More For The Awards Page …

… just about recovering from personal euphoria following my exhibition opening at the Court House Gallery and the Nikon Walkley Portrait Prize win (Thanks to all for your comments, likes etc etc !) … whilst in the meantime these items about some other very pleasant ‘recognitions’ and ‘mentions in dispatches’ have also arrived … for the record as follows …

Head On Portrait Prize Semi Finalist  … “The Yarrick Family of Kunhahaa” … screening at the Head On Portrait Prize exhibition now showing at Paddington Reservoir Gardens, Sydney.

Australian Photography Awards … Two Shortlisted in ‘Documentary’ … “The Yarrick Family of Kunhahaa” & “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”.  Winners will be announced over the five days between November 29th and December 3rd.

Fotonostrum International Portrait Award – ‘Jury’s Special Selection’ by Art Streiber – “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”, “Kate – Waiting For Her New Breasts II” & “The Yarrick Family Of Kunhanhaa”.

International Photography Awards (IPA) – Highly Commended X 2 – ‘People’ – “The Yarrick Family Of Kunhanhaa” – ‘Editorial’ – “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”.

Black & White Spider Awards 16th Edition – Finalist Nominee X 4 in ‘Silhouette’ – “Charlie & the Pandemic”, ‘Portrait’ – “Ramnami” & “The Skin I’m In II’, ‘Photojournalism’ – “Tears For George Floyd – 8 Minutes & 46 Seconds”.

Very pleased about that. The complete list of ‘Awards’ … (shameless self promotion) … can be found here … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/awards/

Some will be aware that lots of these images (above) have been previously recognised in other awards and splashed around a lot lately … so … here’s two from the list (Black & White Spyder Awards) that havn’t 🙂 … for  “Charlie & the Pandemic” it’s a ‘first’ … and for “Ramnami” it’s a fourth gong (but I like it 😉  … below)

Images © Brian Cassey

Black & White Spyder Awards -Nominee - Silhouette - "Charlie & the Pandemic" by Brian Cassey

Black & White Spyder Awards - Nominee - Portrait - "Ramnami" by Brian Cassey

Two Up in TIFA …

Nice start to 2019 … just advised that TWO of my images have been selected as Winners in the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) 2018 announced today.

The two winners … both Silver Awards … are … ‘Tomotaro On The Block’ in the Editorial Sports category … and … ‘Victim of Sorcery – Dorcas’ in the Editorial Conflict category.

The image of Tomotaro was made whilst covering the Pan Pacific Para Swim Games in Cairns (for the Canadian swim team) … whilst the image of Dorcas was made whilst working on a story on sorcery and witchcraft in Papua New Guinea for News Ltd’s News 360.

Great that the only other Australian Winner in the Editorial category was colleague and mate Jason O’Brien who also scored a Silver in the Sport category for his brilliant (and often awarded) image of the dive by French Tennis player Gael Monfils at the Australian Open. Congrats Jason … and nice to see our images side by side.

The Overall Winners in the Editorial category were … a disturbing image ‘Slaughterhouse’ by Spanish photographer Aitor Garmendia (First) … and another disturbing image because of the subject matter … ‘Donald and Hilary’ by US photographer Aude Guerrucci (Second).

There’s some great images from photographers from all around the Planet amongst this years TIFA Winners … and they are well worth the time to take a look here.

Below are my two Winners … top … ‘Tomotaro on the Block’ … bottom ‘Victim of Sorcery – Dorcas’. Images © Brian Cassey

Winner - Silver Award - TIFA - Tokyo International Foto Awards - Editorial Sport - Japanese swimmer Tomotaro Nakamura - who had both arms amputated below the shoulder at birth - looks towards the setting sun as he prepares on the block for the start of his S5 50 metre freestyle final at the 2018 Para Pan Pacific Championships at the Tobruk Pool in Cairns Australia. Nakamura won Gold. He is one of Japans most accomplished paralympic swimmers. Image by Brian Cassey
Winner - Silver Award - TIFA - Tokyo International Foto Awards - Editorial Conflict - “Victims of Sorcery - Dorcas” - from the series “Victims of Sorcery” Dorcas Nunugi recovers from a ‘Sorcery' attack in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Dorcas, accused of sorcery following a family death, was attacked with an axe and her arm almost severed. She received other axe wounds to her thigh and head. She was then tortured with iron bars heated red hot in a fire, leaving massive scars on her torso, breasts and legs. Somehow she escaped alive -many victims don’t - their bodies dumped in the river or a convenient hole. Sorcery attacks have reached epidemic proportions in PNG. Image by Brian Cassey

TIFA Winners Announced …

Seems only a hand full of Australian based photographers get a mention in the ‘Winners list’ of the ‘Tokyo International Foto Awards’ (TIFA) announced quietly today.

The good news is that colleagues and friends of mine … David Dare Parker and Adam Pretty are on that list … and that I also made it with two awards.

