Every year, we choose a few select images to be entered into photography competition…. this year, I entered two images into the Spider Awards for the first time…. this competition is strictly for Black & White images so needs a slightly different approach than colorful images… the two images i selected came from a trip to New Zealand last year with Steve Gosling, Joe Cornish and Christian Fletcher… the full set of images is here (https://www.keithwilson.photography/new-zealand)
The first image was nominated in the Wildlife section… when we arrived at Milford Sound , the weather was very moody and we couldn’t believe our luck to find the Heron in the water just near the shore… I grabbed my camera and delicately maneuvered over the very slippery rocks to get the composition I wanted… there wasn’t really time to setup a tripod so I was just shooting handheld… I really wanted to keep the Heron and it’s reflection inside the line of the mountains while keeping the full reflection of the mountains as well…
White Heron fishing in Milford Sound… Phase One XF IQ250, 80mm, 1/80sec, F8, No Filters
The second image was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Nature Category… this was a very spontaneous image as I was driving along one of the many back roads on the way to Queenstown… I was struck by some dead trees I could see beside the road... turns out they were in the middle of a dam beside the road... since it was clearly private property, I approached the local farmer to get permission to enter his fields... I think he was surprised there was anything photogenic on his farm... I really enjoy the long exposure effect of smoothing the water and clouds... I always envisioned this image in Black & White while taking it as the weather and setting really worked for this image… maybe I’ll need to send a copy to the farmer so he understands what I saw…
2 minute exposure... Phase One XF IQ250, Mamiya 24mm Fisheye, Nisi 3 Stop Medium GND and 6 Stop ND, Custom holder
Having such great results from my first time entering is very encouraging… normally the main goal of taking images is to get out and enjoy the world around us… whether it’s a cityscape or landscape… good weather or bad… sunrise or sunset… middle of the day or night… having that effort recognized on a international level is really the icing on the cake…
Prints of these or any other images are available for purchase / licensing…