Today, as has been the case with my photographic exploits for the past 5 years, I was involved in the South Australian AIPP (Australian Institute for Professional Photography) awards judging. Often known as the ‘SAPPA’ awards. I often help out behind the scenes placing the prints up on the rotating turnstile or the award winning prints up for display. It’s a great gathering of some of the best minds the photographic profession has to offer in the state, and I’m always pleased to be a part of it.

Anyway, I’m pleased to say I have been successful in winning a few awards this year. I haven’t gone a year yet without winning at least a silver award and this year has been no exception. But before I showcase my new award winning prints, I’d like to educate you on how these types of awards work. There are a variety of categories one can enter and I entered two with four prints each and a third with only two. Each print is set in front of a panel of five judges  under pure white light to be fair for every entry. Each judge gives a score from 50-100 with over 70 considered professional standard. One wins an award if the median of the 5 judges’ scores is above 80; in which case the print is awarded a silver award. A silver with distinction award is given to a score of over 85, gold award to over 90 and gold with distinction over 95. To be a category winner (ie Landscape photographer of the year) an average score of a portfolio of work consisting of 4 entries must be the highest from all entrants into the category. Clear as mud? good 🙂

My entries to the Illustrative category

Score: 82 – Silver Award

A 3 week exposure of a jetty believe it or not… but it looks like a comet flying out of space and striking the sea. Water and sand have got into the camera causing the ‘explosion’ at centre of frame, pretty lucky the sun lined up with it. The judges didn’t seem to realise this so next year I plan on doing more of these in a series.

Score: 80 – Silver Award

From the visitor’s center on Mauna Kea, Large island of Hawaii. From base to summit, the tallest mountain in the world. It had been a lifelong dream to visit this place, one of the most famous observatories is perched on the summit. Great clear skies and a chance to capture the stars, much like my lighthouse pic, but not quite as well developed. Will revisit this one.

Score: 77

48 hour exposure of the city of Adelaide. Unfortunately it was fair windy and the duct tape I used came loose, hence the double exposure of the sun you can see. The creases in the paper was caused by the double sided tape I used to fasten the paper inside the camera. As is often the case in Awards, this image actually won a silver award at the nationals, but only received a 77 today.

Abstract sun path

Score: 77

A Japanese snow monkey, not in the snow. 🙂 I took this photo in a Japanese monkey park in western Kyoto, Japan. Bit of a wild card in this category. I knew the technical aspects behind this piece was sound, but really theres not much happening the draw the attention of the viewer. This is the real reason why I enter the awards to learn stuff like this.

Snow monkey

My entries to the Travel category

Score: 84 – Silver Award

Kashima, Japan. This port was hit by the Tsunami in 2011. Thankfully no one was hurt. I visited here while volunteering in Japan to learn more about the after effects of the earthquake and tsunami. This area was damaged, but quickly rebuilt as it’s a huge trading hub for essential fuel resources in Japan.

Kashima Port Japan

Score: 79

The stern end of the largest cruise liner in the world, the Queen Mary 2. I was lucky enough to enjoy a month on this magnificent ship with my family. Comments from the judges indicated that the reason why this wasn’t an award print was due to the sky. I think if I were to use this in the upcoming national awards I’ll remove the sky altogether. What do you think?

Score: 77

A Buddhist priest doing his morning prayers at a lesser known, but no less impressive local temple nearby where I had my homestay while on my volunteer excursion for the tsunami effort. This was however on the other side of the country in Saga. The judges I feel scored this low due to it’s complexity. Due to the category however I wasn’t able to remove anything from the scene as it’s against the rules

Buddhist monk

Score: 74

A pagoda on the island of Miyajima, near Hiroshima, Japan. The disappointment of the day. I guess this image wasn’t as striking as the others, but a score of 74 was pretty bleh.

Kyoto

My entries to the Wedding category

Score: 81 – Silver Award

A bride and groom enjoying each other’s company walking along the Brighton beach jetty, South of Adelaide. I used a very commercial approach to this image, I feel the very clean and simple lines here helped out with the judging. The silhouette of the bride’s face through the parasol was also a big conversation point while judging.

Walk

Score: 75

A bride and groom exchanging their rings at the front of their congregation. This image I felt would do better than this. The print quality was fantastic, and it’s not really an angle one often sees of this event.

Ring

These four awards add to my already long list in my Artist’s CV, it further enhances my assertion that my photography product is industry recognised as award winning work. Rest assured that any commision you may ask of me will be of the same high standard.