Category: Awards

Results Wagin Woolorama 2019

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Oh wow, where is this year going?? Half way through March already and this is only my first blog post for the year. Such neglect of my website.  I will have to try and rectify that over coming months. I’ve a few ideas for topics rolling around in my head but getting them out is another issue.  But for now I’d just like to talk about my results at the Wagin Woolorama Photography Competition last weekend and to give this Agricultural Show a plug as it is a really enjoyable day out.

Photo Comp

Firstly I’d like to thank the organisers of the Photography Competition that runs as part of Wagin Woolorama.  Glenys and her team do a great job every year putting together this competition. 

1st Place 'A Half of Anything' - Repeating Doorways 2019 Wagin Woolorama

1st Place ‘A Half of Anything’ – Repeating Doorways

 

This year, they introduced two new special categories, each with great prize money for the winner.  I was fortunate enough to take out the Portrait category with this image of the Namibian man starting a fire the tradition way, which most of you have possibly seen before.  If you’d like to see the winning landscape image by my friend Richard Hall please click here.

 

1st Place Portrait 2019 Wagin Woolorama

1st Place Portrait – Fire Starter

Here’s my other entries that did well this year.  

2nd Place Open Colour KT The Cockatoo 2019 Wagin Woolorama

2nd Place Open Colour – KT The Cockatoo

Highly Commended Mono - Moses Rock 2019 Wagin Woolorama

Highly Commended Mono – Moses Rock

Two Trees - Highly Commended Landscape 2019 Wagin Woolorama

Highly Commended Landscape – Two Trees

 

Evening Rodeo

After the day events have finished, like the shearing, sheep dog trials and judging of the animals, there’s the evening rodeo.  I love to watch the action and also the fashions.  The checked shirts, bright colours, fancy jeans and those hand made leather saddles.  Love it!

Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

The dust, setting sun and cowboy hats

Cowgirl Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

Bright coloured clothing

Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

Cowgirl clothing

Bronc riding at Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

Bronc riding

In My View – ‘Packsaddle Event’

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The Journey

Early this year I entered a couple of images into the ‘In My View‘ competition run by the West Australian Photographic Federation (WAPF). I was fortunate enough to have my image ‘Packsaddle Event’ selected in the top 20 images.  It went on to take out 2nd place.  As a result I took home $300 and a high gloss copy of the book.  Please head on over to the WAPF website and take a read of the poem associated with my photo.  It’s written from the horses’ perspective.  Also take some time out to read the other stories.  Warning!!! You may need tissues.

Packsaddle Event at Best of the West Stockman Challenge 2018

Thanks to my neighbour Brian and his horses, the stars of this image

 

This competition calls for photographers to enter their best/favourite images to suit the topic.  This year being ‘We Are Australian’.  From these images the judges choose their top 20 images.  Writers are then invited to write a story or poem for one or more of the photographs of which one story for each photograph is selected.

The resultant body of work, 20 photographs with their accompanying story, are published in a book which are presented to the 40 finalists at the presentation night. 

Next Year

This post will hopefully help to spread the word and encourage more participants to enter next year, either as a photographer or writer.  Therefore ensuring the success of this competition for coming years.  Next year’s topic is ‘Broken’ and with photo entries to be submitted within the first half of 2019.  Plenty of time to get that entry ready.

 

If you’d like to see more images from the Best of the West Stockman Challenge please click here.

 

My Results – Focus Awards 2017

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Gold Award in Landscape Category.

This year for the first time I entered the Focus Awards.  I believe that they started out as Flickr and Facebook groups for landscape photographers and have just gone from strength to strength over the years supporting and nurturing a budding fellowship of photographers.  

This years awards were judged by three of Australia’s better know photographers Tony Hewitt, Christian Fletcher and Peter Eastway and do those guys deserve medals!  Picking out the winning images amongst all of the great photographs submitted, and I’m just talking about the top fifty in each category that I’ve seen.  If you have the time, please head on over to the results page and see for yourself.  The open section is open to amateurs and professionals while the other categories are open to just amateurs.

I entered two images in each of the Landscape, B&W, Seascapes, Urban Landscapes, Sunrise & Sunset categories.  I came away with one Gold award (3rd Place), 6 Silver awards and 3 Bronze awards, I’ll include images of the Gold and Silvers below.  One of the great things about this competition is that we receive feedback on our images.  They are just standardised comments but they give a good indication of the primary item that is lacking in taking your image to the next level.

While the comments on my images were quite varied for the majority of the images, one thing that was mentioned 3 times was my composition.  Something that I will definitely have to work on.  The majority of the other comments noted were in my development of the images.  Things like tonal control, midtone contrast, more contrast etc.  I’ll be reprocessing these images now, with these things in mind and hopefully will see an improvement.

