Our sixth year of the International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards and has been very successful and we're super excited about the quality of work submitted. Congratulations to all the entrants!
The first round of judging will begin immediately the competition closes - and we'll probably have this part of the process completed by mid November. Then the top 115-odd photos (based on the judges' scores) will be checked to ensure they comply with the rules (not taken before 1 January 2018, for example) and that there are not two or more photographs by the same entrant that are very similar (we are looking for variety). There is also a limit on the number of photographs a single entrant can have in the Top 101 - no more than four, so we can share the experience around. In the past, we've found that selecting the top 115 allows us to end up with the top 101, allowing for these adjustments.
We then move into the second round of judging, as outlined in our rules. The judges are engaged a second time to determine the PhotographER of the Year (1st, 2nd, 3rd), the Photograph of the Year (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and five special subject awards. This can take two or even three rounds of scoring and comment before the judges come up with their final decision.
Once we have the results, we'll contact all the top prize winners, but we won't be telling them if they won the big prize or just one of the special prizes. We need a little background information about all the winners for the book. If you don't hear from us by mid January, it doesn't mean you're not in the Top 101, it just means you didn't win one of the big prizes.
But the biggest prize is just being in the book!
At this stage, we then have everything we need and so it's into production. Our art director is given the photographs and the text, and she weaves her magic to produce the book. We aim to have all this ready so we can announce the winners on 30 January 2020.
So, that's the road map! We hope you're looking forward to seeing the results as much as we are!
Peter Eastway and David Evans
International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards
Kaye has close to 20 years experience as a photographer, following many years immersed in the creative industry of fashion and design. It was during her time studying for the fashion industry that saw her first experience the wonders of the darkroom, a love she went back to when deciding to retrain in photography many years later.
Since then, she has worked as a freelance photographer, undertaking wedding, portrait and commercial photography. Now working as a full-time Senior Lecturer on the Bachelor of Applied Visual Imaging (UCOL, Palmerston North, New Zealand), she also gives back to the industry through writing a regular column for The Photographer’s Mail, as an international judge, a position on the NZIPP Board and as current Chair of the NZIPP Honours Council.
Kaye’s practice now revolves around photographic art and a love of landscape, still life, illustrative and portraiture.
Career highlights include Epson/NZIPP Professional Photographer of the Year 2013 (New Zealand), Illustrative Photographer of the Year 2013 (Australia), Creative Photographer of the Year 2014, 2013 and 2011 (New Zealand).
"I absolutely love being part of this amazing profession and I’m constantly amazed and inspired by the passion, creativity and talent that exists at all levels.
“As an artist, photography is my medium of choice for expressing and interpreting the wonders of nature and the world around me, and I love that I am constantly learning about the art of photography.”
Tim Parkin is On Landscape online photography magazine's editor and, along with Joe Cornish, co-founder. Originally a computer engineer with a PhD, he has worked extensively in publishing, the internet and the music industry, but today Tim is immersed in all aspects of the art and craft. While his background means he is completely comfortable with digital photography and post-production, he chooses to shoot a lot of his landscape work on film using large format cameras.
"Our original goal for On Landscape was to create something dedicated to the people we both meet on a fairly regular basis. The amateurs who spend all of their spare time in the field, the semi-professionals trying to make a living from this misunderstood occupation and the full timers who have managed to build themselves a niche in a challenging business field.
"At the end of the day my photography is about learning; learning to see, learning to take pictures, learning about other photographers. This process also becomes a conversation with other photographers (who tend to be a nice bunch mostly) and this engagement is satisfying in itself."
Adam Gibbs lives part-time between New Westminster, British Columbia and Parksville, Vancouver Island, Canada.
“I’ve been a professional photographer since 1992 and up until 2014, my primary source of income was photographing gardens for gardening
publications, but since then I have been a full-time nature photographer.”
Adam says he was originally inspired by a nature photography book written by John Shaw in the 1980s. “Since I’m still a bit old school from the film days, I tend to try and capture the majority of my images in a single frame. I don’t have strong views on image manipulation, other than I find more joy in capturing great light and composition on site, rather than creating something that didn’t exist when I took the photo. My love of nature and the outdoors is much stronger than my desire to make images, so for me, pictures taken at the moment have far more integrity and personal meaning than those made later in a computer.
“I generally try to keep the image accurate to form and not use too much post-processing, although when the light is not great, I’ll use a few more tricks
to bring the best out of an image. I use Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC 2019 for all of my work.”
Adam is currently using a Nikon D850 along with 14-24mm, 16-35mm, 24-120mm and 70-200mm lenses.
“And I love the Breakthrough Photography filters, especially the Dark X4 CPL filters that combine a 3- or 6-stop ND filter with a polariser into one filter.
“Most definitely, light is the key to great photography. If I don’t have great light, then I search out subjects that go with the light at hand.”
It takes a practised eye and skill in post-production to consistently produce good work. And while in no way demeaning the achievement of capturing the overall International Landscape Photograph of the Year, let’s take a closer look at who is creating the best body of work. The International Landscape Photographer of the Year, whether an enthusiast or a professional entrant, recognises the skill and discipline to create a portfolio of images that stands above the work of your peers.