MOBILE 2020: TOP 10

 

 

WINNER, MOBILE CATEGORY, PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020
CAMERON MEACHAM, 'SHADOWS AT PLAY'

Cameron Meacham is no stranger to these pages, taking out the Black & White category of Photographer of the Year back in 2018. Since then, he's kept his enthusiasm for black & white, but shifted his focus to photographing his three-year-old daughter Gracie.

His series, captured in Melbourne, explores a day in the life of his daughter – both during and after lockdown and managing the restrictions of the 5km limit around his house.

“When the parks finally opened up, Gracie and Dad's (my) life soon became park life,” he explains. “Everyday was a new adventure, finding a different park within our five kilometres. The ‘Shadows at Play’ series evolved capturing the incidental moments she experienced along the way, while encompassing the shadows of what life had felt like within the COVID months.”

For our judges, his use of shadow and light made his portfolio a real standout in the mobile category – and proof that chasing the light is key to great photography, not the size of your sensor.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Ryan Domenico: This portfolio immediately jumped out at me. The creativity and use of light is executed perfectly. Each image tells a beautiful, individual story, yet, they fit together immaculately as a portfolio. The compositions are fantastic and each image draws the viewer into the story. Beautifully simple and captivating work.

Douwe Dijkstra: A beautiful, funny and candid series of children playing in a playground. The heavily cropped and zoomed-in compositions give this unique series an almost abstract look and feel, despite it depicting an everyday scene. Using shadows here is a clever and creative way of revealing or suggesting what is occuring, without actually showing the main subject outside the frame creating the scene.

Tim Levy: We often miss a lot of day-to-day moments. Moments that without photography, would be almost impossible to remember as they are so fleeting.The ‘shadow play’ and geometrics of Cameron’s images are great and force the viewer to do a double take of what we are looking at.
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RUNNER UP, MOBILE CATEGORY, PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020
DAVID DAHLENBURG, 'INDUSTRIAL NOIR'

South Australian photographer David Dahlenburg's series 'Industrial Noir' explores the industrial architecture of the winery he works for. This is the first time he has used his phone to take fine art images.

“The winery is forever changing with varying weather and lighting conditions,” Dahlenburg says. “There are many compositions that can be achieved from walking up stairs and onto catwalks. Pipes, handrails, road markings and welds on wine tanks can be used for leading lines and to add interest.

“The images in this series were taken with my iPhone. As luck would have it, when the light is just right, the only camera you have on you is the one on your phone. I found the phone particularly good at capturing reflections in small puddles and getting into tight areas that my DSLR is too bulky for.”

For the judges, his interesting subject matter, use of shadow, tone and light and consistent editing made this portfolio a popular pick.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Douwe Dijkstra: This is an awesome series of an industrial complex – and yes, they can look sexy! I love the beautiful textures of the concrete, steel, corrosion and the clouds. Shooting in mono definitely amplifies and highlights these textures, and I think colour would have certainly been a distracting factor otherwise.

A huge range of grey tones are used here, but they don’t muddy the waters. There’s enough black and whites to add contrast and define shapes and contours. The dark and gloomy weather adds to the heavy industrial look and feel.
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TOP 10 FINISHERS, MOBILE CATEGORY, PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020

   3. Photo © Stella Scarfo. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

   4. Photo © Hunter Smith. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

  5. Photo © Bronwyn Silver. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

   6. Photo © Nikki Kenwrick. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

    7. Photo © Stella Scarfo. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

   8. Photo © Graham Earnshaw. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

   9. Photo © Theresa Lee. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.

 

 10. Photo © Tim Johnson. Mobile Category, Photographer of the Year 2020.