Humbled photographer wins $3,000 prize

THE winner of the $3,000 Scone Photographic Prize 2021 was Ross Sayer from Erina for his exceptional black and white piece titled ‘Paperbarks White Tree Bay.’

See photo gallery below.

An avid photographer since his retirement in 2011, Mr Sayer took the winning shot on a Nikon 2700 whilst at a training course at White Tree Bay.

First prize for the 2021 Scone Photographic Prize awarded to Ross Sayer for ‘Paperbarks White Tree Bay.’

“I was on a long exposure workshop . . . I have a bit of a passion to go off and find my own composition and look at different things rather than a sunset. When I saw the light shining down through the paper barks, probably 300 metres away from the group, I decided to take the shot,” Mr Sayer said.

“I’m a firm believer in not pointing the camera at something you see that looks pretty, you’ve got to look at what the viewer will see in the image,” he said.

“The path that goes between the trees was lit up by the sunset. The paperbarks looked so much better in black and white. Yes, it was an okay photo in colour and I was happy with it but then I turned it to black and white and I thought, oh this is really good . . . it’s a little bit different than what you’d expect in a gallery,” he said.

Mr Sayer was in a state of disbelief when told he had won the competition. He said he was humbled to have his work recognised by industry professionals and will be putting the $3,000 prize money towards personal medical treatment bills.

“I think this type of competition gives the amateur photographer the opportunity to put that work up and get it looked at from a professional view, instead of just taking the photo and putting it on social media,” Mr Sayer said.

“It’s nice to put something forward that is appreciated by people in the art world,” he said.

“When Roger Skinner told me what I’d won, I laughed at him, I actually thought he was joking with me. I didn’t think it was the amount that it was. It’s very beneficial to help get us through what we are at the moment,” he said.

“It’s part of life, you retire and think this is great I’m going to have a wonderful time and then after about six years everything turns up side down but you keep going. I still go out and take photos,” said Mr Sayer.

Scone Photographic Prize winners and highly commended photos:

• First prize for the 2021 Scone Photographic Prize awarded to Ross Sayer for ‘Paperbarks White Tree Bay’;
• First prize for the Hose Section awarded to Jill Ashby for ‘Splash’;
• Bruce Roberts Thompson awarded to Sarah Jayne Eggins for ‘Waterfall”
• Highly commended awarded to Amanda Gaffney-Ray for ‘Gift of Nature”
• Highly commended awarded to Elsa Marchenay for ‘Dodge.”