May Photo of the Month Winners: Ronny, Brian and Rachel

Posted in Arctic, Media, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife Photographs1 Comment

Congratulations to the fifth print winners ‘Ronny Nielson, Brian Peters and Rachel Mailais’, for the photograph of the month for May 2015: ‘Ice Bear’. This month I had three comments come in within just seconds of each other so have decided to give away one print each to the first three to comment.

What Ronny said: Great capture of the polarbear. Shows it in its environment and how isolated these animals live. And how they are the king in the arctic.

What Peter Said: This is an absolutely magnificent image of a threatened species in an endangered environment. I’m hoping to get something half as good when I’m in the Arctic in July. This image has my name all over it.

What Rachel Said: Great shot, Joshua. A gorgeous bear out for a stroll, blending in its white environment. It seems to suddenly notice you, kind of wondering what is this new type of animal on it the horizon?

Congratulations Ronnie, Brian and Rachel, you were the first, and your prints will be sent to you at the end of May when I return home from the South Island of New Zealand.Svalbard

Keep an eye out on my blog for the next print giveaway with the June photograph of the month. Remember the best way to get instant updates is to subscribe via email.

2015 May Photograph of the Month: Ice Bear

Posted in Arctic, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Wildlife Photographs11 Comments

My photograph of the month for May 2015 follows on the Polar Bear theme from last month. In fact, this was the same Polar Bear as the previous photograph; although this image was taken a couple of days earlier and in a different location. The bear surrounded by winter ice with its paw raised, mid step, walking straight toward the camera is a powerful iconic image of the world’s largest land predator. My heart was racing when I took this image and it rates as one of the most exciting experiences I have had in the field photographing wildlife. The bear was in hunting mode, prowling the ice in search of food. It would stop occasionally and test the strength of the ice, smell at a particular place and then move on. It watched me intently as I crouched behind my snowmobile making images until it was time to move on before the bear got to close.SvalbardYou can Win a free Fine art Print  13″ x 19″ of this photograph including shipping anywhere in the world. All you need do is to be the first to comment on this post on the home page with your thoughts on why you like this photograph or why you would like to own a print of the image and then share the post with your preferred social media outlet. Just keep in mind that due to my hectic travel schedule it may take me some time to make and post out each print so if you are the lucky winner for a given month I ask that you jut exercise a little patience and as soon as I am back in my studio in Australia and as soon as practical I will make the print and send it to you – free of charge. Each print will be made and personally signed by me with the same care and attention to detail I exercise on my large gallery prints. There will be a total of twelve prints to win throughout the calendar year. The first four prints of the year were won by Fred Jennings, Chris Roberts, Caroline Hind and Nita Gulbas and their prints have now been delivered, framed by them and are hanging on their walls.

Good luck and don’t forget in order to win the print you need to be the first to comment here on the home page on the May photograph of the Month for the 2015 calendar year with your thoughts on why you like the photograph or why you would like to own a print and to then share the post with your social media outlet of choice.

Epson Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year 2015

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

Over the last few days the 2015 Epson Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year competition has been running here in Melbourne at 1140 studios. I attended both days to watch the judging and it was fantastic to see such a high standard of prints again this year (as well as a record number of entries). Although I won multiple categories, the highest scoring print and the overall title of 2014 Epson Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year last year I put no expectations on myself for my entries this year and decided I would enter just for the sheer joy of the print making process. Quite honestly, removing any expectation of my potential results was really quite liberating and I think I enjoyed the entire process from capture to print and competition entry more than I ever have in the past.

From my previous post on these awards: The AIPP National and State awards are two of the few remaining competitions to actually judge the finished print and they do so using a panel of judges all deemed experts in their respective genres and accredited as Masters of Photography through their years of success in this arena. Prints are judged in a controlled lighting environment and assessed for their content, originality as well as technical craftsmanship. The judging is enthralling to watch and can be quite nerve wracking if you are a first time entrant as the standard of work is incredibly high. In brief, prints are scored out of 100 with images judged less than 70 being deemed not of professional standard. Prints judged between 71 and 79 are considered strong professional practice. Images judged 80-84 are awarded a Silver and are considered strong professional practice of an award standard. Scores of 85-89 are given a Silver with Distinction and demonstrate superior imagination, craft and skill. Prints judged 90-94 exhibit excellence in visual communication, craft and skill. And finally those rare few images that reach 96-100 are considered to have exceptional vision, creativity, innovation, master craftsmanship and skill. Very few prints score Gold awards in these competitions and even fewer reach the top tier of Gold with Distinction. 

This year I entered both the Landscape and Science, Wildlife and Wild Places categories. Entering the Landscape category was a really tough decision for me as this category has an anything goes post production mantra that is in conflict with my own ethos and ethics for image manipulation. I decided I would enter anyway just to see how my prints would fare against others in this category. As it turned out – they fared remarkably well. Two of my landscape images scored solid Silver with Distinctions with scores of 86 and 86 respectively. My remaining two landscape photographs also scored solid silver awards with an 81 and 83. Three of my Science, Wildlife and Wild Places photographs (my preferred category) scored Silver with Distinctions with scores of 89, 89 and 85 respectively. Two of those three were just one point removed from a Gold Award. My fourth image in the category scored an 84 Silver Award.

