Hearts, padlocks, cuddling couples, babies, kids and even pets featured prominently in our love-themed July photo competition.
The theme for our July photo competition was 'love', and it created its fair share of challenges both for entrants and this month's guest judge, award-winning documentary photographer Anthony McKee.
"One lesson I learnt early on is that some subjects are difficult to define, let alone capture. Love is one such subject."
With more than 420 entries, interpretations were predictably diverse. Some people posted photos of their sweethearts; others posted photos of their kids or pets. There were photos of love hearts, padlocks, and the word 'love' written on sidewalks and drawn with sparklers. There were photos of couples cuddling, holding hands and getting married. A few entrants even photographed their hobbies, with titles like 'Love of surfing' and 'Love eating potatoes' examples of entries that were possibly looking for love in all the wrong places!
“In the end there were no right or wrong entries but some ideas did capture the imagination more than others,” said McKee. In the end, McKee chose Deb Suizberger's quirky image of a Chihuahua and her owner, "Baby is Sleeping".
"The image is a winner on several levels," he said. "The woman clearly loves dogs. One of the obvious giveaways is the tattoo of three Chihuahua dogs on her arm, but the clincher for me was the lipstick kiss marks on the dogs head. Yes, this image may have been hammed up and styled a little more than some of the other entries, but the idea and the treatment were well handled."
As the winner of the July competition Deb Suizberger has won a Spyder4PRO from Kayell Australia, valued at $240. With a patented 7-colour sensor, the Spyder4PRO automates and simplifies display calibration to deliver consistent and predictable colour.
McKee selected two more images for honorable mentions, Kirsty Shaw's "A Mumma's Love" and Christiana Ratcheva's "Love Locks on the Pont Des Arts".
The full list of 17 shortlisted images is published below. The theme for our September competition is 'The Sea'.
ABOUT THIS MONTH’S JUDGE: Anthony McKee is best known for his documentary style photography, a genre that relies on a quiet presence combined with strong observation skills to capture unposed moments in time. Originally from New Zealand, Anthony began his career as a reportage photographer but has been freelance for over a decade. His work has been featured in magazines internationally and exhibited in art galleries in New Zealand and New York. Now residing in Melbourne, McKee has won numerous awards including NZ Landscape Photographer of the Year. He has also been a finalist for NZ Professional Photographer of the Year. Nowadays he is a regular judge at the annual professional photography awards in both Australia and New Zealand and often lectures on the subject. McKee is also a feature writer for a variety of editorial publications including Australian Photography + digital and Australian Flying.
Winner: 'Baby is Sleeping', by Deb Sulzberger.
Commended: 'A Mumma's Love,' by Kirsty Shaw.
Commended: 'Love locks on the Pont Des Arts Paris', by Christiana Ratcheva.
A Hawaiian Wedding,' by Kristen Sawyer.
'A Romantic Moment,' by Paul Cashman.
'After Hours', by Ovidiu Cazamir.
'Love', by Matthew La Forgia.
'Love in a Nutshell', by Joanne Marriott.
'Love Scraps', by Bob Jin.
'Love Sparkles', by Louise Smith.
'Love Sydney', by Joanne Marriott.
'New Love', by Libby Holmsen.
'Stolen Heart' by Rick Bucknall.
'Sunrise Kiss', by Julian Frees.
'The Best Thing in Life #2', by Jason Pham.
'Three Generations', by Denis Bosquet.
'Two Of Hearts', by Susan Shanta.