Photographer of the Year 2025: Meet the judges
We're delighted to announce the first members of our esteemed judging panel for Photographer of the Year 2025 presented by Ted's cameras.
Alex Cearns OAM
She photographs for engaged pet lovers, corporate brands in Australia, the USA and the UK, and for around 40 Australian and International animal charities and conservation organisations. Her images have been published extensively across international media, in books, magazines, billboards and advertising campaigns.
She regularly judges photography competitions and presents at events. Alex lives with her partner and three rescue dogs in Perth, Western Australia.
William Patino
William Patino is an award-winning landscape photographer and educator based out of Te Anau in the South Island of New Zealand. Will's work has been collected around the world and he has had the pleasure of teaching thousands of students through his workshops and online courses. Will is most passionate about pursuing dramatic moments in the grand landscape, with his work placing an emphasis on atmosphere, light and expressing emotion.
Although originally from the coastal shores of Wollongong Australia, Will's passion and calling is for the rugged mountain and forest scenes of Fiordland NZ, where he resides with his wife and two young children.
Helen Whittle
Helen Whittle is a fine-art photographer specialising in child portraiture who is inspired by dramatic and natural light. With a style consisting of mainly black and white, she produces simple, emotive and authentic images.
She has many awards to her name - as well as being a National Photographic Portrait Finalist in 2022, she received the Overall Winner award in Australian Photographer of the Year in 2016 in Australian Photography magazine, and Runner up Emerging Portrait Photographer of the Year 2019 in Capture Magazine. Helen was also the overall winner in the international competition Black and White Child Photo Competition in 2019.
Helen has been a judge in many international photography competitions and has been teaching child portraiture since 2018. She regularly speaks locally and internationally on this subject. She loves to share her enthusiasm and passion and inspire others.
Sally Brownbill
Sally Brownbill is widely regarded as the queen of networking, a people connector, creative consultant, author, and podcaster known for her ability to inspire and energise. With more than 25 years in the creative industry, she has become a respected thought leader, guiding talent toward meaningful opportunities.
As founder of The Brownbill Effect, Sally champions creative professionals through her handpicked directory’s : The Assistant Register, and The Creative Directory. Her consulting services span CV guidance, portfolio refinement, image selection, website development, and career strategy, supporting photographers, designers, and other creatives to craft standout identities and achieve their goals.
Beyond consulting, Sally is a guest lecturer, keynote speaker, and Adjunct Industry Fellow at Swinburne University, contributing her expertise to education and advisory boards. She co-created the podcast When Harri Met Sally in 2024 and is the author of two books: How to Develop Your Career as a Photographer and Leap into Your Creative Life.
Douwe Dijkstra
Anthony McKee
Anthony McKee is a Melbourne-based writer and social documentary photographer. In 2014 he was named AIPP 2014 Australian Documentary Photographer of the Year. He has also won awards for his landscape photography.
He has judged professional and amateur photography awards on both sides of the Tasman and in 2013 was made an Honorary Fellow of the NZIPP for his services to photography. He is a regular contributor to Australian Photography magazine.
Lisa Michele Burns
Lisa Michele Burns is a travel and landscape photographer and OM SYSTEM ambassador who focuses on regions of environmental significance and natural beauty. Lisa got her start in photography whilst working as a journalist for Lonely Planet back in 2007 and now publishes The Wandering Lens, a leading travel guide for photographers that lists photogenic destinations and experiences alongside creative tips.
Founding The Travel Photography Club in 2024, she now also works to connect, highlight and mentor other photographers via the online community and a growing library of resources and self-study courses.
Petra Leary
Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Petra Leary is a celebrated aerial photographer whose award-winning work has garnered global attention. Her images have graced Times Square billboards, appeared in campaigns, and featured on platforms like The Guardian, Instagram, Type7 by Porsche, Accidentally Wes Anderson, Sony World Photography, and SkyPixel.
As an ambassador for DJI and ADHD New Zealand, Petra’s influence extends beyond her photography. Her artistic style, marked by a blend of strong graphic elements and minimalist design, has made her a sought-after judge for photography competitions, including the Australian Photographer of the Year for the past six years.
In 2019, Petra was the subject of a documentary on her artistic and personal journey, showcased on New Zealand's Loading Docs platform and featured at the NY Doc Festival in New York.
Drew Hopper
Drew Hopper, born 1989 on the Gold Coast, Queensland is an Australian photographer based on Gumbaynngirr Country in the Northern Rivers, New South Wales. He holds two diplomas in photography from Australian College QED. Drew is dedicated to capturing social, cultural, and environmental narratives on both national and international scales.
Drew's achievements include first prize in the SA Museum's Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition (2015), runner-up (2016), and subsequent recognitions, displaying his commitment to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.
His work has reached global audiences, with features in various publications and accolades such as winning the Sony Alpha Photo Contest (2021) and being a finalist in prestigious competitions like the Head On Photo Awards (2021) and Eyeshot Open Call (2022).
Ann and Steve Toon
Ann & Steve Toon are a UK-based, husband and wife team of award-winning, professional photographers with a specialist interest in the wildlife and wild places of southern Africa where they spend several months each year photographing and running photographic safaris.
Their work is published in a wide range of magazines and national newspapers, both in the UK and abroad, and they are reprepresented by several leading photographic libraries. They've also written three books, two on wildlife photography and one on rhinos. You can see more of their work on their website at toonwildlife.com and and toonphotosafari.com.
Mandarine Montgomery
Mandarine Montgomery is a Melbourne based photographer and the 2019 recipient of the Ilford Trophy. She has over 40 awards including International Loupe Awards (Overall winner) and Canon Australia Portrait Photographer of the Year. She achieved Master - four bars- with the (former) Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP).
Her passion shifts from conceptual portraiture and surreal landscape creations to the energetic reportage of live performance photography, photographing artists including Real Life, The Church, Kids in the Kitchen, Kate Miller-Heidke, and a career highlight, shooting Duran Duran during the Australian leg of their world tour.
She has exhibited internationally, and has contributed to a number of photography books and magazines. One of her proudest moments was contributing to the charity Make-A-Wish Australia, auctioning one of her images which raised $16,000.
She enjoys contributing to the creative development of emerging artists with one on one mentoring, as well as guidance via the various competitions she judges, most recently the 2023 NZIPP Iris Awards and the APP (Australian Photographic Prize).
Doug Gimesy
Doug is a professional conservation and wildlife photojournalist who focuses on Australian issues. A four time finalist in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the inaugural winner of the WildScreen Panda Photo Story Awards, he is a Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) and his clients include National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, The Big Issue, as well various mastheads like The Guardian.
Initially trained as a zoologist and microbiologist, he later completed a Masters of Environment and a Masters of Bioethics. Together, these two qualifications helped shape his thinking as what type of issues he should be focusing on and why – conservation and animal welfare issues.
Believing people should focus on the issues they care about and those that are close to home, his recent work has focused on the conservation and animal welfare issues facing the platypus and the Grey-headed Flying-fox as well as an on-going series of portraits titled ‘Wildlife warriors, conservation champions and animal advocates.
His hope is that the images and information he shares, will inspire people to stop, think, and treat the world more kindly.