Category: Media

Media news including interviews, awards, print publications and articles

Travel Photographer of the Year Finalists 2012

Posted in Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized2 Comments

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.

Royal Canadian Geographic Society 2013 Calendar

Posted in Antarctica, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs3 Comments

One of the real joys of Polar photography (both North and South) is the abundance of wildlife and the myriad of photographic opportunities available for not only landscape, but also wildlife photography. I am still sorting through the thousands of frames I shot of penguins and seals on my last Antarctic trip even as next years new and exciting Jewels of the Arctic expedition and Antarctic Expeditions are rapidly approaching.

One of my favourite wildlife photographs from Antarctica last year is of an Antarctic fur seal wallowing in the snow not far from the waters edge. This was a fun photograph to take as I was lying in the snow during a shore landing only a few metres from the seal; which seemed totally oblivious to my presence. I shot this with a 300mm lens to get nice and tight and simply waited for the seal to raise its head and yawn (as they are prone to do – seals seem to get bored very easily :-) ). This photograph was recently picked up by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and I am pleased to say is featured in their 2013 Calendar as the image for September. Copies of the calendar are available from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.A larger version of this photograph can also be seen on my portfolio website at jholko.com under Antarctica.

PhotoPlus in New York – Print on Display

Posted in Iceland, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized1 Comment

If you are headed to New York City for PhotoPlus Expo this week  at the Javits Center be sure to stop past the Moab and Legion Paper stand where Moab are going to be displaying one of my large prints from Iceland ‘Selfoss under Storm‘ along with Prints from the other Moab Masters. The photograph I chose for the show this year is one of my favourites from my 2010 Iceland trip and was taken at Selfoss Waterfall, just upstream from Dettifoss where glacial meltwater thunders through a martian like canyon. It is an amazing location and one I am very much looking forward to re-visiting on my summer workshop in July next year.

RESOURCE PHOTO.VIDEO.LIFESTYLE INTERVIEW

Posted in Antarctica, Arctic, Iceland, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, South America, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs1 Comment

I was recently interviewed by Resource Photo.Video.Lifestyle magazine about my landscape photography and the content of the interview is now online at their website HERE. This interview was particularly good fun for me as the nature of the questions gave me an opportunity to talk about how I got my start in photography, in addition to my thoughts on working in the field in remote locations, the importance of the right equipment and the opportunity to talk about my workshops – including the recently announced 2013 Antarctica expedition. I hope you enjoy the read over a morning / afternoon cup of coffee. 

I am including below an image I shot on my last Iceland workshop  in Landmannalaugar in August this year. Photographed from the top of one of the regions highest peaks in overcast misty conditions it was a very stark contrast to my visit two years earlier (during which time I witnessed some of the most amazing light I have yet had the pleasure to experience).  I thought at the time that the grey misty skies of this trip were conspiring against me and that there was going to be little in the way of opportunity. I photographed anyway and found when I got back to the studio and was reviewing my images that I actually really liked the soft lighting which seems to work so well with the pastel pallet of Landmannalaugars amazing volcanic mountains. This is an area of Iceland very near and dear to my heart and one I am very much looking forward to revisiting next year during my summer workshop. A higher resolution version of this photograph can be seen in my portfolio at www.jholko.com under Iceland II.

I am currently working on dates for the 2014 Iceland Workshops and hope to have these finalised and online in the next month or so.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE – ‘PENGUINS ADRIFT IN SNOWSTORM’

Posted in Antarctica, Landscape Photographs, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Uncategorized, Wildlife Photographs1 Comment

I was very pleasantly surprised yesterday when an alert Facebook friend messaged me to let me know that they had spotted one of my photographs from Antarctica on National Geographic’s website. The photograph is part of a small collection of  ‘editor’s favourite photographs’ in the their current Travel Photo Contest and is featured in the week one gallery. This photograph is one of my personal favourites from my last expedition to Antarctica and was taken from the deck of the ice-hardened Ocean Nova as we cruised slowly past the penguins and iceberg during a heavy snow storm. It is also the photograph I chose to use on the flyer of my 2013 Antarctica expedition and that won a Silver Award at the 2012 APPA Awards. A high resolution copy can be downloaded for personal use for the Desktop, i-Pad and i-Phone from National Geographic’s website or HERE from the media section of my website.