Focus Awards – a history of results :)

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For kicks and giggles i went back thru my images over the last 6 entries, it was an interesting experience – they always say, you gotta enter competitions to improve!
I kinda disagree, it might work for some and when you actively pick and process images for competitions and try to better them for the next year, but for me its all an after thought, its simply looking thru the shots from that last year and picking out some favs, usually there is always some crappy planetoid image there which i love but they rarely do well and also some vivid sydney image which i know won’t do well but i still love them 🙂

I think i have improved over the years, but i still look back at some images and I still go, yeah i like that one, its probably more emotional attachment than being a technically good shot or having that little extra kick, but hey, i am pleased i still like some shots. That said there are a few images in there which make me cringe 😉

One image i still love is the burning umbrella shot (1st creative 2016), i had such a vision for it and its probably the only image ever

which has come out exactly how i saw it in my head 😉 I might need to get back into that headspace, and find the time 😉

Focus Awards - Results 2019 Collage

Focus Awards 2019

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Focus Awards 2019

When you start to look at all the top 50 images in each category you get a idea of how tough the competition is, there is such wide range of images from people of all walks of life and also from across the globe which, for me at least, makes it pretty tough.

I was lucky enough (and i say genuinely believe that alot of it for me does come down to luck) to get 1st place in the landscape category, it was probably not one of the images I thought would do well, but thats always the case, i find the shotgun approach works best with very little thought, thats perfect for me since like most years this year was really last minute, like selecting pictures a few hours before it close (Sarah Joy will atest to this 🙂 )
Its also quite surprising since I have done so little photography this year.

The particular image (dried up natural spring on the lake bed) was from a recent solo trip to SA, i probably took more landscape shots in this trip than I have all year 🙂 It also was really solo too 🙂 not kids, no family, just me a 4wd and a camera (well 2 cameras 🙂 ) and 2 flights over Lake Eyre.

It would seem its a fairly popular spring to take pictures of since i have seen quite a few image from this – this can also be a testament to the great pilots out at Wrightsair ‘The Spirit of the Outback’ Charter and Scenic Flight Specialist who do know all the good spots to go too 🙂

I gotta thank Tim Wrate, without his advice and inspiration i probably would have left this trip on that wayside 🙂 thanks a bunch!

I gotta say all my other images struggled, nothing but bronze 🙂 that said I really like them.

Thanks to FOCUS (Australia Seascape & Landscape Photography) community and the competition, its really one of the only competition i regularly enter, the prizes are always great and always a great bunch of people.

Here are all my images

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