2020 Nikon/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards // Travel Category Finalist
The 2020 Nikon/NZIPP Epson Iris Annual Photography Awards was a bit different this year. Due to Covid-19, the event was held online. In previous years, this has always been a print competition. This year the rules were a bit different and we could enter images that were created at any point in time (usually, the criteria is to be within the last 2 years only). There was also no limit to the number of entries you could enter, but only the top 10 awarded ones counted for your awards/points. I entered quite a few images, however most weren’t older than 2 years. In fact, most of the images that I won awards for, were from my recent trip to Ethiopia in 2019 - Life BC (Before Covid), when we could travel around the world easily. I’ve been interested in the tribes of the Omo Valley for years now, and it was really awesome to be able to visit them. The highlight of the awards for me personally, was winning the Wedding In-Camera Category again, being a finalist for the Travel Category, and last but not least - this Gold Award above (The Stick Walking Boys of the Banna Tribe).
I’ve always been quite honest in what I say so I’m not going to change that life long habit now, especially at this stage of my life lol, but if I’m being honest here, I actually really struggle with the whole awarding of art thing. Like, artists judging art? WTF? (Why the face?). Part of me finds this entire process slightly strange. BUT, the other part of me absolutely loves the process entirely haha (oh the ambivalence, right?). Like, it’s art. Who gets to say what art should be? It’s all subjective. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. There will be people who love it, and there will be people who don’t. It’s really just that simple. There will be people who are are feeling it, and there will be people who aren’t.
When it comes to judging, some will effect scores. Some will fight for scores. Not everyone will always agree. I guess this is a good thing, right? Ultimately, we learn from it all. We grow. We evolve. We get inspired. We inspire (hopefully), we push ourselves to create more art, to give more, to feel more. We meet people. We meet other artists. We collaborate. We create more. WE MAKE FRIENDS! There is also the marketing part of it, which I think has been very good for me and will hopefully continue to be so in future.
Communicating things visually and providing an emotive response (or trying to) is an interesting process. I love experimenting. I love new techniques. I love taking risks (although they don’t always pay off - and I’m ok with that). I’ve always been one to take risks in many things I do. I love learning. I feel like I get that from entering photography awards (still now, after 10 years of entering). We’re always learning, all of us. No-one will ever know it all. The place we’re at in our lives, what we’re going through, what we’re experiencing at home, and behind closed doors etc, and of course our own experiences and history too - all plays an important part on how we see the world and the things that we come into contact with, whether it’s art, music, paintings, people….etc. Artists have the tendency to be emotional people (sometimes) and wear their hearts on their sleeves.
I’m really stoked with my Gold image. One of the judge’s comments was that I was possibly on a photography tour with 30 other photographers next to me, who all would have captured the same image. I can’t express how wrong that assumption is. I genuinely was the only photographer there, and I certainly wasn’t on a photo tour with anyone else! After the judging I was asked to provide more details on how I captured the image, because it was noted by someone else, that I could have only got the photograph by having armed protection and guards. Again, this is not true at all. It was a main asphalt road, leading from one town to another, and I certainly had no (and didn’t need any) armed protection! Ethiopians, and especially people who live in the Omo Valley, are some of the most peaceful and friendly people I have ever met!
Sure, this type of thing might not be something that these boys do traditionally anymore. Sure, they might be practicing their culture and traditions for a photograph. Maybe they’re trying to keep their traditions alive! Sure, they might be doing it to get by in life - but this was never entered as a documentary photograph. It is a travel photograph, in the travel category!
The Stick Walking Boys stepping off the main road mid photoshoot, while an ambulance drives by
Me (the only photographer who was there at the time) photographing the Stick Walking Boys. Thanks to the driver that I hired on this day, for snapping this phone pic of me
One of my other high scoring images (Silver), which also earned me a place as a finalist in the Travel Category), is one I titled “Mothers Group”. It’s the first photograph below with the 9 mothers and their babies. As you will notice, some of the mothers are not looking directly at me. During preliminary judging, a comment I got back from one judge, was that I was perhaps on a group photography tour again, as some of the ladies were possibly looking at other photographers next to me. One again though, I was honestly the only photographer there.
The reason why some of the mothers are not looking at me (and looking off to the side), is because their husbands were teasing, laughing and giggling at them. I had photographed all the husbands before I photographed the wives (you can see their photo below too), and the mothers did the exact same thing to them, so for the husbands it was payback time haha, and it was quite a fun moment to capture. It was never my intention to have a static image of all 9 mothers looking directly down the barrel of my lens. Not once. I love this photo as it is. I love how, when I look at the photo, I can remember and hear the giggles and laughter from all of them:
Mother’s Group
Father’s Group
It’s not easy for judges (and I can say that because I sat in the judging chair this year, and experienced it myself). We need to be honest with our thoughts as judges, we need to judge what we believe is true - but our comments and thoughts do determine the final results for photographers winning awards though, and also, for those winning categories!
Below are the rest of my awarded photographs:
TRAVEL CATEGORY:
DOCUMENTARY CATEGORY:
