www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com

The 2011 Australian APPA Awards have now come and gone. The awards dinner was held this evening in Sydney at Darling Harbour; unfortunately I was unable to attend as I only arrived home from New Zealand yesterday morning and had much to do on my return. I doubt I could have made it there regardless since flights have only now returned to normal due to the volcanic ash cloud from Chile (that must be because I have stopped flying for the moment!). I was shooting up in the wilderness near Arthur’s pass in the South Island when the judging from the APPA awards was being live streamed so was unable to tune in; but was thrilled to learn on my return to Christchurch that I had won a Gold award and three Silver awards for the four prints I had submitted. Gold Awards in the Landscape Category at APPA’s are extraordinary and I feel very privileged to have had my work judged to such a standard. The APPA awards are somewhat unique these days in that all judging is done of actual prints by a panel of highly experienced photographers (rather than by submission of digital images). The craft of the print is as important as the image itself and its fantastic to be a part of such an event. All of my prints were made on my absolute favourite paper Moab Somerset Museum Rag. Photography after all “Is all about the Print”. The photograph and print that won Gold was ‘Blue Berg’; which was photographed in Iceland last year near the Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon. My print received scores of 88, 90, 92, 92 and 93 from the five judges; giving it an average of 91 – a Gold Award.A higher resolution version of this photograph is available to view on my portfolio website at www.jholko.com under Iceland. This print is also currently on display as part of Nillumbik prize at Montsalvat in Eltham until the end of July. It will be part of an exhibition later this year at both Source Photographica in Brighton and at the Wilderness Gallery in Tasmania.