10-06-2025
High standard for photo competition
Members of the Ashburton Photographic Society submitted a wide range of quality pics for their recent photojournalism competition.
But one member came out on top in both the print and digital sections.
Nel Davison's Runaway Sheep won the print section while her Competing at National Jet Ski Champs shot won the digital award.
Her photos were among the two top honours images chosen in each section.
The remaining honours winners were Paul Allen in print for his photo Helicopter Fighting Fire Behind Houses and Jo Naylor in digital for her photo Penned Up Before the Bell.
The competition was judged by The Ashburton Courier senior reporter Susan Sandys.
Sandys said it was a challenge as the standard was high.
"For the honours images, and many of the others, the photographers have no doubt worked hard to be in the right place at the right time, to be able to capture just the image they were looking for," Sandys said.
Davison said she captured Runaway Sheep when she was taking photos at the Ashburton A&P show last year. Her jet-skiing photo showed Ollie Morris competing at the national competitions on Lake Hood earlier this year.
Said Davison: "I'm always trying to achieve high-quality photos."
Naylor captured her rural scene when she came across dog trials on a trip to Tekapo.
"It was really cool watching them. I guess I just like the colours and the barren landscape."
Allen captured his firefighting scene while visiting Wellington for a funeral about three years ago.
He saw smoke and quickly went to a vantage point where he could get a good photo.
"I knew where to go, I used to live in the area," he said.
