Having shared the excitement of having been selected as finalists in the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year 2016, Edin and I were looking forward to the awards evening without any expectation of further recognition. Visiting the exhibition in Auckland it was great to see our images printed up large and that we had each had another of our images shortlisted by the judges. A lovely Auckland evening at the Viaduct began with drinks as the sun dropped followed by announcement of the competition results at the NZ Geographic Awards Night.

Proceedings began with an excellent and passionate illustrated talk  by Richie Robinson who we had met on our Subantarctic trip. Edin’s Wildlife category was first announced and she was awarded one of only 2 Highly Commended behind the runner up and winner, so our evening was already better than we had expected.

Landscape was the next category announced and when I saw my image go up as the runner up I was completely surprised. When looking at the eight finalists I had trouble placing my image in the top 4 due to the quality of the competition. Possibly as the only Black and White image I managed to stand out to the judges, but it was amazing to have my work recognised amongst the calibre of work on display.

We had a lovely evening and I really enjoyed catching up with Richie Robinson and Kim Westerskov and meeting Kennedy Warne who had written such a touching piece after Edin had won Young Photographer of the Year in 2014.

Young Photographer 2016 was awarded to Talman Madsen, who Edin was excited to meet as they have been in regular contact via Instagram. See his Instagram feed and Facebook Page to see the great work he is doing.

For all the results and awarded photos see the NZ Geographic website. Special congratulations to Iain McGregor from The Press in Christchurch for taking out a well deserved NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year 2016. Another standout was last years overall winner, Jason Hosking, who showed his versatility by taking out runner up in Wildlife and runner up in Time-lapse as well as having a finalist image in the Landscape category.