23.03.09
PPOTY08: Winners announced
We know you’ve been waiting with baited breath to find out who has won the coveted title of Professional Photographer of the Year 2008, and this is the moment of truth. But first, we at Pro would like to say a big thank you to every one of this year’s entrants.
Almost 5000 of you took the time to enter your magnificent images into our competition, and we must say, the standard this year was top notch.
In total we had over 12,000 images entered into our nine categories and looking at the prizes up for grabs this year we can see why you all went to so much effort. Our generous sponsors have provided some truly spectacular prizes for your efforts, for which we are also very grateful indeed. So if you’re a winner this time around then we know you’ll be pleased with your reward.
Competitions can do wonders for your work, not just from the point of view of a prize that could help your photography, but also from the publicity surrounding your outstanding achievement.
If you haven’t done as well as you hoped this year, then have another go next year – we’ll be announcing details of PPOTY09 shortly. And, if nothing else, we hope that the process of editing your images for their winning potential will give you food for thought and the confidence to go on and enter more competitions in future.
As ever, we assure you that this year’s judging process was exceptionally difficult, and we hope, as you take a look, you’ll all agree that the images selected are deserving winners. Congratulations, once again, to them all.
Winning images in rotation above:
Portrait category and overall competition winner:
David Morris / Mamiya 6 with 80mm lens and Ilford HP5 film
The overall winner of the Professional Photographer of the Year 2009 is David Morris, who wins £1000 to spend at Jessops, as well as studio consumables from Creativity backgrounds for acing the Portrait category. His image of Mr Sly, a local coffin maker, is from a series on artisans, shot on a Mamiya 6 and Ilford HP5 film.
davidmorrisphotographer.com
Sponsored by:
Architecture winner:
Gerry O’Leary / Canon EOS-1Ds MkIII with 24mm TSE lens
When Gerry heard he’d won the architecture category with this image he was particularly pleased, telling Pro it was from his “best project to date”. Shot at dusk as part of a commission from Emirates Airlines, the image is of Dubai International Airport’s new terminal. As a regular visitor to Dubai, Gerry could say he spends a lot of time at its airport, much of it on commissions to shoot its unique architecture. gerryoleary.com
Sponsored by:
Commercial winner:
Gerry O’Leary / Canon EOS-1Ds MkIII
At the news he’d won a second category, Gerry said ”it feels fantastic!” Again, this image was taken for Emirates Airlines at Dubai International Airport. When we caught up with Gerry to tell him of his win – and the Bowens lighting kit coming his way – he was still in Dubai. gerryoleary.com
Sponsored by:
Fine art winner:
Simon Bullar / Canon EOS 350D with Sigma 10-20mm lens
Achieving this image was no easy feat for Simon Bullar. In fact, it would have been impossible had he not convinced his family to follow him into the woods near his home in Biggin Hill last November and assist him. However, after winning our Fine art category he’s “very happy” that he did. The image was captured using just one torch and a particularly long exposure. He wins two Sigma lenses: a 28-70mm standard zoom and a 70-200mm telezoom.
Sponsored by:
Landscape winner:
Tim Wallace / Nikon D3 with 14-24mm lens
Tim was “utterly gobsmacked” when we told him he’d won our landscape category. He only turned pro 18 months ago, when he was made redundant from his last job. The image he entered was taken as part of a series “placing chairs in locations you would not expect to find them”. Since taking this picture he’s had great success, selling the image as stock, and more recently to a psychiatrist in US for the walls of his practice. ambientlife.co.uk
Sponsored by:
Press & documentary winner:
Christian Wilkinson / Sony Alpha 100 with 18-60mm lens
When told of his win, Christian was “over the moon.” His winning shot of frigate birds scavenging on Ecuador’s Playas Beach was taken as part of a project to document how people co-exist with the wildlife in the Galapagos Islands. “The area is a very important fishing village for the local community,” he says. “The fishermen bring in their catch as the frigate birds swoop down and literally snatch fish from the their baskets.” bluesunphoto.com
Sponsored by:
Sport winner:
Stephen Bootle / Nikon D1x with 80-200mm lens
When he was photographing a Red Bull skateboarding and breakdancing competition in Leeds, Stephen Bootle didn’t anticipate that one of the shots would win him a competition. At the time, he just imagined that the photos would end up in newspapers and magazines, which they did. So finding out he’d won this category, and landed himself some Adobe software, was “brilliant news”. sbootleweddingphotographyleeds.co.uk
Sponsored by:
Travel winner:
Jan Kostal / Nikon F80 with Nikkor 24-120mm lens
On a trip to India, Jan Kostal had no trouble finding subjects to photograph. His winning shot is just one of the many taken in Calcutta. Hearing of his win, and his fantastic prize, Jan reckons he’ll be planning another trip very soon.
www.jankostal.com
Sponsored by:
Weddings winner:
Claire Dalgarno / Canon EOS 5D with 24-70mm lens
Lucky should be Claire Dalgarno’s middle name: a fortuitous break in the weather got her this shot, and won her the category prize. “Half an hour before it was pouring with rain, hailstones, the lot,” says Claire. As the downpour halted she rushed onto the pier at Blyth, Northumberland. Hearing of her win, she claimed to be “speechless”, but managed to tell us “winning is prize enough.” Nevertheless, she wins a Mitsubishi CP9550DW printer. clairedalgarno.com
Sponsored by:
- Average Article Rating 0 Stars
-
Your Rating
Login Required!
Sorry - You must be a registered user & logged in to rate this.
Login | Register
Related Articles
-
20.02.09
Down from tens of thousands of images, here at last are the chosen photographs
-
17.03.09
The winners announced - 44 photographers from around the world
-
17.03.09
See the winning images chosen by the judging panel
Back to Categories