Palmerston North photographer and UCOL lecturer, Paul Gummer was named New Zealand Photographer of the Year for 2009 at the national Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards.

Palmerston North photographer and UCOL lecturer, Paul Gummer was named New Zealand Photographer of the Year for 2009 at the national Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards.

“The awards contribute to my ongoing creative improvement as I believe in the pursuit of personal excellence both for my own professional development and also so I have something to give back to the students I teach,” said Mr Gummer. 

“I photograph what I’m passionate about and believe an award winning image is mysterious in that it is up to the viewer’s imagination to complete the story,” said Mr. Gummer.  “It should draw the viewer in, and trigger a response whether it is positive or negative or even what the photographer intended.”

Mr. Gummers win, in association with that of his students and peers, confirms that UCOL and the central North Island produces some of the countries best photographers.

UCOL students look set to follow in the footsteps of one of their lecturers with a number of them achieving individual success in the Student/Assistant category.  The collective efforts of the students lead to UCOL being name Tertiary Institute of the Year.  Nearly half of the photographs which were awarded gold medals at the Iris Awards were entered by both past and present UCOL students and staff.

And if further evidence is required to prove that UCOL is one of the leading institutes for photography in the country, UCOL graduate Bradley Boniface was named Student of the Year last year and went on to beat his more experienced counterparts to be named Creative Photographer this year – the very same title Mr. Gummer had obtained the year before.

Following tradition, the winner of the student category – Kevin Bone - is also from UCOL.  The win supported Mr. Bones decision to give up his engineering career to study photography and guaranteed him an A+ result for his UCOL assignment.

The spotlight wasn’t only on UCOL but also on its surrounding community with Photographer of the Year finalists Shelley Amerio-Higgins and Gerald Wilson both also from Palmerston North.  Of the 12 major individual awards available, eight went to people from the central North Island.

In addition to winning the overall title, Mr. Gummer was also named Landscape Photographer of the Year at the awards.

“Paul’s creativity is underpinned by technical excellence and that extends to the presentation of the photograph itself,” said Head Judge, Mike Langford. “The ideas were original and the execution of them, gold as well.”

Being named NZIPP Photographer of the Year has launched and significantly enhanced the careers of previous winners. 

“We all work hard to make a living and one way to stand out from the crowd is to be an award winning photographer,” said Photographer of The Year 2008 Jackie Ranken.  “I have won both clients and prestige.”

Jackie went on to win the Editorial/Illustrative category this year at the Iris Awards.

Another major highlight at the awards was Christchurch photographer, Johannes van Kan, securing his position as one of New Zealand’s best wedding photographers after winning the Wedding Album category for the third year in a row.

The Epson/NZIPP Iris Professional Photography Awards are the only competition of its kind in New Zealand and were held at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers (NZIPP) annual Infocus conference in Wellington.

This year the awards received a record number of entries.  This made the judges jobs even more challenging this year with the grueling task of examining all 1208 prints entered across eight categories.

“The judges were very tough this year which meant the standards were extremely high,” said Mr. Langford. “As a result they have lifted the bar yet again.”

Among other goals, the NZIPP was established to maintain and improve standards across the industry and encourage professional development.

“The awards are about challenging the photographers to improve and develop their skills and creativity,” said incoming NZIPP President Craig Robertson. “As a consequence, the overall standard of photography across the industry as a whole improves year on year.”

The NZIPP website will be updated with the schedule of a touring print exhibition which will be visiting towns and cities throughout New Zealand soon.

EPSON/NZIPP IRIS AWARDS RESULTS

Photographer of the Year – Paul Gummer, Palmerston North
Finalists – Shelley Amerio-Higgins, Palmerston North and Gerald Wilson, Palmerston North

People photographer – Shelley Amerio-Higgins, Palmerston North
Finalists – Niki Coates, New Plymouth and Richard Wood, Napier

Wedding Album – Johannes van Kan, Christchurch
Finalist – Rob Driessen, Wellington

Weddings – Tony Carter, New Plymouth
Finalists – Sarah Beaufoy, Tauranga, Emma Hughes, Waiheke and Katherine Williams, Christchurch

Commercial - Becky Nunes, Auckland
Finalists – Chris Hill, New Plymouth and Derek Cook, Auckland

Creative – Bradley Boniface, Palmerston North
Finalists – Terry Wreford-Hann, Featherston and John Doogan, Christchurch

Editorial/Illustrative – Jackie Ranken, Queenstown
Finalists – Gerald Wilson, Palmerston North and Terry Wreford-Hann, Featherston

Landscape – Paul Gummer, Palmerston North
Finalists - Shelley Amerio-Higgins, Palmerston North and Gerald Wilson, Palmerston North

Student/Assistant – Kevin Bone, UCOL
Finalists - Leilani Hatch, UCOL, and Simon McIvor, UCOL

Tertiary Institute of the Year – UCOL

Overseas photographer – Peter Rossi, Australia

Highest scoring colour print – Shelley Amerio-Higgins, Palmerston North

Highest scoring monochrome print – Tony Carter, New Plymouth