Bay of Plenty photographers scoop top awards at Canon National Exhibition

One of Tracey Scott's winning photos - 'Juvenile Therpithecus Gelada'. Photo/Tracey Scott

Three Bay of Plenty-based photographers have dominated in this year's photographic awards.

The 2018 Photographic Society of New Zealand's (PSNZ) Canon National Exhibition awarded Rotorua-based photographer Tracey Scott the Maadi Challenge Cup and a PSNZ Gold Medal for the Champion Monochrome Print for her printed image titled 'On the Road to the Market'. She was also awarded a Silver Medal for a printed image in the Nature category along with three other Acceptances in the Open print category of the Exhibition.

Tracey Scott's award winning photo 'On the road to the market'

Scott said she had "been entering the National Exhibition since 2008 and this is my first Gold Medal so it will always be memorable as the quality of the entries is always very high."

The Maadi Challenge Cup winning image was taken on the road to an animal market in Ethiopia. This environment meant that there was no pre-planning, Scott had to be ready to capture a moment as and when it happened. Very little post-production had been applied "other than conversion to sepia tones"..

Tauranga resident Annette Johnston was awarded the Robinson Cup and a PSNZ Gold Medal for Champion Projected image in the Open Projected category for her image 'Simplicity'. This was Johnson's third consecutive Gold Medal in the National Exhibition which is a significant achievement.

Johnston said "when I describe my work as a photographer, I quickly explain that I shoot across multiple genre, but my most favoured is the creation of botanical art".

"Quite simply, I love flowers and the capturing of their fleeting beauty is my passion. I find myself drawn to blooms that have just a little whimsy; one petal astray, a curl, a curve; those individual soloists performing in the corps de ballet of my garden."

Johnston was also awarded an additional three Open Print Acceptances and a Projected Open category Acceptance.

The Brian Brake Memorial Award and PSNZ Gold Medal for Best Photojournalism project image was awarded to Bill Hodges who is also Tauranga-based. His image is titled 'His fans look on'. Hodges also received a further Acceptance in the Open projected category.

Annette Johnston's winning image 'Simplicity'. Image/supplied

The National Exhibition represents an opportunity for any PSNZ member to submit their work for consideration and selection for the exhibition and – hopefully – to develop their skills in self critique along the way.

Just over 500 photographs - including prints and projected images - make up the National Exhibition. The Exhibition will be open for the public to view in the Fullwood Room of the Dunedin Centre (Level 2), 1 Harrop Street, Dunedin on April 20 and 21, from 9.00am to 12.00 noon each day.

The PSNZ Councillor for Competitions and Exhibitions, Shona Kebble said "it was very hard coming to agreements for the top awards. As always, the standard of entries was very high." This year, over 1600 entries were received from 229 individual entrants.