Canon's EYEcon competition draws New Zealand's top photographers as mentors for another year
Monday 30 April 2012, 4:42PM
By Canon New Zealand Ltd
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Canon’s annual EYEcon competition has once again drawn three of New Zealand’s most prominent photographers on board as mentors for the 2012 photographic competition.
Mike Langford, Nigel Marple and Grahame Murray are highly recognised photographers and winners of numerous New Zealand awards.
EYEcon 2012 gives tertiary level photography students and apprentice photographers a shot at one of the country’s largest and most diverse prize pools available for young photographers.
The overall winner of the EYEcon competition will have a once in a lifetime experience, spending a full day on location with each mentor as part of their prize.
Rochelle Mora, Brand Manager – Imaging, Consumer at Canon New Zealand explained they are absolutely thrilled that Mike, Nigel and Grahame are involved in EYEcon 2012 and will be sharing their knowledge with this year’s winner.
“This is an incredible opportunity for the winner to be able to learn from the renowned photographers as well as receive cash and Canon product – a package that enables them to further explore who they are as a photographer.”
Mike Langford has earned his place as one of the countries top photographers, with over 25 years experience as an International Professional Photographer and 18 years of being an International Awards judge.
Based in Queenstown, Mike is the author of several photography books, as well as a director of the Queenstown Centre for Creative Photography and 4WD Photo Safari. He has accumulated many awards over his time, including Australian Geographic Photographer of the Year, Korean International Photographer of the Year, New Zealand Institute Professional Photographer of the Year, New Zealand Landscape / Corporate / Industrial photographer. Mike is excited to be involved both as a judge and a mentor and thinks that it is these experiences that will shape an aspiring photographers path.
Nigel Marple is also aware of how competitions such as EYEcon can help shape a career for a passionate young photographer.
With over 30 years’ experience as a photo-journalist, Nigel has worked all around the world. His ability to tell stories with his images has seen a successful career with Reuters, Associated Press and TIME magazine, the London Sunday Times and the NZ Herald, with work for clients such as Westpac, Honda, Colliers International, Caltex and Greenpeace.
Nigel has documented large sporting events such as the Commonwealth and Olympic Games, the America’s Cup races and Rugby World Cups. He has also covered many breaking news events from around the world, such as the conflict in Bosnia and Somalia. Nigel’s enthusiasm and dedication to photography will help give a deserving individual an outstanding insight into the industry.
After training as a photographer, our third mentor Grahame Murray spent years as an Audio Visual producer, travelling throughout New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands and the USA, producing large scale shows for a wide range of clients. Grahame then moved into photography and video, combining his love for both.
Grahame’s passion for photography has built him a large portfolio with many years behind the camera shooting adventure, tourism, industrial business, in-studio and action sports, leading him to quickly become renowned as one of the best in the industry.
“With three such well established photographers, all with different specialities and distinct styles, the 2012 EYEcon winner will gain invaluable knowledge to take with them through the rest of their photographic career” says Mora.
2012 marks the fourth year of Canons EYEcon competition, which has previously help grow photographers such as Leilani Hatch, winner of EYEcon 2009. Leilani has since gone on to be employed as a photographer for the Manawatu Evening Standard and has recently been selected as a finalist for Junior Press Photographer of the Year, at the prestigious Canon Media Awards 2012.
As well as the experience day with the Canon mentors, the overall winner of the competition will receive $4,000 Canon dollars, a Canon PIXMA Pro 9500 Mark II Printer, $1,000 cash, an A2 large format print of their choice and a year’s membership to NZIPP and AIPA.
Judges will be looking for a strong combination of creativity, originality, print quality and technical ability across the entire portfolio.
“The work must convey a sense of vision. We see many photographers with great technical expertise, but EYEcon is all about combining this expertise with the ability to think laterally to capture the perfect shot,” concludes Mora.
“Canon is committed to encouraging young Kiwi photographers through development and innovation and EYEcon reflects this with its theme of self discovery and growth.”
The competition is open to tertiary institutions and industry nationwide. All students studying photography and assistant photographers are eligible to enter.