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29 November 2018

Young photographers amaze judges in Museum’s Amazing Animals! competition

The judges of Canterbury Museum’s youth photography competition Amazing Animals! were stunned by the quality of the images entered.

Amazing Animals, which ran from 11 August to 18 November, attracted 214 entries from photographers aged 15 and under throughout Canterbury.

The competition’s judging panel convened last week to choose a winner and a runner up in each of the competition’s age categories: up to 10 years and 11 to 15 years.

Fifteen-year-old Zoe Evans’ amazing close-up of a korimako or Bellbird won the 11 to 15 years category, with Anna Babington‘s heart-breaking but beautifully composed photo of a seal injured by a boat propeller taking the runner up spot.

Zoe took her winning snap inside Auckland Zoo’s aviary. The Bellbird, perched on a branch around 10 metres away from her, was singing its distinctive song. Zoe used the branches around the Bellbird to frame the photo, while keeping her lens focused on the bird.

Bellbird by Zoe Evans, winner in the 11 to 15 years category

“When the Bellbird finally realised I was there, it looked straight at me with its beautiful brown eyes and I took my final shot. It was truly a rare and magical moment,” she says.

In the under 10 years category, nine-year-old Max Eadie-Lilley’s moody monochrome shot of a school of fish in a Lake Tekapo dam won first place. Max took the photograph, which he titled Stuck, during a weekend away with his family. Described by his mum as “obsessed with nature”, Max was inspired to try his hand at nature photography after a visit to the Museum’s exhibition Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Dylan Fisher, 10, was runner-up for his portrait of a Kea, which did a stunning job of capturing the bird’s intelligence and famously cheeky nature.

Kea by Dylan Fisher, runner up in the under 10
years category

Canterbury Museum Curator Natural History Dr Cor Vink, who was one of the competition’s three judges, says the panel was blown away by the quality of the entries.

“We were just amazed by the talent these young people had. We recently hosted the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, and I honestly think some of these shots would not have looked out of place on the walls of that exhibition,” he says.

“We’d like to thank everyone who entered – they all did a great job which made picking the winners very, very hard.”

The winners each receive a $100 Prezzie Card, while the runners up get a $50 Prezzie Card. Their photographs are on display now in the Museum’s foyer.

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