TASMANIAN PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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...