We challenged photographers to come up with images that conveyed coziness – and we discovered that for many, the companionship of a pet, particularly a dog, is the very essence of that warm and fuzzy concept.
Our winner John Tarlinton’s picture melted the hearts of the judging panel and the story behind the image, made it all the more compelling. Andy Parkee, like John, is a frequent contributor and this time around he came very close to the win with his warm and snuggly picture of son Liam and Rocco the dog. Royce Holliday went to considerable effort to evoke the soothing warmth of a hot drink on a cold day. Also making the honourable mention rollcall were Susan Shanta for her feline composition and Miradija McNicol for a high ‘awww’ factor in her picture of her two little pooches under a cover.
WINNER
Untitled by John Tarlinton
The young man is our son Ben and the dog is our beloved Labrador, Harry, who liked nothing better than snuggling up on the couch with us. Unfortunately, we lost Harry a short while after this was taken. He had a brief but devastating illness from which he did not recover. We have plenty of images of him to help us remember the happiness he brought us.
FIRST RUNNER-UP
Untitled by Andy Parkee
My son Liam and our pet dog Rocco. Rocco never fails to take the opportunity to snuggle under the covers with Liam as the sun comes up most mornings.
HONOURABLE MENTION
Tea break on a cold day by Royce Holliday.
Steam rises from a mug held by a gloved hand. It’s cold outdoors and the hot drink is welcome. The camera: a Sony A7R with a 24-70mm lens @ 61mm, 1/80s @ f/5.6, ISO 1600, on a tripod. A ten second delay was used to give me time to set up the scene. It took several attempts. The ‘steam’ is actually smoke from burning matches extinguished and dropped into the empty mug. Three torches were used: one from the left, one from the right, and another trained on the space the steam/smoke would rise into. Using Lightroom, a small amount of dodging/ lightening was used on the steam/smoke, and on some edges of the glove. Sharpening was minimal. I think the steaming mug without the gloved hand would not have been as interesting.
HONOURABLE MENTION
‘Cat nap’ by Susan Shanta
HONOURABLE MENTION
Untitled by Miradija McNico
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