and feel free to show me some new tricks anytime!

KAYAKING PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS

2010-08-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to teach an action sport photography class on location. Based in Tarraleah, deep in the wilds of Western Tasmania., the specific focus was on kayaking photography and was held in conjuction with the 2010 White Water Conference. After a quick tech talk we got straight into the heart of the matter, racing up and down the challenging course shooting fastidiously while the paddlers were doing their runs. A lot of cumecs were flowing so the paddlers had there work cut out for them, especially in the infamous 'Cruncher' rapid! There wouldn't be many places in the world where you can get such closeness, variety of angles (both sides of river, bridges, complete riverbank access etc) and consistency of paddlers coming down to photograph, so it was a fabulous opportunity to experiment!

We all went through our images and spent time critiquing each others, as well as delving deeper into the relevant technical skills, camera settings and equipment issues. I presented two shows to the whole Conference Saturday night. The first was a selection of my images from the day laced with an artistic flavour, and then a larger Tasmanian Landscape Photography Show to finish the night. I absolutely relished being in an educatory role and really look forward to my next opportunity to teach!

Here's a small selection and a link to a gallery of my shots from the Masterclass.

http://gallery.me.com/paulhoelen#100278

EUROPEAN AWARDS: Trierenberg Supercircuit

2010-08-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

Last month I submitted a selection of images to the illustrious global Trierenberg Supercircuit Awards based in Austria. Of the 55,ooo entries worldwide, nine of mine have been selected to travel through Europe over their summer in a huge travelling show. Two other images have also been published in their exquisitely printed Awards book, which just arrived on my doorstep a couple of days ago. These are the two images...

I've never entered the awards before and am super happy with my first attempt, particularly in gaining some valuable exposure in the European market. I'll certainly be entering them again next year!!!

Thank you Chris (awards organiser) for your wonderful feedback, much appreciated. http://www.supercircuit.at

And also I'd particularly like to thank the lovely Belinda Fettke for her encouragement and terrific generosity in helping me select and prepare the images for the awards. www.bphotography.net.au

Thanks Belinda!

APPA Awards Gala Dinner

2010-07-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

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...

TASMANIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2010

2010-05-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well I'd just whipped back over from the land of milk and honey (NZ) in time to spend two very long days and nights preparing and printing eight images for the tassie state professional photography awards. It was a bit of a miracle that my printer was even working after 3 1/2 months in a very hot shed over summer, all reasonable expectations were that it would be a dried out minx! Yet to my absolute delight, the very first print was perfect!

I journeyed up to Launnie for the judging and managed to pull five silver awards out of the hat, which I was very happy with! With four out of four awards in the open category I was in the running for the title, but I ended up about 5 points behind the leaders (out of 360 or so), so ended with a third. Better luck next year! Pam Verwey and Phil Kuruvita battled it out for the top spot, which Phil won on a decimal point countback!

The following day by Ross Easton led a very insightful session about the future of photography.

Did you know that the largest camera manufacturer in the world is actually Nokia - the phone company?!!! He spoke a lot about the merging of video and still photography (labelled 'fusion'), the hugely expanding role of CGI (computer generated imagery) and the magazine and newspaper world converting to digital viewing... it's a fast changing medium... incredibly so.

Here's a few of my entries this year's TPPY...

CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL

2010-03-25T03:01:00.000-07:00

Well the Chinese New year has come and gone and was celebrated in style here in Auckland over two fabulous evenings. Thousands of people came to enjoy the rich music and theatrical performances, rich delicacies and vibrant atmosphere. My eye was drawn to the vast array of intricate and colourful lanterns set up throughout the event. Here's a few of my favourites...

WAI O TAPU - Sacred Waters

2010-02-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

Nestled deep in the heart of the geothermal wonderland that is Rotorua, Wai o Tapu is a rich mixture of mood, colour and texture, not to mention smell. It's a wonderful testament to the earth's deep internal power come forth to the surface to be experienced by us above. It's one of my favourite places in NZ to photograph. From the artist's palette that is the Champagne

pool, the eery greens of the Devil's Chasm and the bubbling swirls of molten rock and clay creating ever moving patterns... I love it!

NIGHT CHAMELEON

2010-02-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

I originally photographed the lovely Frances Alice Beatrice Scott at the Rhythm and Vines Festival in Gisborne. I was deeply impressed with her natural, spontaneous & zesty creative flair in front of the camera. We reconnected in Auckland a week or so ago on my birthday and decided to do a spontaneous all night shoot on the Auckland Waterfront together. Love the results...!

RHYTHM AND VINES MUSIC FESTIVAL

2010-01-07T02:05:00.001-08:00

I answered a very spontaneous call on Boxing Day to fly to Gisborne the following morning to shoot NZ's biggest music festival Rhythm and Vines. Set amongst the gorgeous natural amphitheatre of the Waiohika Estate Vineyard there was a huge range of energy packed yet intimate acts enjoyed by over 20,000 fans over three action packed days. A far cry from breaking down on Christmas Day and getting towed home sans presents and xmas dinner I was happily surprised to be flown down in a private jet from Auckland with Moby, jet around in helicopters and be put up in a fabulous room in a 4 million dollar mansion for a week with pool and tennis court. Doesn't get much better than that! Here are a few shots from the Festival. There are several images circulating on the festival website home page, so have a look! www.rhythmandvines.co.nz

Time for a bit of a holiday now me thinks...! Mountain biking in Rotorua, hot springs and climbing volcanoes in Taupo, then a week on the beach in Coromandel. Yeehah!

VALE OF BELVOIR/AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC

2009-10-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-12T01:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

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...

HPS Group Exhibition

2009-02-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

Here are a selection of images from a current exhibition by the Hobart Photographic Society showing on the waterfront here in Hobart over the next few weeks. Everything is photographed with my point and shoot Canon G10. I wanted to explore a bit of abstract texture and also wanted to express how a collection or collaboration of images can sometimes create a bigger presence around a subject. Enjoy!

Moments to Impact

2009-01-17T00:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes your body ends up in the firing line for the sake of a shot, particularly with good action photography. You want to get as close as you can to capture the immediacy and power of the moment. This one got a little too close for comfort. It was taken during a downhill mountain biking race in Tasmania. It took a bit of mettle to keep shooting as it was clear there was going to be a heavy impact - with me that is... He hit me straight on and knocked me into a nearby bush. I took all the impact in the crash so the lucky rider just brushed himself off and headed off to finish his race! A smashed lens filter and a few bruises later I checked if I got the shot - here it is...

Mr Sister

2009-01-16T22:27:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago I shot a live performance of gorgous duo 'Mr Sister'at a beautiful local winery. A combination of electric cello and cutting edge percussion weaving deep, thoughtful lyrics through a sonorous intrumental soundscape. Whew, there's a mouthful. They're great - have a listen at www.sameroad.com.au

Jet Black - a stylish character indeed

2009-01-09T22:32:00.001-08:00

Jet Black, my ubiquitous friend has eclectic taste in his style of riding - but I dig it - and he goes hard...