Running from September until March, 40 top entries from the competition run by New Zealand Geographic magazine are on display in an exhibition titled A Year in Aotearoa.
Now in its 12th year, the competition always attracts thousands of hopefuls. The winning images are chosen from five categories: aerial, wildlife, landscape, photo-story and society.
The rules of the competition allow for only minimal manipulation of the image – while a photographer can adjust brightness and contrast settings, nothing can be added to or deleted from the frame.
“As the largest locally sourced photography exhibition, this is a unique opportunity to have a fresh insight into New Zealand’s environment and society, through the lenses of our most talented photojournalists,” New Zealand Geographic publisher James Frankham says.
Images of flatmates chopping each other’s hair during lockdown in Auckland, a whale cruising near Kaikōura, dust from the Australian bushfires settling on the Southern Alps, a memorial for victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings, and a flock of rako (Buller’s shearwater) flying below the Milky Way are among those taken by photographers competing for the Photographer of the Year 2020 title. “Overall the entries show a nation responding positively to adversity, and finding joy in their immediate surroundings,” Frankham says.
Exhibition visitors are encouraged to be a judge, and vote for their favourite image in the Ockham Residential People’s Choice award. The nation’s favourite image will be announced alongside category winners and the overall winner of Photographer of the Year at the awards night in late October.
Take a sneak peak at some of the finalist images on display below:
- A Year in Aotearoa
New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year Exhibition
September 2020 – March 2021
New Zealand Maritime Museum, Viaduct Harbour