David Dare Parker’s great work on the Rohingya fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh took out Second Prize (Silver) in Editorial General News … whilst Adam Pretty’s excellent and much lauded essay ‘Waterpolo Warriors’ won Gold in Editorial Sport.

My successes are … “The Skin I’m In – II” … Second Prize (Silver) in the Portrait category … and “Beaten Asylum Seeker” … Third Prize (Bronze) in the Editorial Political category. Both images have been in the spot light previously and just some of the earlier relevant links may be found at … https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/awardsblog/2018/03/carol-does-it-again/https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/2016/10/october-great-month/https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/2017/04/4782/… and https://www.briancasseyphotographer.com/blog/2016/12/sensational-walkleys/  .

The remainder of the TIFA Winners were spread right around the planet … with some interesting names popping up.

The Winners works will be hung or projected at the ICA Gallery, ICA3 Bldg E 2F, 3 Chome-4-6 Higashinihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo from May 12th to 16th … with the opening event on May 13th from 3 to 7pm.

Below … my winning images from the TIFA web site … pics © Brian Cassey

 

Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) - Bronze Prize (Third) - Editorial Political - "Beaten Asylum Seeker" by Brian Cassey

Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) - Silver Prize (Second) - Portrait - "The Skin I'm In - II" by Brian Cassey

Why This Won the Trinity Bay School Portrait Prize …

Last week it was a pleasure to once again judge the works in the annual photographic portrait prize at Trinity Bay High School in Cairns.

This years exhibition totalled about sixty portraits from the students (and a handful of teachers). The overall standard of the entries appeared improved on last years crop. A significant achievement. It took a stroll several times around the exhibition walls before finally settling on this years First, Second, Third, a couple of  ‘commendations’ and a staff prize.

The work that I finally settled on as best in show was a multi layered portrait by grade 12 Shantelle Birch entitled “Self Hate” (top – below).  Not only is Shantelle’s work a complicated and quality portrait, but also comments on the role of portraiture in society itself. The strong title and intricate image evokes emotion, addresses a contemporary youth issue on personal image and self doubt … and the pressures to confirm to stereotypes that visually bombard youth everyday. For her very well deserved win she was thrilled to receive a Nikon D3400 DSLR courtesy of sponsor Garricks Camera House.

Fractionally behind in Second Place was “The Despondent Girl” (second from top – below) … a  well structured beautifully textured and composed portrait by Irin Phomraksa (also grade 12). Her work was anchored on the stare of the one visible eye amongst the seeming chaos of the windswept image.

Third was a classic and well constructed portrait – “Look Like Art” (bottom – below) by grade 11’s Lit Thai. Highly Commended awards went to untitled works by Etevise Taua and Lachlan Best (Lachlan’s clever and disturbing!), whilst the exhibition crowd voted Graziella Romunga’s work as ‘People’s Choice’. Staff prize went to a stand out entry – “Goodbye” by Anna Koetz Trowse.

Trinity Bay High School Visual Arts department teachers, including Sean Tooley and Ian Whittaker, should take a bow. Once again it was great to see, comment on and judge the wonderful photographic work of their talented students.

Images © the artists – Shantelle Birch, Irin Phomraksa and Lit Thai (2017)

Trinity Bay High School Photographic Portrait Prize - judged by Brian Cassey

Trinity Bay High School Photographic Portrait Prize - judged by Brian Cassey

Trinity Bay High School Photographic Portrait Prize - judged by Brian Cassey

NPPP … Vote for Carol …

Have received some nice comments about my work “The Skin I’m In – II” from visitors to the “National Photographic Portrait Prize” 2017 exhibition at the Canberra “National Portrait Gallery”. Very rewarding … and a real buzz to be part of such a brilliant collection of photographic portraiture.

Some have even told that they were moved to vote for the image of burns survivor Carol Mayer in the now main focus of the awards … the “People’s Choice Award”.

The good news is that all can still vote in the “People’s Choice Award” … AND stand a chance to win an award for themselves … until June the 1st. There are ten prizes up for grabs for those who take the time to vote for their favourite portrait of the NPPP exhibition … including a $2000 accomodation package.

Voting is simply conducted on line where all the finalist work is shown … to vote for my portrait of Carol … “The Skin I’m In – II” simply click on this link (or click on the image below) … https://nppp.portrait.gov.au/peoples-choice-2017/?pc=2327 … and enter your vote and details on the NPPP site. (please don’t forget to verify the NPPP return email 🙂

The NPPP exhibition runs at the “National Portrait Gallery” Canberra till June 18th.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017 - "The Skin I'm In - II" - by Brian Cassey

Bi ’16, Hi ’17 …

Thanks to Murray Young for pointing this out (I was across the other side of the planet so initially missed it) … great showing in the first publication of 2017 in the Sunday Mail, January 1.

