Competitions

By Marwan El Hassan.
Macro photography is my ultimate passion, my addiction, and my drive in life. I take all my time to slowly savor every moment when I take photos like this one. I shot this daisy in the botanic gardens in Canberra. Daisies are among my favorite subjects. I love the texture of this particular flower. It talks to me, and it invites to think of the non-ending layers that go deeper and deeper inside the flower. I was lucky that day without any wind (a rare thing in Canberra), so I used only a reflector and natural light. Most often, if I can, I prefer to shoot flowers without using a flash, to maintain the natural look and color. This photo to me has a hint of Zen feeling, with the middle of the flower serving as a point of concentration and meditation. To me at least, the whole process of shooting, processing and looking at this photo is indeed a very meditative experience. My hope is to convey the same perception and feelings to other viewers.

By Lauren Heeney.
I took this photo of Poulnabrone Dolmen in County Clare, Ireland, while on holiday. A portal tomb, I have heard that it is the most photographed object in Ireland! It certainly impressed me.

By Wayne Jones.
While on a cruise from Copenhagen to New York, one of our stopovers was at Reykjavik, Iceland, where I managed spend the day on a photo tour with a bunch of other photo nuts from the cruise. Our guide was Mike Kissane of fStop Tours and one of our photo stops was at Kleifarvatn Lake about 40 or so minutes out of Reykjavik. It was a great day out where I spent most of the time talking to Mike and taking very few photos. This one was of one of the other tour participants taking her own photos of the very calm lake with the red rain jacket a bit of a standout.

By Amanda Bull.

Simply submit up to 3 of your favourite images for a chance to win one of two superb Fujifilm X-A1 with XC16-50mm kits.

By David Barnes-Mackenzie.
In September 2015, I travelled to New Zealand to photograph the Mackenzie Country, Central Otago, in the South Island, with my father.

The trip was inspired by the beautiful paintings of Dad’s friend since childhood, Graham Tait. I wanted to see (and hopefully capture) the extraordinary, clear blue skies and warm brown tussock landscapes of Central Otago. Somewhat unexpectedly though, the landscape turned out to also be a wonderful canvas of texture and light, and this B&W conversion is one of my favourites from the trip.

By Alan Small.

By Anders Wotzke.
Each year in Japan between late March and early April, there’s a small window where the sakura (cherry blossoms) bloom. During a day trip to Kyoto, it was forecast to rain heavily not long after the first of the blossoms began to flower, and unfortunately, a modest rain is enough to strip these delicate trees of their blossoms. With this looming threat, many locals hoping have a glamourous engagement and wedding portrait in front of the blossoms rushed to the surrounding temples on the weekend before the storm. As a result, there were beautifully dressed locals at all the traditionally ‘touristy’ locations — it was quite the sight!
This photo proved to be my favourite shot from that day, and in fact my whole Japan trip. I find a calming beauty in this exposure beyond the pastel palette, which I think is due to my fondness for shots that depict serenity in isolation, instead of seclusion.

By Chad Clark.
I was experimenting with a new filter at the Merewether baths in Newcastle. This was after the recent storms with a few big waves around but I like this shot because of its simplicity and how I wish the swim was as smooth as this looks.