Tiny bird flies off with prize shot in photo comp
One of New Zealand’s smallest birds has helped photographer Douglas Thorne scoop a major prize at the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the year awards announced Thursday night.
Thorne won the Ockham Residential People’s Choice award for a single tiny rock wren against the big country backdrop of Fiordland just before sunset (right).
“I anticipated the rock wren would fly towards this pointy rock, as they like to land on tall rocky outposts,” Thorne said of his picture. “I only managed to get a few shots before it saw me and flew off.”
Aotearoa’s most prestigious photography awards celebrates 11 winners chosen from over 6000 entries, a record in the competition’s 14-year history.
The overall winner is Andy MacDonald from Taranaki for a broad portfolio covering social stories, landscapes and wildlife.
New Zealand Herald visual journalist Mike Scott picked up the Resene Built Environment award for his stark silhouette of people on a bridge with a flock of birds whirling high above.
“It was only after several minutes of inhuman stillness by the lone figure that I remembered it was a cutout figure attached to the bridge,” he said.
Pictures can be viewed at nzgeo. com/photo and in the November/ December issue of the magazine. An exhibition of the finalists is on show at Britomart until November 20.