The S Mail used my image of beaten asylum seeker Abdullatif Almoftaji across the entire front page cover of their photographic retrospective special … ‘2016 Pictures of the Year’ … which also included some mind blowing and soon to be, if not already, ‘iconic’ (for want of a better term) images … including Cameron Spencer’s Getty image of Usain BoltBurhan Ozbilici’s startling AP image of Mevlut Mert Altintas after murdering Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, Jonathan Bachman’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ Baton Rouge protest pic of leshia Evans … and Mahmoud Raslan’s haunting image of 5 year old Syrian child Omran Daqneesh in Aleppo. All images that will go down in history.

Real Chuffed to have my image part of such an amazing collection.

My pic of beaten 20 year old Iraqi asylum seeker Abdullatif was made at the Manus Island Papua New Guinea police watch house during a visit to document the island’s detainees. In December it was recognised as the winner of the Nikon Walkley Portrait Prize for 2016.

Below is a grab of the January 1st three page Sunday Mail special ‘In the Frame – Pictures of the Year’ (Abdullatif image © Brian Cassey)

Pictures of the Year 2016 - Abdulaftif Almoftaji - Manus Island by Brian Cassey

Pictures of the Year 2016 - Abdulaftif Almoftaji - Manus Island by Brian Cassey

 

National Portrait Gallery … Yes …

I’m not allowed to give you much in the way of details about this yet … sworn to secrecy … but may I say that I’m absolutely stoked to learn the news that an (unnamed at the moment) image of mine has been selected as a Finalist in the National Portrait Gallery’s ‘National Photographic Portrait Prize’ for 2017 … !

Apparently close to three thousand entries were received for this years awards … and it’s great to make the finalist cut.

Nice to add the NPPP to the other finalist awards over the last few months … the Moran Contemporary Photography Prize, the Bowness Photography Prize, the Contemporary Landscapes in Photography (CLIP) Awards … along with a second place in the Moscow International Foto Awards (MIFA), two wins in the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) … and a much appreciated Win in the Nikon Walkley Portrait Prize.

I feel a very fortunate fellow right now … 🙂

All ‘National Photographic Portrait Prize’ finalist and winning works will be revealed at the opening of the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, King Edward Terrace, Canberra, ACT on the 31st March. (Note to self … must book flights …) There’s a prize of $25,000 at stake for the creator of the most outstanding photographic portrait. This year there will also be prizes for Highly Commended as well an Art Handlers’ Award and People’s Choice Award.  The exhibition will run till the 18th June before touring to the Blue Mountains, Mornington Peninsula, Western Sydney, and Devonport, with also the possibility of a fifth venue being added.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2017

 

Tokyo International … Result …

A very welcome email arrived just a day or two before Christmas with the news that two of my works had been selected as winners in the inaugural edition of the Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA’s).

‘TIFA’ …  a new event on the calendar … aims “to recognize, reward and expose talented photographers from around the world and introduce them to the creative community in Japan”.

My works selected were … Gold (First Place) in ‘Editorial Personality’ for the portrait ‘The Skin I’m In’ of burns survivor Carol Mayer … and Silver (First Place) in ‘Moving Image Essay’ for my short film ‘Eyes – the Soul of a Photograph’. Both works have featured previously in other awards.

They will be shown alongside other works during the winners exhibition at the Owada Gallery, Shibuya Cultural Center Owada, 23-21 Sakura-gaoka-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo … with the grand opening eve on February 25th. Sadly, I doubt I will be able to take up the invitation.

All Images © Brian Cassey

'The Skin I'm In' - portrait of Carol Mayer - Winner - 'Editorial - Personality', Tokyo International Foto Awards 2016 - image by Brian Cassey

Sensational Walkley’s …

What a night … and a what a result … !

The 2016 Walkley Awards on Friday eve at the Brisbane Exhibition Centre heralded an historic ‘first’ … the mega talented and great guy photojournalist Andrew Quilty the first photographer to ever take out the biggest prize – the ‘Gold Walkley’.

Nobody deserves it more …

Andrew is totally dedicated to his craft and gave away a job at Fairfax to move to Afghanistan as a freelance. His work is extraordinary.

I was fortunate – by way of my Nikon-Walkley Portrait win – to be seated at the same table 55 as Andrew on Friday eve … along with the incredibly legendary war photojournalist Tim Page and partner Marianna Harris, Walkley advisory board member and photographer Michael Amendolia, prolific photography journalist Alison Steven-Taylor (‘Photojournalism Now’), my Cairns photographer mate Marc McCormack and Mrs Sandra, Tanie Harris Sansey … and Andrew’s delightful mum Ann.

Definitely the best table of the night !

Before the evenings events commenced Andrew had already bagged the Nikon-Walkley ‘Photo of the Year’ award … and soon added the ‘News Photo’ award … before thrilling the scores of media photographers – and everyone else in the room  – with the final award of the night – the ‘Gold Walkley’. Magic …

A absolute pleasure to chat with Tim … and delighted that he suggested we swap prints … my Portrait Prize pic for one of his amazing historic combat images. Pretty stoked about that …

The rest of the Nikon-Walkley photography awards were also ‘spot on’ … with Alex Coppel taking out ‘Press Photographer of the Year’, Cameron Spencer the ‘Sports Photography’ award and David Maurice Smith the ‘Feature/Photographic Essay’ award … all against some amazing ‘Finalist’ opposition.

