Alex never took part in any photo competitions for reasons. Strange reasons, but still. He simply didn’t believe he could be among the lucky winners. But this time I forced him to send some pictures and guess what?:)
Yes, four days prior the exhibition opening date he got a late night phone call saying he was short-listed! Yay, I was jumping as a monkey all around our apartment. I was so proud! At that moment I even had no idea yet there were over 1740 entries and only 20 of them made it to the main street of Tauranga – The Strand, where the Trustpower Photographic Exhibition “Our place to shine” is taking place till the end of April 2017.
So let me explain a bit what are this competition and exhibition all about. They were looking for the best pics celebrating all the awesome things Western Bay of Plenty has to offer: nature, people, heritage and emotions. The best part about the contest is that anyone could participate, no matter whether you’re a professional photographer, an amateur, a student or a 7 years old girl (the youngest winner this year!). Among all the entries 10 judges from Trustpower, UNO., Sun, BOPfilm, etc, were looking for something really outstanding and personal, the perfect moment captured with love and attention to our beautiful region.
Though we did know which of the photos Alex had send was chosen, we had no idea what was the prize. So the moment of announcement was equally exiting and intriguing for us. Just to let you know, judges did their best to make us really nervous by postponing the announcements till the end and saying long, but inspiring speeches. After all, Alex was named best student photographer in the Western Bay pf Plenty thanks to his picture of the crowd taken during the Bay Dreams festival earlier this year. Hooray! He won several internships in different local magazines and newspapers, money prize, but the most epic moment is that his photo was printed on the 1.5 meters paper and is now exhibited along the other award winning pics on The Strand!
To see all the 20 best of the best photos head to The Strand, Tauranga before April, 29th! And you can also vote for the ones you liked. To vote for ours, by the way, text CHOICE 04 on 559.
