The Western Australian Epson Professional Photography Awards 2018

08/06/2018 In Venture Blog By sengmah

The Western Australian Epson Professional Photography Awards 2018

I’ve been an accredited member of the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photographers) for a couple of years now. If you haven’t heard of the AIPP or have always wondered what the little logo on the right sidebar means, the AIPP is a professional organisation for photographers; its aim is to ensure a consistently high quality of photographic services provided in Australia and to help its accredited members grow as professionals — in both their business and their vision. It’s a way of telling your world that your photography and business practices are conducted with 110% integrity and professionalism.

The AIPP Western Australian Epson Professional Photography Awards is the most significant and prestigious photography awards in WA. Each year, professional photographers submit their portfolio into a range of categories and wait in eager anticipation as their images are assessed by teams of judges. It’s simultaneously exciting, nerve-wracking and a lot of fun, and the competition is capped by a truly amazing awards night where category winners are crowned, along with the overall WA Professional Photographer of the Year Award.

This year, I entered eight images in two categories close to my heart – “Travel” and “Documentary”. It’s with great happiness that I’m able to share the news that I took out the Western Australian Professional Documentary Photographer of the Year Award, and was a finalist in the Travel Photographer of the Year Award. All eight submitted images were awarded, with two Gold Awards, a Silver Distinction Award and five Silver Awards. All winning images were taken in India, during our Colours of India Photography Tour in February this year. My personal criteria for the awards this year was to submit images that resonated with me emotionally and thematically. I think it’s important that we create images that have meaning to us, and that we shoot for what we love and what we connect with. The fact that the judges recognised the emotive and narrative power in these images is a bonus.

You can view the category winners online at: http://stateawards.aipp.com.au/WA/2018-wa-awards

Big congratulations to my fellow professional photographers who gained awards and won top gong in their categories. Keep an eye out for some of them who will be involved in upcoming Venture events and workshops. My special thanks to Johannes Reinhart, Lynn Gail and Mick Porter who have been great sounding boards for the submission process. And a huge thanks must go to the organisers of the WAEPPA awards — the WA AIPP council members, the volunteers and everyone who helped out!

Here are the awarded images: all eight of them.