Well done Walkley’s and Nikon … truly memorable !

Below is top … Tim Page watching the announcement of my ‘Nikon-Walkley Portrait Prize’ win from our table … and below … the older PJ legend Tim chats with the newer legend Andrew Quilty after his ‘Gold Walkley’ win.

Images © Brian Cassey 2016

2016 Walkley Awards - Nikon-Walkley Awards - Gold Walkley, Andrew Quilty - Portraiture, Brian Cassey

Walkley Awards 2016 - Nikon-Walkley Awards - Winner Gold Walkley, Andrew Quilty - Portraiture, Brian Cassey

21st QMMA’s …

Enjoyed a great night last Saturday at the Cairns Reef Hotel Casino celebrating – with colleagues from the media and advertising industries –  the twenty first Queensland Multi Media Awards.

At the end of a very entertaining evening and after enjoying some great company and many laughs, I left lugging awards for ‘Best Editorial Photograph’ (Ravenshoe Blast Survivor) and ‘Best Photographic Image’ (Manus – Beaten Asylum Seeker).

I’m very grateful to the subjects of my images … former Ravenshoe cafe chef Noeleen Avenell who suffered massive burns and months of painful recovery (which continue to this day) … and young Iraqi asylum seeker Abdullatif who suffered detention on Manus Island at the whims of the Australian government. (As a footnote – Abdullatif, now just twenty one, was recently deported back to Iraq … and in past weeks I have managed to track him down to Turkey where he fled after finding Iraq ‘too dangerous’.)

Below are the two winning images … © Brian Cassey

Thanks to the 2016 QMMA organising committee … and ‘bring on’ the 22nd QMMA’s in 2017 … !

 

Winning Images - Queensland Multi Media Awards 2016 - 'Best Editorial Image' - "Ravenshoe Blast Survivor" - 'Best Photographic Image' - "Beaten Asylum Seeker" by Brian Cassey

Bowness & Beef Barons …

The William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize‘ – (known more briefly as the ‘Bowness Photography Prize’) – was established just ten short years ago by the Monash Gallery of Art but has grown to be one of the most important … and lucrative … photography prizes in Australia. It is an ‘open’ prize and attracts all forms of photography with no thematic restrictions – and entries this year numbered nearly two and a half thousand from around six hundred artists.

So … to receive the email today from Bowness with the news that one of my images has been selected as a ‘Finalist’ was something of a shock and a buzz!

My ‘Beef Barons’ image –  of Daintree cattle farmers 71 year old Janice and husband 84 year old Keith Osborne – made the shortlist cut, along with a truly extraordinary collection of work by fellow finalists. (After checking out the rest I’m under no illusions that ‘Beef Barons’ will progress any further in the prize.)

I notice that two of my matey photographer colleagues – Stephen Dupont and Russell Shakespeare – are also ‘shortlisted’, but many others on the ‘list’ are unfamiliar to me which can only point to the wealth of photographic talent that abounds in this country.

The work of all finalists will show at the Monash Gallery of Art in Victoria from September 1st till October 16th – and the big night opening and award of the 25 grand prize money and other prizes will be on Wednesday September 7th.

‘Beef Barons’ is shown below … Thanks to my subjects Janice and Keith ! (The pic has already picked up an earlier win in a remarkably different prize – the ‘2016 Rural Press Club – Excellence in Rural Photography Award’ – and was originally published in the Courier Mail)

(Press Update – since the Bowness announcement various stories have been published about the work of the finalists – including this one at ‘The Creators Project’ which features eight of the shortlisted images including ‘Beef Barons’. Click here to view.)

UPDATE … 23rd July … this pic ran today in the ‘Weekend Australian Magazine’ as a double page spread in the weekly feature ‘Heart of the Nation’ … with a great story by Ross Bilton. You can read Ross’s revealing interview with charming cattle farmer Janice, and see the pic in larger format, at … http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/heart-of-the-nation-daintree-4873/news-story/9095105782e96acff07346c557c50306

Image © Brian Cassey

Bowes Photography Prize 2016, Wilfred and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Beef Barons, Finalist 2016 by Brian Cassey

 

“Eyes” in ‘Cairns Eye’ …

Many Thanks to Roz Pulley and the team at ‘Cairns Eye’ magazine for devoting the cover and a double page spread in this weekends issue to the recent win for my short film “Eyes – the Soul of a Photograph” in the Moscow International Foto Awards. Very grateful crew … !

