I was totally amazed to hear yesterday (thanks Paul!) that one of my aerial’s was chosen to feature in the Annual. The Annual is Capture magazine's showcase of the year's strongest work from Australian and international photographers. I learnt that this year they had well over 2,200 images from around the world. About a dozen images are showcased in each genre—Advertising, Aerial, Architecture, Art, Documentary, Emerging, Landscape, Portrait, Student, and Wedding.
While knowing it was a long shot choosing to put my images in aerial—we have some of the world’s best aerial photographers right here in Australia—it was also where I felt I had done my best work recently. So I took a punt and it paid off. To find myself amongst many photographers that have so inspired my own journey including Tony Hewitt and Paul Hoelen in the aerial category and Mieke Boynton and Matt Palmer in the Landscape category is also incredibly special. Tony was with me when I shot this image.
My image was taken earlier this year in Shark Bay, Western Australia, while flying over this World Heritage listed landscape in a Cessna with the doors open. It was a workshop run by Tony Hewitt and Peter Eastway and how I chose to quietly celebrate reaching a new decade, daring myself to do something I had never done before. I could not have been more inspired.
The images in the Annual are both magnificent and captivating. This year’s edition will eventually be on the website (www.capturemag.com.au/the-annual) but it is worth downloading a copy or purchasing one from a newsagent to enjoy these incredible images. There is no cost to enter images for the Annual, so perhaps next year you might consider giving it a go. You have nothing to lose, when you believe in yourself and your images. This particular image is one that I love, but hasn’t fared as well as I’d hoped in competition.
But, as my mother used to always tell me, "Shoot for the stars, you might land on the lamppost".