"You will go into the water, Bolty!" Kayla Caulfield's winning image from last year's Summer Holiday Photo Competition.
"You will go into the water, Bolty!" Kayla Caulfield's winning image from last year's Summer Holiday Photo Competition.
With Christmas just days away excitement is rising along with the summer temperatures for some fun times and, hopefully, a wee break from the everyday routine.
Most of us will be making the most of some downtime with family and friends and will keep the memories alive with a snap or two, whether on a camera or phone, so those precious moments can be shared for years to come.
The New Zealand Herald is keen to share your special occasions frozen in time in our annual Summer Holiday Photo Competition, with the chance to win one of three cameras provided by Canon.
Rich Robson's crazy image of his daughter running around with seagulls was a worthy winner last year.
Playing on the beach, catching some waves, riding a bike, sharing a meal with loved ones or just enjoying the spectacular New Zealand views, every scene is an opportunity to capture a memory and enter the competition.
Last year produced some incredible images and a record of nearly 7000 entries from our readers. The standard was high, making life difficult for the judges.
Kayla Cutfield was the top winner last year with a cute and funny picture of her 3-year-old son Flynn trying to drag his pony, Bolty, into the ocean for a swim.
“You will go into the water Bolty! Flynn said in a very determined voice,” Cutfield said as she described the situation. “It was so funny I had to take the picture.”
And she was glad she did, too, taking away a Canon EOS R10 kit to record more special moments of Flynn and his baby sister.
With two other cameras up for grabs the field had to be whittled down to two runners-up.
Rich Robson picked up a Canon EOS R50 kit for a picture of his daughter running around with seagulls while the family tried to enjoy fish and chips at Waihī Beach.
Robson said he was surprised as to how clear the image was as it was a quick snap on his phone.
“To capture that moment and with great composition with the seagull almost bigger than my 3-year-old is quite incredible,” Robson said.
But you don’t need a crazy situation with a toddler running around to win one of our fabulous prizes.
This serene view of surfers at dawn netted Ben Haarman a great prize.
Ben Haarman of Aongatete, Bay of Plenty, shot a superb, serene early morning view in the surf at Waihī.
“My mate said let’s do a sunrise shoot, which meant getting up in the dark,” Haarman told the Herald. “It was... a very calm morning. The surf was good but there was a lovely calm moment in between sets so I took the opportunity.”
That opportunity netted Haarman a Canon EOS R100 kit which, we hope, has had plenty of use around the East Coast since last summer.
Herald chief photographer and one of the judges, Dean Purcell, was impressed by the standard of entries last year.
“Flynn and his horse is a classic – the tension in the picture is great and perfectly composed – [and] Rich Robson’s shot of fish and chips at the beach is extraordinary, the gull seems bigger than the girl.
