Australian Photography and Panasonic Australia have teamed up to find the best amateur photographers in Australia and New Zealand.
The 2018 Photographer of the Year offers a prize pool of more than $45,000 in cash and prizes, making it the richest competition of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The competition attracted more than 2,100 entries in 2017 – a record number in the five-year history the competition.
This year, photographers will compete for a prize pool that includes more than $10,000 in cash, seven places on an all-expenses-paid weekend shooting adventure with iconic landscape photographer Ken Duncan, including flights to and from Sydney, and more than $15,000 in photography gear and travel.
To qualify for the title of Photographer of the Year, photographers must submit a portfolio of four images in any one of six open categories: Landscape, Wildlife & Animal, Black & White, Travel, People & Portrait and Aerial. An additional category, Junior, is aimed at photographers under the age of 18, while Photo of the Year is the sole single-image challenge.
Last year, 24-year-old South Coast local Jordan Robins won the top prize with a remarkable series of images of green sea turtles captured in the clear waters of the Great Barrier Reef. To capture the images, Robins used a camera in an underwater housing and positioned the camera at the surface to capture the view both above and below the waterline.
“I try to link the terrestrial world and the marine world together as one,” explains Robins. “My images contrast the wild and rough conditions on the surface with the calm and peacefulness that lies beneath.”
The 2018 Photographer of the Year is open for entries now at australianphotography.com/poty