Despite the challenge of portraying the essence of a short film about the ‘moving image’ (in more than just one sense of the term ‘moving image’) the piece in Cairns Eye looks great. On the cover and spread they used seven of the twenty six essentially portrait images – made in the USA (2), India (3), Indonesia (1), Thailand (1), Hong Kong China (1), Papua New Guinea (4) and Australia (14) – which featured in the film. Sadly there is no way they can play the haunting accompanying music in the film – a beautifully emotive piece by composer Robert Mann entitled ‘Rio Vista’. However, you can hear the music and see the complete project at … www.briancasseyphotographer.com/play

The rationale for the film – which also was a Finalist in the ‘Head On Moving Image Prize’ (amongst others) earlier this year – was to explore the axiom that that the eyes are the gateway to not only the soul but the still photograph.

For earlier news on the ‘Moving Image Essay’ win in the Moscow International Foto Awards  – and to play the work – please click on my recent post “Eyes” … a Winner in Moscow …” here.

Below I’ve posted screen grabs of the cover and relevant pages from the new Cairns Eye issue – images © Brian Cassey

CairnsEye1lr

CairnsEye2lr

CairnsEye3lr

Two In For Head On Prizes …

Amongst the mass of mostly annoying or pure spam emails received lately were two that were especially welcomed.  Both were from the crew at the Head On Prizes and contained the excellent news that my work had been selected as finalist in two categories of the prestigious awards – ‘Portraits’ and ‘Moving Image’.

I have previously had work selected in the ‘Portrait’ category … but this is a ‘first’ for me in the ‘Moving Image’ category.

Ten finalists have had their work selected in ‘Moving Image’ which is for small moving pieces (movies) combining any combination of multimedia, visual art, sound art, still or moving images or other media. Certainly isn’t my speciality so I’m incredibly gratified just to be amongst the ten!

The Head On Portrait Prize, now in its 12th year, is one of Australia’s most critically acclaimed photographic portrait prizes and has also received World wide recognition. In 2014 the Portrait Prize exhibition toured Internationally and it is expected that the 2015 Portrait exhibition will do the same.

So it’s particularly pleasing to make the Portrait finalist cut once again. (for news on my Head On Portrait Prize successes in previous years go to here and here.)

I’m not allowed to name or identify either of the finalist works at this time … but all will be revealed at the opening night of the ‘2015 Head On Photo Festival’ in Sydney on Friday 1st May. The ‘Portrait Prize’ exhibition will then run from the 2nd May till the 8th June at Sydney Living Museums … whilst the ‘Moving Image’ work will be displayed at the Brenda May Gallery Sydney from the 5th May till 6th June.

To keep abreast of the happenings at the Head On Photo Festival and Head On Prizes on social media use these tags … Hashtag – #headon15,  Facebook – @Head On Photo Festival​,  Twitter – @HeadOnPhotoFest,  Instagram – @headonphotofestival .

Rural Press Winner …

Whilst in Brisbane to talk at the launch of the Nikon Walkley Press Photography Exhibition (see post here) I also took time out to accept an invitation to attend a Rural Press Club lunch at the venerable Tattersalls Club.

A very nice lunch it was too … made even more enjoyable by the announcement that one of my images was a ‘Winner’ in the ‘Excellence in Rural Journalism Awards 2015’ in the Photography Landscape & Nature category.

The annual awards celebrate the work of journalists and photographers working on stories of a rural nature. The work of winners in Queensland then progress to Australia wide awards and, if then successful, to the IFAJ (International Federation of Agricultural Journalists) awards. (In 2012 one of my images taken after Cyclone Yasi won the Queensland, Australian and International awards in the ‘People’ category.)

The winning image this year (below) was made during the coverage of Cyclone Ita’s passage across the Cooktown area of north Queensland in April 2014 and show’s the aftermath of the cyclone’s total destruction of banana crops at the indigenous community of Hopevale. (Coincidentally I have only just returned from another trip to Hopevale where I documented the latest cyclone damage to the banana crop by Cyclone Nathan).

The pic – which shows Chief Banana Packer at the Hopevale Banana venture Phyllis Gibson carrying felled fruit watched by her grandson Dwayne Bowen – was published on page 1 of The Australian on 14th April 2014 (as shown on the newspaper grab below)

Images © Brian Cassey 2014

20140413_CycloneItaHopevaleBananasBlog

AusralianHopevaleItaBananasBlog

Moscow, Moscow …

This year has seen the birth of yet another major World wide photographic ‘award’ – the “Moscow International Foto Awards” … or “MIFA”.

Apparently MIFA’s mission is to recognize, reward and expose talented photographers from around the world and introduce them to the creative community in Russia”. No too sure how useful that may be in the big scheme of things … but, hey … will try anything once.

I frugally submitted one lone pic … my portrait of the loverly burns survivor Carol Mayer … and promptly forgot about it. Sadly so did they … up to a point! No congratulatory email at results time and I questioned, as you do, the credentials of the judges before moving on to other things.

