Photo Competition
Annual Wellington Section Photographic Competition
The 2023 competition has now ended. Keep shooting and look out for the 2024 edition on here and our Social Media channels.
Dates: open noon Friday 1st September - closing midnight Friday 13th October 2023
The annual NZAC Wellington section photography competition has now launched! The objectives of the competition are to stimulate interest in mountain and rock climbing photography and give our members a chance to showcase photos from their epic adventures, including the landscapes along the way.
There are six categories to choose from, so get creative! These are:
ALPINE ACTIVITY
Photographs where the main subject is people engaging in activity in the alpine environment (e.g. climbing, skiing, tramping, camping). Emphasis should be on balanced composition and ‘capturing the moment’.
ALPINE LANDSCAPE
Photographs that display mountain landscapes. Images should be strongly composed with great light. Judges will be weighing technical excellence, colour, tone and detail along with the image’s subject and composition.
ALPINE NATURE
Photographs of natural subjects in the mountain environment, where the emphasis is on artistic rendition. Subjects may include geological features, plants (or parts of plants), animals, water, snow and ice formations etc.
ROCK CLIMBING
Photographs of rock climbing that authentically express the rock climbing experience, have a balanced composition and pay heed to the aesthetic attributes of the scene.
MOUNTAIN & CLIMBING CULTURE
Photographs that portray the climbing life and places and people encountered by climbers. Entries might include travel photography (as long as it’s strongly related to climbing) or documentary-style images, covering any aspect of climbing.
WELLINGTON SECTION TRIP OR MEET
Photographs taken on one of the Wellington section trips or meets. This can be alpine or rock.
NOVICE - There is also a prize for novice in each category - this means a submission from anyone who hasn't won a prize in any of the categories previously.
IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS
• All images must have been taken by the competitor and be his or her property, but need not have been processed by him or her.
• Images need not necessarily have been taken in New Zealand.
• Entries are permitted in digital format only, uploaded via the link provided.
• All sections on the form must be completed, including the category this photo sits under
• Files must be JPEG format, less than 50MB (but at least 1000 pixels on the long side).
ENTRY CRITERIA
• The competition is open to NZAC members only
• Individual competitors must enter images depicting subjects appropriate to any of the five theme categories (as noted above).
• Each competitor may enter no more than three images in each category.
• Images that have been entered in previous NZAC national competitions may not be entered a second time.
• Winners may be asked to supply a higher resolution version of their image after the conclusion of the competition.
JUDGING
• Entries are judged by a panel of two judges and individual winners and place-getters are chosen for each category.
• Judging will be carried out on the basis of the criteria listed above. The judges and the organisers of the competition may reject images that are not of an alpine, mountain or climbing nature and may transfer entries from one category to another.
• The judges will also select the overall champion image, irrespective of category.
• The judges may choose not to award category winners/ honours/acceptances for any of the above if they feel a suitably high standard has not been achieved.
• Judges decisions are final and no correspondence shall be entered into.
JUDGES
Juan Zarama Perini is an Italo-Colombian documentary photographer and a passionate/amateur rock climber. His work has been published in The NY times, The Guardian, Irish Times, and other international media outlets around the world. Perini has been focused on portraying the human experiences with their surroundings and social issues.
David James Unwin was introduced to Photography at High school where he learned film photography developing photos in a darkroom. He studied photography at UCOL culminating in a Bachelors of Applied Visual Imaging. He has been working in Photo Journalism for over ten years, and has covered all kinds of jobs, including hanging out of airforce helicopters, photographing Prince Charles’ visit to a small farm in the Manawatu, capturing the end of the Parliament occupation and more recently photographing the FIFA Women’s World Cup. He sees capturing society and telling stories through images as a huge responsibility and one that keeps his curiosity alive. David never really know week to week who he might meet and what stories he may discover.
There will be a range of prizes up for grabs from our sponsors at Bivouac Outdoors and Hangdog.
Note: The competition is only open to digital entries via the link below during the competition dates (Friday 1st September - Friday 14th October 2023)