Welcome to Festival Zone for late June 2022.
2022 Auckland Photo Day winners
Auckland Festival of Photography’s annual 24-hour day in the life of Auckland - Tāmaki Makaurau competition took place on Saturday 11 June, with the hundreds of entries submitted adding to an archive of more than 14,000 unique images of Auckland - Tāmaki Makaurau taken since the competition began. The announcement of 2022’s Auckland Photo Day winners marks the end of June’s successful festival, which included more than 65 online, in venue and outdoor exhibitions across the region, including many exploring the ‘Disruption’ theme.
This year’s competition judges were: Dean Purcell, Chief Visual Journalist, NZ Herald; Julia Durkin, MNZM, Founder - Auckland Photo Day; and Paddy Foss, X Series Photographer + Fujifilm representative.
1st Prize - Hyun Duck Park, Knitting Lesson. He wins a FUJIFILM X-S10 XF18-55mm kit Black
Judges’ comment: “This is such a colourful, humourous portrait, set in a winter’s day at home, with resplendent woolly hats, and knitting in hand. The image takes you into the heart of a comfy home which is full of warmth and the framing draws you into the two people sitting in their lounge learning to knit together. A wonderful image full of meaning.”
Winner’s details: Hyun Duck Park lives in Goodwood Heights, Manukau. Mr Park is a member of the Korean Photographic Association and has been taking photographs for the last ten years, often of Auckland landscapes. But miserable weather prompted a change of approach. “That day was rainy and cold so I couldn’t get outside. So I thought, okay, today we can take a picture inside and set the 10 second timer.” Selfie with his wife on the couch.
2nd prize - Gao Tao, Forgotten Forest. Prize FUJIFILM X-T30 II XC15-45mm Kit Black
Judges’ comment: “It’s almost mythical, with a fitting title. The image is a beautifully executed landscape that feels filmic in it’s style, magical and mystical eeriness in the canopy of the trees that dwarf the people walking below. An Auckland park as you’ve never seen it - quite outstanding.”
Winner’s details: Gao Tao lives in Schnapper Rock on the North Shore. A friend on social media suggested that Mr Tao photograph Cornwall Park’s trees before they shed all their yellowing leaves so, after checking the weather forecast, he set off that morning. After almost two hours of photographing Mr Tao was about to stop when sudden, heavy rain came. “It made the whole avenue misty, made the mood more attractive for photography.” Mr Tao has entered Auckland Photo Day several times before and been shortlisted, but never been one of the top three winners. “So I will keep going,” he says.
3rd prize - Roy Cernohorsky, Flying to The Light. Prize - FUJIFILM X-T200 XC15-45mm Kit Dark Silver
Judges’ comment: “A beautifully balanced composition, speaking of past and present urban environment, using the light and colour palette to create a work of art from the everyday views.”
Winner’s details: Roy Cernohorsky lives in Takanini and took this image - one of about 40 taken that day - in Fort Street, in the CBD. “I was interested in taking some abstract photography and fortunately a bird flew up and I got lucky,” he says of the image that won third prize. Mr Cernohorsky has entered the Auckland Photo Day competition about every two years during the last decade. “I’m a very visual person. I love all sorts of imagery and find I can be quite creative in photography.”
Congratulations to all the winners and 'Best of'.
People's Choice Prize 2022
Voting for the People’s Choice winner takes place for one week from 23 June at http://www.photographyfestival.org.nz/photo-day/peoples-choice/index.cfm
The winner of the People’s Choice receives the FUJIFILM Instax mini evo + 100 shots of film.
This year's top 30 images are curated to give real enjoyment and insight to our visual lives on Auckland - Tāmaki Makaurau - Photo Day.
There is nature photography, with Kissing Birds at Sunset by Mengyuan Zhang from Blockhouse Bay, pets anticipating their owner’s arrival in Waiting For You by Callena Lewis from Taupaki, and pooches Licking My Way Through Life by Birkenhead’s Gaby Suhl.
There are orange mushrooms growing in the back garden of Dulanya Hansali Jayasekera. “I'm ten years old and I live in New Lynn, Auckland,” she wrote in her entry, “and I love to take photos of my neighbourhood, especially nature. This is the first time I'm entering so if I win I'm going to be surprised." Being selected in the 'best of’ shortlist is a great achievement for this young, first time entrant.
Included in the top 30 images selected in this year’s competition are regular Saturday morning activities such as rugby games, horse riding at Muriwai, along with street photography portraits including protesters at the bottom of Queen Street seeking fairer migrant work visas, captured by Margaret Vickers of Pukekohe in Kids staying close to mum at the Protest.
There are everyday scenarios that capture both a universal and particular side of living in the Auckland region, from night market stalls to cool looking rubber gloves hanging to dry on a Narrow Neck washing line photographed by Poh Leong Koh.
Such photographs feature alongside abstract images such as the whimsical illuminated K Road Cone by Andrew Creegan of Parnell, and Hugh Jones The Umbrella, Millwater which uses composition and vibrant colours to great effect.
The diverse sampling of daily subject matter that makes up 2022’s 'best of’ Auckland Photo Day provides a great treat of visual stories about who we are as Aucklanders in June 2022.
Around Tāmaki Makaurau this week
Get going to see these shows if you want to get out around Tāmaki Makaurau. Lots of photography experiences to do post Festival. Most venues will be enjoying the new Matariki public holiday tomorrow, so check their opening times before heading out by calling them or see gallery websites. Happy Matariki to everyone.
The 2022 Festival theme was “Disruption” [raruraru].
Auckland Festival of Photography presents Gideon Mendel as part of our exclusive international exhibitions for the Disruption [raruraru] theme. We are pleased to bring to Auckland, for an exclusive season at Queen’s Wharf, Submerged Portraits, a portrait series as a provocation of the global conscience. Dont miss this great exhibition!
HILLSBOROUGH
Capturing the environmental and cultural changes of the creek and surrounds throughout the seasons, Tony’s attentiveness to this local ecology over a three-year period highlights the richness of life around this urban waterway.
GREY LYNN
Holding On is the title Angela Tiatia has given the performance video she created in 2015 on Funafuti, the main atoll of Tuvalu, an archipelago halfway between Australia and Hawai’i. The artist lies uneasily on a cement slab as the surrounding ocean laps and washes over her in rhythmic tidal surges.
CITY - AOTEA
Mark Barber’s photographic portraits transform this hidden below ground invisibility and eloquently capture the humanity within the toughness of the construction site. This outdoor exhibition is sponsored by the Link Alliance, a group of seven organisations building the stations, tunnels and systems of the City Rail Link.
Full calendar of exhibitions and events here
Talking Culture - Lux et Libera: Women at the intersection of light and chemistry
Online from the USA is this panel discussion which will feature female-identifying artists working in film and alternative/historic process photography and whose work resonates with the festival theme, Disruption [raruraru].
These women disrupt the status quo of the art world, address concepts of disruption with their work, and embrace disruption of form and materiality. They represent a global movement of female photographers leading the way in alternative processes and experimenting with traditional techniques in new and exciting ways.
Join this event on Saturday 25 June, NZT 10am. Jump online, grab a coffee and enjoy!