Ten days later I DO get an email opening thus – “Congratulations once again, please find enclosed your MIFA’14 Winner Seal”. I several times checked the list of winners and honourable mentions … no Brian and no Carol … and puzzled I sent them an email. They told me to ‘look again’. Same result …
My next few emails went unanswered … until today when I at last get an email stating “Apologies! Yes, we found out there was a bug in our system which removed some of the HM winners that’s why it wasn’t showing. We have fixed it.”

So there you go … an Honourable Mention (and there was an awful lot of ’em) in the Portrait category of the inaugural  “Moscow International Foto Awards”. Sure takes the gloss off it …

Anyway … below is my Hon Mention pic from the “MIFA” website.

Image ©Brian Cassey

MoscowIntBlog

Gordon Parks Awards US of A …

A nice little bit of recognition recently when one of my images from South Korea was awarded “Honorable Mention” (i.e. 4th!) in the “26th Annual Gordon Parks International Photography Awards”. The awards celebrate the work of the eminent coloured US photographer Gordon Parks who not only produced brilliant photo essays as a staffer for ‘Life Magazine’ but also directed the 1971 movie ‘Shaft’. (Who doesn’t remember Isaac Hayes great ‘Theme from Shaft’ which won an ‘Academy Award’.)

Gordon Parks died in 2006 aged 93 but the Gordon Parks Center  continue to promote his work, make it available to the public through exhibitions, books etc and support artistic and educational activities that advance his ideal of  “the common search for a better life and a better world.”

The theme for this years awards and exhibition was “The Face of Poverty” … a subject covered prominently by Gordon Parks own work. Amongst the winners and finalists were entries from the US, Bangladesh, Japan … and Australia (me!). My image (below) was made in Seoul South Korea whilst documenting the many homeless individuals that exist around the main railway station and at the time facing eviction by National rail network Korail. I made the pic as s small boy stopped to stare at a homeless man preparing his cardboard box bed for a nights sleep in a station underpass.

Details of all the prize winners can be found at http://www.gordonparkscenter.org/photocontest/items/WinnersFinalists%202014.pdf

Image © Brian Cassey

pic by Brian Cassey

Sunshine Coast … & Nikon-Walkley …

Just returned from three days ‘down south ‘at Mooloolaba southern Queensland, courtesy of  the Walkley Foundation and the University of the Sunshine Coast.

My (rather pleasant) tasks over the three days were to ‘talk my head of’ on the subject of photojournalism at the ‘Ord Minnett Art & Architecture Lecture’ series, host five classes of University journalism students … and perform as ‘guest speaker’ at the Sunshine Coast opening of the ‘Nikon Walkley Press Photography Exhibition’.

Despite torrential rain and flash flooding (Sunshine Coast ?) all the events were extremely well attended. The ‘Nikon Walkley Press Photography Exhibition’ was hung by the charming USC Gallery curator Dawn Oelrich and the prints were very well presented and lit in the campus Gallery ‘space’. Well over a hundred braved the lousy weather on Thursday eve to attend, view the work selected as Australia’s best press pics of 2013 and listen to myself rabbit on about photojournalism and my and the other finalists work. CEO of the Walkley Foundation and MEAA Federal Secretary – Chris Warren – was also in attendance to address the throng.

On the previous night over thirty five souls were brave enough to withstand over an hour of my ‘Ord Minnett’ lecture. To support my words on the subject of photojournalism I also projected over a hundred images and demonstrated some obscure pieces of camera kit. Some of the pics and some of the kit dated back … well … a few decades.

I also spoke to five classes of journalism students … almost a hundred in total … on the press photography in the gallery (including mine of course) and the fragile  future of photojournalism. Several young students were, however, determined to continue along the PJ path.

Still, it made a pleasant change to spend my time talking about pictures rather than making them.

In case you missed it you can find my selected ‘Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year’ portfolio here … http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/72157636407740096/

Below are two quick pics from the exhibition opening eve of guests checking out the wall with my selected ‘Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year’ print portfolio.

All images © Brian Cassey

WalkleyExhSunshineCoastBlog1

WalkleyExhSunshineCoastBlog2

 

 

“Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year” …

It’s very hard to pace yourself at a glittering free alcohol media event over five long hours (not including the obligatory ‘after party’) … but that’s “The Walkley’s” for you!

Thursday night at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane was the setting for this years Walkley Awards black tie media extravaganza … and if you weren’t lucky enough to score a ‘rare as hens teeth’ invitation in person it was screened live on ABC TV.

I was fortunate to be selected to attend as one of the three finalists in the “Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year” award … indeed an honour to be so selected from Australia’s fantastically talented press photographer contingent. My contenders for the major photographic award of the evening were the extremely talented Quinn Rooney from Getty Images and Kate Geraghty from Fairfax. I would like to say that I really enjoyed the entire show… but that would be stretching it!  In truth the stress of waiting, waiting, waiting for several hours for the relevant “Press Photographer of the Year” result to be announced wasn’t pleasant … despite the good humoured attention and support of all the Nikon Australia crew – Kylie, Julie, Steve, Andrew et al – at our table. (They even let me play with a brand new Nikon Df to take my mind of it all – very nice camera !)

