The theme for this year’s Wild About Shellharbour Photography Competition was ‘Connecting with Country’ and Shellharbour residents submitted stunning images in a bid to win.
The competition, an initiative of Shellharbour City Council, has two categories – 18 Years and Over and Under 18 Years – with a first prize, runner-up and People’s Choice winner selected for each.
We spoke to some of the photographers about their images:
18 Years and Over
1st place: ‘A Time to Dream’ by Simon Theuma
Simon has been snapping underwater and its fascinating marine life for the past 24 years. He used to do a lot of land photography but when he started scuba diving, capturing images of the underwater world became his passion.
“It’s something special for me. I find it really satisfying to take these photos,” said Simon.
His winning image was taken at Bass Point using very specialised equipment. To set that shot up in which the prawn was on top of the starfish, the subject had to be enlarged.
Runner-up: ‘After the Rain’ by Doug Hewitt
A keen photographer for the past eight years, Doug was really interested in capturing the rainforest near his home at Tullimbar.
“We had explored the Cascade Walk in Macquarie Pass National Park before moving here and I have seen it many times since then, so I knew after the rain it was spectacular.”
Doug said he tried to get up there as often as he could to take photos. In addition to the rainforest, Doug enjoys capturing sunrises, the night sky, the Milky Way and beach photos.
People’s Choice: ‘Clover Hill Falls’ by Renee Mitchell
Renee Mitchell is looking to turn her passion – photography – into a professional career. She has been an avid photographer since picking up her first camera around six years ago, taking it whenever she ventured out, so “she could turn what she saw into something beautiful for both herself and others".
Bushwalking has always been something Renee enjoys, and she submitted her image of Clover Hill Falls to the competition because, she believed, it was a great reflection of the beauty of the Shellharbour that could be showcased to locals and visitors.
Under 18 Years
1st place: 'Bushrangers Beauty’ by Summer Brooks
Summer remembers always being a keen photographer, as a young child asking her mum for her camera so she could take different shots. Once she was given her own camera as a birthday present a few years ago it was full steam ahead.
Recently, Summer obtained her open water diver’s licence and a GoPro camera so she was able to take her winning image of a Grey Nurse Shark at Bushrangers Bay.
She remembered that dive and taking that shot in detail: “The clarity was really good and there were sharks everywhere. It was beautiful. This shark was behind me, the light was coming back through the water and it was a perfect shot. I nearly forgot to take it as I was so in awe of all the sharks.”
Runner-up and People’s Choice Award: ‘Beautiful Sky’ and ‘Cute little Moon’ by Leyla Ahishali
Leyla was only six when she entered the competition, after hearing her mum Deniz speaking to her older siblings about it.
“I would like to enter,” she told her mum, so when they were next out walking by the lake near the playground at Mount Warrigal, Deniz handed her phone to Leyla who snapped away at the beautiful surroundings. The resulting images were gorgeous and perfectly highlighted the beauty of Shellharbour.
