Sora Joseph Waningsinggel's Waka Races at Takapuna Beach has won the 2017 Nikon Auckland Photo Day.
Sora Joseph Waningsinggel's Waka Races at Takapuna Beach has won the 2017 Nikon Auckland Photo Day.
A photograph of waka racing at Takapuna Beach has won this year's 2017 Nikon Auckland Photo Day.
Three judges, photographers Chris Traill and Sylvie Whinray and Nikon's Andrew Graham, looked at hundreds of entries to choose four prizewinners and the top 30 pictures taken on Saturday, June 10.
They described Sora Joseph Waningsinggel's Waka Races at Takapuna Beach as an image that took them back in time because it referenced history but also reflected contemporary society. The graphic designer from Onehunga says photography is a hobby and Takapuna Beach a favoured location.
"I have been taking photographs for 10 years in New Zealand because it is so beautiful here - I am from Indonesia originally - and I like taking scenery photographs. Takapuna is a familiar place for us because sometimes we walk there in the morning to watch the sunrise. There was a special event, a waka race, on June 10, so it was a good opportunity to get something different."
Winter Swim, by Brooke Waterson, placed second in the 2017 Nikon Auckland Photo Day.
Winter Swim, by University of Auckland student Brooke Waterson, won second prize. Judges said it had great energy and was a playful depiction of suburbia. A keen photographer since high school, Waterson wanted to follow a "crazy idea" and take an underwater picture.
"I had this idea of submerging a fish tank in a swimming pool so I could photograph through it. So it's a picture of my friend, taken through a fish tank - with me holding the fish tank between my feet, then reaching my hand down to take the shot. The water was freezing cold; my friend suffered through it for the art."
Dustin McNeilage has won third prize in the 2017 Nikon Auckland Photo Day for his portrait, Victor.
Third prize went to Dustin McNeilage for a "powerful, engaging portrait, perfectly executed" of a man called Victor whom he met in Lorne St on Auckland Photo Day. The foreman for a building company takes photos in his spare time.
"I spend several hours wandering the city at a time," he says. "I like to shoot in black and white and generally like to talk to people as I take photographs because everyone has a story. Victor was a man I met in Lorne St... I think he was a homeless man and I asked if I could take a few frames and he was fine with that."
Michelle Vergel de Dios won the moving image award at the 2017 Nikon Auckland Photo Day.
The moving image winner was Michelle Vergel de Dios' Morning with the Chans which judges described as an authentic celebration of a family at home in Auckland which found beauty in everyday life.
"I was spending the night with my friends and they weren't going to do something special on the Saturday, so I wondered how I could capture something extraordinary out of the ordinary," says Vergel de Dios. "I really wanted to convey family life and how when a family is happy everyone feels secure, you don't even have to go out of your way to do something exciting because everyone's enjoying each other's company."
Held annually since 2004, Auckland Photo Day attracts amateur and professional photographers who are asked to capture an image they believe best sums up life in Auckland. All photos are archived with the collection now numbering around 12,000 images.
The judges' shortlist of the top 30 entries for this year's competition are on display in the Auckland Museum Atrium until June 30, with online voting for the People's Choice category opening at the same time at photographyfestival.org.nz/photo-day/peoples-choice/index.cfm
