Creative hobby produces award winning results
Morrinsville photographer Emma Steiner took home three awards at New Zealand’s professional photography event.
Steiner won a silver and two bronze awards at the Epson/New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP) Iris Awards.
This year was only the second time Steiner had decided to enter her photos in the event, last year she won a gold and two bronze.
The annual event attracts hundreds of photographers from around New Zealand and overseas, who enter their photographs in multiple categories.
Steiner said this year the awards were held in Queenstown over the weekend of August 7-9, and attracted people from outside of New Zealand.
‘‘It’s a big challenge with big names,’’ she said.
This year’s awards were streamed live online, which allowed Steiner to watch from her home in Morrinsville.
Being self-taught, Steiner admitted her photography began as a hobby and it wasn’t until her children, Harlan and Milana were born that she brought a new camera and began to use it every day.
‘‘You get better the more you do something,’’ Steiner said.
The two categories Steiner competed in this year were portrait classic and portrait creative.
Portrait classic is described by Steiner as an image that has no editing, with photographers going back to the ‘‘dark room technique’’.
Portrait creative are images that can be edited to create a different aesthetic.
It was in the Illustrative Portrait Creative category where Steiner received a silver award and in the Portrait Classic where she received two bronze awards.
NZIPP President Mike Langford said entries were judged anonymously over three days by a panel of judges who included some of the most qualified and renowned local and international photographers.
‘‘The awards give photographers an opportunity to push the boundaries, and to see how their work is judged against the rest of the industry,’’ he said.
‘‘As a result, the bar keeps getting raised higher and higher and this year was no exception.’’
In her four and a half years of photography Steiner says she has ‘‘picked stuff up along the way’’ and is inspired by creating something new.
‘‘Some things just happen, some things are planned,’’ she said.
Steiner is looking ahead and has hopes to submit more winning entries at the NZIPP Iris Awards next year.
‘‘It found me,’’ Steiner said of her photography.
‘‘It opens your eyes to something.’’
The awards give photographers an opportunity to push the boundaries, and to see how their work is judged against the rest of the industry.