The end result ? … you can find out ALL the finalists and winners and watch the entire Walkley event on ABC’s iview here at http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/78313946 … I’m still far too ‘stressed’!

The fantastic work of all the Nikon Walkley photographic finalists was arrayed strategically around the dining and awards venue for all to see and comment on. Indeed, broadcaster and journalist Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) was moved enough on the night to ‘tweet’ thus – “Australian photographers are brilliant. Tragic that newspapers have punted so many of them”. Political journalist Amy Remeikis (@AmyRemeikis) also waded in on #walkleys with her ‘tweet’ – “Seriously media companies – invest in photographers. They reach people our words can’t or don’t. And my iPhone shots are shit.”

If you weren’t there on the big night all the Finalists images can also be found here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/ and my nominated  “Nikon Walkley Press Photographer of the Year” portfolio is here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkleyfoundation/sets/72157636407740096/ .

Below is a screen shot of my Finalist portfolio from the Nikon Walkley Press Photography Flickr web site.

The Nikon Walkley Press Photography Exhibition hits the road over the next 6 months or so … and you will be able to catch my work and the brilliant work of all the other finalists at shows in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle and Brisbane … see here for dates and venues … http://www.walkleys.com/photography-events

Images © Brian Cassey

NikonWalkleyPressPhotographeroftheYear

QMMA’s …

A very enjoyable and bitter sweet evening last Saturday at the QMMA’s  – the “2013 Queensland Multi Media Awards” – which honours the work of members of the media and advertising community from (almost) all of the State of Queensland.

I was fortunate indeed to come away from the evening at Pullman Reef Casino Hotel with two wins (in “Best Sports Photograph” and “Best Editorial Image/Photograph”) – but the highlight was the posthumous induction into the inaugural  “Hall of Fame” of my old mate and advertising legend Bob Hale. Son and friend Ben Hale made a touching acceptance speech … and the memories – and drinks – flowed. Great to share the evening with fine friends and colleagues … and thanks for the hard working event organising committee, judges and sponsors.

All the results from the evening can be found here at http://www.queenslandmultimediaawards.com/winners-2013 (Click on ‘Photography’ etc …)

Below are my selected successful images – “A Win At Last – On Siren” (Best Sports Photograph) and “Stockman” (Best Editorial Image/Photograph). Three of my other images also made the finalist cut in “Best News Photograph” and “Best Photographic Image”.

Images © Brian Cassey

WinAtLastOnSirenBlog copy

StockmanBlog copy

 

Cairns to Sydney to Kuala Lumpur …

An event filled week ! Travelled back to Sydney to take in more of this years ‘Head On Photo Festival’, a bit of the ‘Reportage Photography Festival’, the first ‘Walkley Slide Night’ of 2013 … and … the opening at Global Gallery Paddington of my exhibition “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman”. 

Straight after exhibition opening eve it was off to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia for the exhibition and winners announcement at Galeri Petronas of the “2013 Kuala Lumpur International Portrait Awards”.

“The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” exhibition was obviously a highlight … and Global Gallery was chockers with media photographer colleagues, friends and many others enjoying the ‘hospitality’. Moshe Rosenzveig from Head On kindly arrived to give the opening address.

The exhibition comprised fourteen near metre high prints of the entire mustering crew of the indigenous operated APN Cape York operation … including stockmen young and old, helicopter pilot, cook, junior Jillaroos, teacher … even newcomer stockman journalist Michel McKenna (who made the trip from Brisbane for the opening to admire his ‘visage’ !)

The “2013 Kuala Lumpur International Portrait Awards” was also a fantastic exhibition … well worth the effort and some fantastic work adorning the walls of Galeri Petronas under the twin towers … including my selected finalist image “Roustabout” of APN’s versatile do-it-all guy Perry Ward.

Printed almost two metres high on beautiful canvas and displayed spotlighted on a massive black wall, “Roustabout” certainly had the ‘wow’ factor as you entered the gallery! (see image below). Unfortunately it wasn’t selected as a top three winner. The winning image of a street band certainly was a very special image. Not so sure about second and third selected images tho’!

Below is a pic of the “Roustabout” image as it was displayed in KL … and a couple of pics from the Global Gallery  APN exhibition opening eve in Paddington.

© images Brian Cassey

Ex Cairns Australia pic by Brian CasseyPic by Brian Cassey

APNEx3s copy

APNEx2s copy

Head On Festival and Portrait Prize …

Travelled down to Sydney for the launch of the five week long “Head On Photo Festival” and the announcement of the 2013 “Head On Portrait Prize” winners.

The Turner Hall at Sydney TAFE Institute was packed to it’s (very beautiful) rafters for the Festival launch, the “Head On Portrait Prize” winners announcement and also the announcements of the new “Head Off Landscape Prize” and the “Head On Momento Photobook Awards”.