Thanks to all those in the Focus Facebook group for your support and a big thank you to the Focus committee, the judges and the sponsors.

Dune 44 Namibia

Dune 44 Namibia

Misty Mountains

Kolmanskop

 

 

Click West 2017

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The Big Night

An annual event that I attend in Perth is the WAPF’s Canon Click West.  A great competition for members of West Australian camera clubs with fantastic prizes.  This year, for the 2nd year in a row I was fortunate enough to have an image selected as a finalist in the Natural Portraiture category.  My “Fire Starter” image was taken on my trip to Namibia last year and is a favourite of mine.

Here’s a link to the finalists in all categories Canon Click West.  Much to my surprise this year, I also made it into the top 10 for the portfolio prize.  Although I only had one entry make the top 10, my other three images obviously rated high enough in their categories to get me through.  This was the one to win, a Kimberley cruise with Kimberley Expeditions, congratulations to Marie Kingsley for taking out this award.

Natural Portraiture

Natural Light Portraiture

Landscape

Australasian Landscape

Fungi

Macro/close Up

Maritime

Maritime

 

Weekend Events

Included for the first time this year was a weekend of events including photo walks and workshops.  They covered topics like printing, Eizo monitors, making photo books, speed lights and the list goes on.

I stayed in Perth overnight and just attended the Melville Camera Club hosted walk around the Heathcote Cultural Precinct for sunrise on the Saturday morning.  We didn’t have the spectacular colour that we’d had earlier in the week but it was still nice to be out.

Sunrise on the river

 

 

1st Place 11th Annual B&W Spider Awards

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My Story

Back in January 2016 I entered two images into the 11th Annual B&W Spider Awards and then thought no more about them.  That is until early November when I actually sat down to read one of the many emails that they have sent to me.  You know how it is, closing soon, enter now before it's too late etc.  Anyway this email was to congratulate me for taking out 1st Place in the Architecture category.  To say I was delighted was an understatement but I guess I was more shocked than anything.  An international competition that attracts many thousands of entries and I come out a winner!!!

Many thanks to the organisers and judges from the Black & White Spider Awards for this recognition.  Below is the press release that they write up for us winners and the nominees.  I dare say, this'll be the only place that the press release will be used.  Here's a link to the winners gallery.

This image was taken from the rooftop bar of The Grand Hotel in Saigon at 10pm.  My settings were F11, ISO 100, 8 sec exposure, 75mm focal length.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

11TH ANNUAL BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER CHRIS de BLANK FROM AUSTRALIA

LOS ANGELES 11th November 2016 - Amateur photographer Chris de Blank of Australia was presented with the 11th Annual Black and White Spider Awards 1st Place in the category of Architecture at a prestigious Nomination & Winners PhotoShow webcast Saturday, November 5, 2016. 

The live online gala was attended by over 10,500 photography fans around the globe who logged on to watch the climax of the industry's most important event for black and white photography.

11th Annual Jury members included captains of the industry from National Geographic, Washington DC; The Armory Show, New York; TBWA, Paris; Victoria Film Festival, Canada; Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels; Studio Hansa, London; Fratelli Alinari, Florence; Australian Centre for Photography; Young & Rubicam, Lima; and Anthem Worldwide/Marque Branding, Sydney who honored Spider Fellows with 627 coveted title awards in 31 categories.

"It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 7,556 entries we received this year," said Basil O'Brien, the awards Creative Director. "Chris's " A Long Way to the Top", an exceptional image entered in the Architecture category, represents black and white photography at its finest, and we're pleased to present her with the title of 1st Place - Outstanding Achievement".  Jury member Paola Anselmi, interdisciplinary curator and arts writer in Australia added, "As always it was a real treat to be part of the program. Congratulations to all involved and to all the remarkable photographers who gift us new insights into the world and ourselves." "A truly amazing set of entries, so many deserving winners," added Marcel Wijnen, Creative Director at Anthem Worldwide.

BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in black and white photography. www.thespiderawards.com

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1st Place 11th Annual B&W Spider Awards

Winner B&W Spider Awards

York Art Society Photographic Awards

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For the last 5 years or so I’ve been entering local Agricultural Show photographic competition/exhibitions with a good success rate.  This year I’ve decided that it’s time to lift the bar and enter a different “class” of competition, I guess you could say.  Starting off with The York Society at the Sandalwood Gallery.  This competition required images to be framed and by looking at the judges comments, the frame has a big impact on the judging.  They have 4 categories – Open Colour, Creative, Monochrome and York subject.  I’m very pleased to say that I took out 1st place Mono category for this image and also a Highly Commended in the Open Colour.

York Art Society 1st Place Mono