NZ Celebrates Top Professional Photographers

Monday, August 8 2005

New Zealand Celebrates Top Professional Photographers

Tony Carter, from New Plymouth, has once again won the top prize for professional photography in New Zealand, the Canon/NZIPP Professional Photographer of the Year 2005 Award, to be presented at a glittering black tie dinner at the Grand Tiara Hotel in Rotorua tonight (Monday, August 8).

The Canon/NZIPP Professional Photography Awards are regarded as the top event of the year for the photographic industry and are an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the professionalism and creativity of New Zealand’s top photographers.

Tony Carter has won the award on three previous occasions and is the only photographer to do so. He won the 2005 supreme award for his portfolio of four prints which included two wedding photographs and two people shots: one showing a bride walking along a lonely road into a stormy sky, another showing just a long wispy veil; and a shot of a single eye. His prize includes $5000 and a trophy.

Mike Langford, who is Chairman of Honours and Chair of the panel of 19 judges, said of Tony Carter’s prize winning portfolio: “All the judges felt that Tony’s work was quite out of the ordinary, to what you would normally see in wedding photography. What is the bride doing on a lonely road? That moody shot tells a narrative which reflects the range of emotions a bride might feel on her wedding day.

“The portrait of the eye was so striking that the judges felt it drilled right through them. It was quite unnerving.”

Mike Langford said that judging had been difficult as the standard of entries had been extremely high this year.

“I have just recently been judging the Australian awards (AIPP) but I found the New Zealand judging to be harder. New Zealanders appear to have set higher standards.

“Every year the calibre of entries rises, and they have again this year, especially in the depth and diversity of the landscape category.”

Judges spent three days studying 880 images across 13 different categories. Three other major awards were also presented: The NZIPP Overseas Photographer of the Year 2005 Award (won by Peter Rossi, of Cairns), the Highest Scoring Colour Print Award (won by Donna-Marie Smith, of Dunedin) and the Highest Scoring Black and White Print Award (won by Stephen Goodenough, of Christchurch).

The number of entrants was up 40 per cent from last year. Jason Boa, president of NZIPP, said that “the calibre of this year’s entries is really encouraging and winners are coming from a wider range of members.”

The institute also awarded the profession’s highest accolade, an Honorary Fellowship, to Nick Servian, of Wellington. This is an honour given by the Institute for outstanding contribution to the image of professional photography within the community at large.

Nick has been a commercial photographer since 1975, when he emigrated to New Zealand. A member of both the NZIPP and BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photography), Nick recently won the International Prize at the Towergate Camerasure Fine Art Competition in London. The competition was open to over 4000 members worldwide who belong to the British BIPP.

Another honorary fellowship was awarded to Brian Curtis, Editor of the Photographer’s Mail, for his services to the photographic industry over many years.

A selection of the award winning images from the Canon/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards, will tour the country in an exhibition from September 2005 to June 2006.

Award winners from each of the eight major photographic categories were:

Advertising/Food & Drink/Fashion & Beauty (sponsored by Fujifilm)
Ross Brown, of Wellington

Corporate/Architecture/Industrial (Professional Lighting Services)
Maria Sainsbury, Wellington

Editorial (NZIPP)
John Doogan, Christchurch

Landscape (Imagelab)
John Doogan, Christchurch

People (Kodak)
Tony Carter, New Plymouth

Self Promotion/Still Life/Series (The Photographer’s Mail)
Jackie Ranken, Queenstown

Student/Assistant (ProDesign)
Nicola Williams, Palmerston North

Wedding (C.R.Kennedy, Hasselblad)
Johannes van Kan, Christchurch

Finalists and winners in each category and major award winning images may be downloaded later in the week from www.irisawards.co.nz

ENDS

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