Absolutely thrilled when Head On director Moshe Rosenzveig announced that I was ‘Winner of Second Prize’ in the portrait award for my image “Stockman”. I was joined up on stage by Jonathan May who made the amazing winning image and third place winner Matthew Reed.

“Stockman” (Dominic Ngakyunkwokka) is just one image from the series “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” originally made for a story by ‘The Australian’ journalist Michael McKenna (who also features in the series). You can see the entire “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” collection of prints at the Global Gallery in Paddington Sydney from the 29th May till the 9th June, as a “Head On Festival” featured exhibition. Please come along for opening night celebrations and a drink or two from 6pm.

The day after the Global Gallery exhibition launch I’m orf to Kuala Lumpur where another image from “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” – “Roustabout (Perry Ward) – is a finalist in the “2013 Kuala Lumpur International Photography Awards” and will be exhibited at “Galeri Petronas” in the Petronas Towers KL from the 23rd May till 23rd June. Winners announcement is 5pm June 1st.

The exhibition of the “Head On Portrait Prize” winning images and thirty seven other Portrait Prize Finalists can be seen at the State Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney until the 23rd June.

There are galleries of winning and finalist images from the Portrait, Landscape and Book Prizes on the web here at ‘TimeOut’ ,  here at “Fairfax News” and here at “Photojournalism Now”

Here (below) is how my “Stockman” image is displayed in the State Library of NSW – image © Brian Cassey

HeadOnSLNSW

“Roustabout” Selected in KL …

Very pleasant news that one of my “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” portrait series has been selected as a Finalist in the prestigious “5th Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards”. The selected Finalist image is a portrait of Perry Ward – the “Roustabout” of the APN Cape York crew that are mustering thousands of head of stock out from the indigenous township of Aurukun, northern Australia.

The announcement of the Winner and place getters will be made at Galeri Petronas, KLCC,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday 1st June 2013, from 5pm – and all the finalist images will be exhibited at the gallery from 23rd May to 23rd June.

Indeed an honour to be involved in such an enterprise … and I’m also pleased for the great and accommodating members of APN Cape York who allowed me to make the image.

Below is the Finalist image – small size – of Perry, the “Roustabout” – the entire “The Aak Puul Ngantam Stockman” portrait essay can be found here.

image ©Brian Cassey

RoustaboutBlog

6th Photography Masters Cup …

Just been advised that one of my images “Homeless in Seoul” won an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the ‘Photojournalism’ category of the “International Color Awards – 6th Photography Masters Cup”.

Nice …

The image was made at Seoul Railway Station South Korea and shows a child peering at a homeless man preparing his cardboard box bed for the night in an underpass at the station. The homeless at the station are embroiled in a battle with state owned railway operator Korail who have evicted several hundred homeless from the railway precinct.

Two of my other images – “Chook” (an image of Kowanyama elder ‘Chook’ with his grand children) and “The Seventh Second” (an image of indigenous rodeo rider Elroy Josiah eating the dirt) – were also Nominess in the ‘People’ and ‘Sport’ categories.

The complete list of winners and nominees can be found here at http://www.thecolorawards.com/6thphotoshow/index.php

The winning and nominated images are also shown below …

© Images Brian Cassey

Soulless in Seoul - © pic by Brian Cassey

Australia - Kowanyama - 07/06/11.

NPPA “Best of Photojournalism” Win …

About this time last year – on a whim, a wing and a prayer – I sent a couple of images into the US based ‘National Press Photographers Association’ – “Best of Photojournalism” awards … and promptly forgot about it. As you do …

No ‘you’re a winner’ (or even ‘placegetter’) email arrived so you just get on with life …

Then … just last week I got a Facebook message from photojournalist colleague Ted Mcdonnell who had arrived back from a gig in Timor Leste and gone through his pile of mail where he found his new copy of the NPPA mag “News Photographer”. There gracing the inside cover (see below) he found my portrait of beautiful burns survivor Carol Mayer and the news (to me) that it had WON the “Portrait” category for ‘A single photograph that captures a unique aspect of a local figure’€™s character and personality. This should not be a public figure who is regularly covered in the news, but rather a local heroine, hero, or community member’.

Carol certainly falls easily into that category … !  (and the nicest part is she gets as excited as I do with the successes her portrait has achieved – Nikon WalkleyKellicutt International USInternational Photography Awards (IPA)Head On Portrait PrizeInternational Color Awards, International Loupe Awards, Queensland Multi Media Awards etc … )

Pretty stunned about the news .. despite the fact it was announced a few months ago … but, if I’m honest, a bit miffed that I wasn’t told at the announcements. I emailed NPPA and a reply from Thomas Kenniff reckons I should have got an email as all Winners did.

The moral is ? Try and remember to check awards and competition results … just in case!

Below is the inside cover page of the NPPA magazine “News Photographer” with the result – a click on that will take you to the NPPA site.

Carol Mayer image © Brian Cassey

 

nppa