Hawke’s Bay Today, Canon NZ and Harvey Norman Summer Photo Competition winner Cheyjuana Doyle chats to Nick Perreaux from Harvey Norman.
A day out with family exploring a cave at Waimārama Beach turned into an award-winning photograph for Cheyjuana Doyle.
The Flaxmere mum’s stunning photograph of daughter Iva, 6, was the winning shot of Hawke’s Bay Today’sSummer Photo Competition, proudly supported by Canon NZ and Harvey Norman with a prize worth $1500.
The first-placed photograph came about rather naturally during a family camping trip just before Christmas at Waimārama.
“Me and my oldest daughter were sitting inside that cave and were bear hunting,” Doyle said, referring to the pair using their imaginations.
The award-winning picture taken at Waimārama Beach. Photo / Cheyjuana Doyle
“My [second-eldest] daughter has been doing ballet classes and was on the sand dancing around and, yeah, I was in the cave and took the picture on my phone.”
The mum of four said it just happened to be a beautiful backdrop and “immediately became my phone’s screensaver”.
She later entered it into the contest and was over the moon to learn this week she had won the top prize, which includes a Canon EOS R50 mirrorless camera with an RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM lens, a Canon TwinLens DSLR bag, a SanDisk ExtremeSDXC card a 128GB Joby compact advanced tripod, as well as a canvas print of her photo.
“The first thing I did was call my mum. I was so excited and I had all my babies around me.
Flaxmere woman Cheyjuana Doyle (centre) with her award-winning photograph, alongside Nick Perreaux and Caitlyn Jonasen from Harvey Norman. Photo / Paul Taylor
“They are kind of young, though, so they didn’t care - but I knew my mum would care,” she said with a laugh.
Doyle said her photography skills were simply the result of snapping pictures of her four children over the years with her Samsung phone.
Daughter Iva can’t wait to show her class the award-winning picture.
“She wants me to go and get the newspaper so she can take it for sharing with the class. She is very excited.”
For those wanting to compose a similar image, the cave is “right down the end” of the beach “where everyone gets their kaimoana” and can be accessed by quad bike.
Doyle said she was excited about growing her photography skills with her new camera.
Second place in the competition has been judged to be Life after Dark in Onenui by Marise McClutchie, and third place went to Pourerere’s Floating Rock by Tracy Gay. Each will receive their prizes in the next few weeks.
The finalists in the Hawke’s Bay Today Harvey Norman Hastings Canon NZ summer photo competition can be seen here.
