Planet Earth – but not as you know it
Drones and digital cameras have revolutionised landscape photography, but these images prove you don’t need technical trickery to produce jaw-dropping photos of our amazing planet.
technology/environment
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Drones and digital trickery have revolutionised landscape photography, but the entries received so far for a new international competition prove that neither is absolutely necessary for grabbing the viewer’s attention.
Sometimes a strong subject, well lit and framed, is all it takes. Point and click; simple as that.
Snappers from all over the world are currently submitting entries for the 7th annual International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, vying for $US10,000 in cash prizes in a range of categories, including horizons, night skies, aerial shots and alpine vistas.
Entrants (including a healthy representation from Australia) have trooped off on roads less travelled around the globe, photographing everything from forbidding mountain ranges in Mongolia to desolate icebergs in Greenland.
At other times the subject matter is more familiar, but somehow fantastic at the same time.
Gergo Rugli’s shot of the evening surf in May at Sydney’s Bronte Beach is a prime example. The Sydney-based photographer’s image captures the violence of a wave seemingly being torn apart as it crashes in, with a moody orange sky brewing over the marble jade of the surf.
“There was a storm just before the sunset, and then the sun came through and created this strange-looking light at the horizon, with the dramatic burning feeling of the sky,” Mr Rugli said.
Born in landlocked Hungary, the 39-year-old photographer said he grew up listening to stories about the ocean, but photographing it became an obsession after he moved to Australia five years ago.
The image is titled Buran – a Russian word for a strong cold wind.
“Each of my images is named after a type of wind,” Mr Rugli said.
Competitors have until September 30 to enter. Work from both amateurs and professionals is accepted.
