www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com

Finalists for Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) have been announced and I am very honoured to be included amongst the list of finalists names. It is particularly pleasing to see a few other Australian photographers also amongst the finalists – some familiar names and also some new ones. This is the first time I have entered Travel Photographer of the Year and I did so after reading that the finals are judged on actual prints rather than digital images online. I am a big proponent for judging prints over digital images. There is something magical about a truly beautifully crafted fine art print that no digital jpeg can ever match. I know many photgraphers that dont print their own work or even have it printed at a lab for that matter. Personally however, I really don’t feel like I have produced anything until such time as I actually make a print. I come from a film background and photography has always been about the printed image for me. Competitions that judge prints are becoming a rare commodity these days so I was keen to support TPOTY if for no other reason than they are helping keep the craft of print making alive. I am looking forward to making the print I need to submit by the end of this month on my favourite paper Moab Somerset Museum Rag and to seeing the photographs from the other finalists when the winners are announced later this year.

The finalist images will be exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in Kensington, London, England in summer 2013. The exhibition will open with a private view in June 2013. Doors will open to the public two days later, closing in mid-August 2013. The exhibition will be free to enter and I am hoping to stop past on my way through London before my Summer Iceland and Arctic Workshops.

This image from Antarctica ‘Ice Sanctuary’ was not my entry – but I wanted to share a similar image from my last Antarctica expedition in 2011. A high resolution version of this photograph can be seen on my website at www.jholko.com in the Antarctica portfolio. What was my finalist image? You will have to wait and see…..Footnote: I have become very selective about which photographic competitions I choose to enter these days. Competitions are springing up all over the web on a daily basis and many of them have horrendous terms and conditions that see the photographer signing away all their rights to their images. If you are entering competitions do yourself a big favour and read the fine print. Even competitions that are sponsored by major corporate giants are being found guilty of creating ‘rights-grab’ competitions that see the photographer ending up with no rights to their own images. Make sure the competition you enter protects your rights as a photographer.