All of the prints were printed on Moab Somerset Museum Rag. This wonderful paper has continued to remain my all-time favourite stock for fine art photography prints.

Arctic Fox Snow Storm – 89 Silver with Distinction Award Science, Wildlife and Wild Places CategoryHornvik-9491-Edit-Print-MoabSMR-RelCol32015

Arctic Foxes Sparring – 89 Silver with Distinction Award Science, Wildlife and Wild Places CategoryHornvik-9988-Edit42015

Abandoned Baby Ring Seal – 85 Silver with Distinction Award Science, Wildlife and Wild Places Category
Svalbard-9939-Edit22015

Arctic Fox Attack – 84 Silver Award Science, Wildlife and Wild Places Category
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Dune on Fire – 86 Silver with Distinction Award Landscape Category_MG_0383-Edit12014

Fiery Fingers – 86 Silver with Distinction Award Landscape Category

_MG_1026-Edit22014

Dunes and Light – 81 Silver Award Landscape Category_MG_1037-Edit-232014

Golden Dune – 83 Silver Award Landscape Category_MG_1050-Edit42014Now its time to put the 2015 VPPY Awards behind me and get some sleep. In just a few hours time I will be headed to the South Island of New Zealand for my 2015 Masterclass Workshop.

Extraordinary Vision Magazine : Landscape & Nature Photography with Emotion

Posted in Media, News and Updates, Travel Photography2 Comments

The latest issue number #28 of Extraordinary Vision magazine features Part One of a series of Articles I recently penned on creating Landscape Photography with Mystery and Emotion. Look for Part Two and Part Three in subsequent issues. Extraordinary Vision is a free magazine available for mobile devices and can be downloaded from iTunes or Google Store.extraodinaryvision2015

New Zealand South Island Masterclass Workshop 2015

Posted in Landscape Photographs, New Zealand, News and Updates, Photographs, Travel Photography, Workshops and Expeditions2 Comments

Time has snuck up on me and in less than a week I will be flying to the South Island of New Zealand for my 2015 Masterclass workshop. Quite honestly, it feels like only yesterday I walked in my front door after two months on the road in Yellowstone, Iceland and Svalbard and it is quite a surreal feeling to be heading overseas again so soon. It has been a whirlwind time at home split between my family and the office and I feel like I have really only just started to catch up on my backlog of office work. I have no regrets about pushing the office paperwork to one side, but I had hoped to get a few more images processed from my recent travels before I ran out of time.

I am however, really excited about this new Masterclass workshop to the South Island of New Zealand. We have extensive use of helicopters during this workshop for accessing very remote areas and they should provide us some really unique and fantastic opportunities for photography. Early May is my favourite time of the year to visit New Zealand. The Autumn colour will be in full swing and the weather is often ideal with cold, crisp mornings and beautiful sunrises.

I have run out of time for a dedicated packing list post for this trip, but our emphasis is on landscape and as such I will be leaving my longer lenses at home this time. I plan to take my two Canon EOS 1DX cameras along with the 16-35mm F4L IS, 24mm F3.5L TSE MKII, 24-70mm F2.8L MKII and 70-200mm F2.8L IS MKII lenses. I also plan to take a 1.4 TC with me just in case I need a little more reach. I had hoped the new Canon 5DSR would be available by now but unfortunately a thorough and rigorous test of the new high resolution 50 mega pixel camera will have to wait until my Iceland Highlands Expedition in August this year. I am also packing my graduated neutral density filters and my tripod.

Before I leave for New Zealand I will be attending the Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards that kick off this coming Tuesday the 28th of April and run for two full days at 1140 Studio in Malvern. I was fortunate to win both the Creative Photographer of the Year and Science Nature and Environment Photographer of the Year categories as well the Highest Scoring Print Award and overall grand prize and title of Epson Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year last year; which was a pretty comprehensive sweep and an incredible thrill and honour. I have put aside any expectations on my entries this year and entered solely for the sheer joy and pleasure of the print making process. The craft of fine art printing is really at the core of why I enter both the VPPY Awards and the APPA Awards and its a wonderful experience to watch prints being judged and to be able to view the prints in person. If you are outside Melbourne the VPPY awards this year are being live-streamed and can be watched online:

Room 1 – http://livestream.com/professionalphotography/2015-AIPP-VIC-Epson-Awards-Room1
Room 2 – http://livestream.com/professionalphotography/2015-AIPP-VIC-Epson-Awards-Room2Judges-schedule-VIC-2015.142417However, if you are in Melbourne I encourage to come down to the judging in person so that you can view all of the award winning prints as they are judged and displayed. Entry is free and there is an espresso machine on site if that adds any motivation!

VPPY 2014 WinnerThere is an awards cocktail party being held on the Thursday evening and I will then be leaving for New Zealand first thing on Friday morning. As always, I hope to post an update or two from our workshop as we travel through the South Island.

At the conclusion of the Masterclass workshop I will be staying on in New Zealand for an additional couple of weeks of personal photography with my good friend Martyn before I return home.

If you are interested in travelling to the South Island of New Zealand and photographing in this spectacular country I will soon be announcing my 2016 schedule. Please email me to express your interest. There is no obligation at this point. Please just be aware that some places are already spoken for and I do recommend registering interest early to avoid disappointment.