The 2015 Canon AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards were held recently in Melbourne.  After taking last year off from entering, I decided to enter again this year.  I’m happy to say that I came home with two silver awards for my efforts.  Not too shabby!  Here’s a look at my award winning entries:

This is how the images were presented to the judges and the awards they received:

Wish me luck for next year!  I need three more points to receive my “Master of Photography” designation from the Australian Institute of Professional Photography.

I entered the state awards again this year after taking a year off when we moved to Melbourne.  I still get butterflies when my prints come up to be judged.  I hopped from room to room to see what the judges had to say when I saw my prints come up.  Unfortunately I only had one print that was discussed even though another one had an optional challenge that wasn’t taken.  I am pleased with my results though.  I received three silver awards out of the four prints I entered.  The fourth print was one point away from receiving a silver as well.  So close!  The most important print that I hoped would receive an award was one that I did of my friend and her son who had just had a heart transplant.  I wanted to create this image to help raise awareness for organ donation.  It wasn’t until my friend’s son was in need of a new heart that I even thought about the fact that if either of my children died, would I donate their organs?  I discussed it with my husband and we decided that we would.  I urge you to discuss this topic with your partner and come up with an answer to this question before it’s too late.  I have been on the organ transplant registry for many years.  Please consider putting yourself on the registry as well.

Here is the happy heart photo that won a silver award with a score of 82 out of 100.  One of the judges scored this image an 88 but elected not to challenge the final score.  Not sure why.

Here is another photo that I entered that scored an 82.  This image was created to include a frame around the baby that was made from an image of a pregnant mother.  If you look really close you should be able to see her in the frame.  This image was challenged by one of the judges but unfortunately he couldn’t convince them to go higher.  Perhaps they didn’t see the mother in the frame?

I also entered this birth story as I just love it and wanted to share it with everyone.  This photo scored an 84.  Very please with that!  One of the judges even scored it a silver distinction.

Here is the photo that scored a 79.  There were two judges that scored it an 83 and an 81 but they weren’t far enough away from the final score to be able to challenge it.  The mum of this baby loved this photo and bought it so she could remember what life was REALLY like with a baby.  LOL!

For more information about organ donation, please click here.  For more information about HeartKids Australia, please click here.  To donate to Ronald McDonald House, please click here.

~Shanna

This is my third year in a row entering the Australian Professional Photography Awards.  This was most definitely my best year yet.  I just wanted to share this exciting news with everyone, so here goes….

I won four out of four awards and ended up as a finalist in the Australian Family Photographer of the Year category.  That means I was in the top three in Australia considered for this high honour.  How awesome is that!?  I was pretty proud of my efforts this year. : )  I won a gold award, a silver distinction and two silvers for my entries.  My first time winning a gold at a national level.  So happy about that.  Here’s a look at my entries from this year:

This image scored a 91 (Gold Award).  There were two out of the five judges that actually scored it in the gold distinction rage as well.  The image tied for the highest scoring print in the Family category for the ACT entrants.  We have some awesome talent in the ACT.

This image scored an 88 (Silver with Distinction).  I was quite pleased with this result as it only scored an 80 at the state awards.  I even had one of the judges score it a 91 (gold award).  How awesome is that?!

This print scored an 84 (Silver Award).  Just missed out on a Silver Distinction by one point.  This image received a gold award at the state level back in May.

This image was new to the awards and ended up scoring an 80 (silver award).  I was very happy about that as I had no idea how it would go.  I just love this image.  This was taken seconds after she gave birth to her second baby.  This is a long time client of mine.  Such a special experience photographing a birth.  I would do it every day if I could.  So beautiful.

These are my awards.  Hanging on the wall in the studio entrance.  The middle one is the Australian Family Photographer of the Year Finalist certificate.  The others are the individual awards for the above images.

Oh, and to top it all off, our State ended up winning a trophy this year for being the highest scoring state in all of Australia!  How awesome is that?!  I’m the President of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography here in the ACT, so I accepted the trophy on behalf of everyone that entered from the ACT.  It was an awesome night at the awards dinner in Melbourne last month.  I had several friends that received high honours.  So please for everyone!  Here’s a look at the trophy:

Thanks so much for letting me share my success!  I take pride in my work and I’m glad others notice and award me for my efforts.  : )

~Shanna

I have been extremely busy over the past week or so, helping to run the 2013 AIPP NSW/ACT Epson Professional Photography Awards here in Canberra.  Over the past five years the awards have been held in Sydney, but this year it was our turn.  When you are Vice President of the local council for the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, you get the opportunity to help out with a lot of different events but this one was BIG.  I am very happy to say that everything ran very smoothly and a great time was had by all.  Not only am I a member of the local council for the AIPP but I was also a member of the awards committee and was running around like crazy doing all sorts of jobs.  We had several volunteers that did an amazing job and helped make this event as successful as it was.  I would like to personally thank all of those helping hands.  Without you, we would have been scrambling!  What an amazing industry I belong to that people will take time out to help one another without expecting compensation for doing so.  Very grateful.

In addition to all the behind the scenes things that I was involved in, I entered some photos into the awards for the third year in a row.  It’s always a scary prospect having your heart and soul on a board being judged in front of all your peers.  I don’t think I’ll ever feel calm about this process but it’s an important exercise in making sure that what I am producing is of professional standard and maybe, just maybe, award winning.

I was lucky enough to win a few awards for my efforts.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to not only win three silver awards but TWO gold awards as well.  Shocked.  Humbled.  Honoured.  To say the least.  It makes me a bit teary to think that my peers think I am doing some amazing work.  It makes me want to strive to continue doing what I love the most and that is creating art for my clients.

This year I did something I have never done before.  I created a couple of fine art prints that I hoped would do well.  Boy was I surprised when they were the two images that received gold awards.  This is something that makes me very happy as I have always had a love for art as well as photography.  I am inspired to keep working with that side of my brain and can’t wait to see what I can come up with in the future.

You’re probably wondering what these images looked like?  Here we go!

Gold Award in the Family Category. In case you’re wondering how on earth this belongs in the family category, take a closer look. This is an image of a maternity client of mine. Several images, in fact.:

Gold Award in the Family Category. Similar to the first, this is another maternity client of mine. Turned into a mosaic.:

Silver Award in the Family Category. Beautiful little newborn baby boy client with his daddy. He smiled for the camera after daddy gave him a smile. How sweet is that?!:

Silver Award in the Family Category. One of my amazing little clients over the past year and a bit. She grew up in my studio. She brought her teddy bear with her to each new session and we took a photo to see how much she had grown each time. Newborn, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year.:

And just for something a bit different! The Evil Queen from Snow White. he he Major thank-you to Charlotte Clark and her grandma for making the costume. To Charlotte for doing the make-up and to Simone Luker for being our beautiful model! This print scored another Silver award but this time in the portrait category:

This is how the prints were presented with the added bling they picked up at the awards. :) These are my two gold prints:

These are my two silver prints in the family category:

Here is my other print that was in the portrait category:

Here is a look at all the certificates I got as well. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I was a finalist in the Family category. This >< close to taking it out but pipped at the post by an amazing friend of mine that scored two gold distinctions (which is NOT a common occurrence and makes it ultra outstanding for her!) and two silvers. Well deserved win on her part! Her prints were amazing!

Look what just got delivered to the studio!  So excited to see two of my prints published in this current year’s book!  Have a peek!

Crossing my fingers that I’ll be in next year’s book!  The 2012 Australian Professional Photography Awards are next month!  Wish me luck!  : )

~ Shanna