Finalists 2016

+  Astres Noirs by Katrin Koenning & Sarker Protick & Chose Commune  -  W I N N E R
+  Elsewhere by Fuad Osmancevic  -  C O M M E N D E D
+  J.W. by Clare Steele  -  C O M M E N D E D
+  Memorandum by Ana Paula Estrada  -  C O M M E N D E D
+  Some Want Quietly by Drew Pettifer & M.33  -  C O M M E N D E D
+  Surface Phenomena by Bartolomeo Celestino & Perimeter Editions  -  C O M M E N D E D
+  Bird by Gary Heery - P E O P L E ' S   C H O I C E
+  Courts 02 by Ward Roberts & Editions
+  Elemental by Rohan Hutchinson
+  Golden Triangle by Hannah Nikkelson
+  Kinglake by Jade Byrnes
+  Two Pandanus Trees Side by Side by Aaron Claringbold

W I N N E R

C O M M E N D E D

J.W.
Photography by Clare Steele
steele-photo.com
 
Publisher: Self Published
Printing: Moule Print
Binding: Melbourne School of Bookbinding
Pages: 104
Size: 170 x 205
Edition of: 15
Not for sale


Photographer
Clare Steele is a photographer based in Melbourne. Her work is concerned with the narrative of life, how passing through time affects our emotional and physical connections to what we hold dear. In 2015, Clare graduated with a Bachelor of Photography majoring in Documentary from Photography Studies College, Melbourne.

C O M M E N D E D

Some Want Quietly
Photography by Drew Pettifer
drewpettifer.com
 
Publisher: M.33
Text: Futoshi Miyagi
Editing: Drew Pettifer
Design: Lachlan Siu
Printing: Impact Digital
Pages: 52
Size: 200 x 240
Edition of: 100, signed & numbered
ISBN: 978-0-9945170-0-5
RRP: AU$33.00
Buy a copy


Photographer
Drew Pettifer is an artist and academic who lectures in Art History and Theory at RMIT University, Melbourne. Drew's art practice explores themes of intimacy, gender, sexuality and the politics of desire using photography, video, installation and performance.
 

Book
Some want quietly brings together work made by Pettifer during a residency in Tokyo and examines different codes of masculinity and gender that exist in contemporary Japanese society.  These straight and queer subjects became friends with the artist through extended visits to the artist's studio. The images were shot in Pettifer's typical intimate, snapshot style on 35mm colour film.

The book's deceptively simple cardboard cover with stylised 'futon' graphic and minimalist layout pays modest homage to the elegant yet restrained books published in Japan. An essay (in English and Japanese) by Futoshi Miyagi, artist and Director of the Tokyo Art Book Fair, entitled 'Tough to be a man', yields further insight into tensions inherent in the Japanese construction of masculinity.

Format
Softcover, perfect bound.
 
Judges’ Comment
Well executed, intimate and personal snapshot style photographs displaying nakedness, sexualisation and masculinity. Excellent and pared back design. The images have been handled on the page and how they sit together to engage the viewer.

C O M M E N D E D

Surface Phenomena
Photography by Bartolomeo Celestino
bartcelestino
 
Publisher: Perimeter Editions
Editing: Dan Rule, Justine Ellis, Narelle Brewer
Design: Narelle Brewer
Printing: Magnum Offset
Pages: 112
Size: 210 x 300
Edition of: 500 Trade Edition, 30 Special Edition
ISBN: 978-0-9943883-3-9
RRP: AU$55.00 (Trade Edition)
Buy a copy


Photographer
Bartolomeo Celestino (b.1973) is a conceptually driven artist working across the fields of video, photography and sculpture. Celestino's work is concerned with themes of seriality, the return to site and the sublime in nature. Celestino often utilises large-format landscape stills as a means of investigating the sublime in the Australian landscape.
 

Book
Celestino has been returning to a particular section of Sydney's coastal fringe 'atop an otherwise unremarkable set of cliffs in the eastern suburb of Bronte' day after day, year after year, to undertake the protracted task of setting up his large-format camera and training his lens downward to the fierce waters below.

The horizon, the land or any other contextual details are absent; the ocean is everything and everywhere. The mass of turbulence and white water and the deft flashes of calm that these photographs describe occupy a fundamentally different formal and conceptual space to the iconography of the Australian coast. Without the luxury of context the images become loaded with formal, allegorical and interpretive potential.

Format
Softcover, OTA bound with fold-out dust-jacket. Printed on uncoated and high-gloss paper.
 
Judges’ Comment
The form and the content come together harmoniously to create an immersive experience.

P E O P L E ' S    C H O I C E

Bird
Photography by Gary Heery
garyheery.com
 
Publisher: Self Published
Design: Alphabet Studio
Printing: Spitting Image
Pages: 174
Size: 315 x 390
Edition of: 800 Limited Edition, signed
RRP: AU$125.00
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Photographer
Born in Sydney, Australia, Heery studied sociology and psychology at the University of NSW. In 1974 he moved to the US where he co-founded India America, a magazine chronicling Native American society and culture

In L.A. he photographed album covers for Roy Orbison, Frank Zappa, Ray Charles and B.B. King, and shot portraits of film and music stars for magazines including Life, Esquire and Rolling Stone. In 1981, Heery moved to New York, opening a studio in Soho where he photographed covers for Madonna and Paul Simon as well as advertising campaigns for Swatch, Karl Lagerfeld and Sony.

He has published 5 books including Zoo, Grandiflora and Birds.
 

Book
A portrait series of birds. To capture the birds in motion Heary erected a translucent tent, creating an intimate and contained environment in which the birds could fly. “I treated it, not unlike any other portraiture situation, as a kind of controlled spontaneity,” he says. The end result is a collection of dynamic, yet almost clinically detailed, images, with each bird’s distinct personality captured in all its glory.

Format
Hardcover, perfect bound. Offset print.
 
Judges’ Comment
A beautifully produced and well-executed object. Perspective and colour used for dramatic effect.
 

F I N A L I S T

Courts 02
Photography by Ward Roberts
ward-roberts.com
 
Publisher: Editions
Editing: Zé Studio
Design: Zé Studio
Printing: Samfine Printing
Pages: 60
Size: 210 x 260
Edition of: 800 Trade Edition, 100 Special Edition
ISBN: 978-0-646-95542-1
RRP: US $40.00 (Trade Edition)
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Photographer
Ward Roberts is a conceptual artist who creates exquisitely composed photographs drawing on themes of loneliness in the modern world.
 

F I N A L I S T

Elemental
Photography by Rohan Hutchinson
rohanhutchinson.com
 
Publisher: Self Published
Editing: Rohan Hutchinson
Design: Rohan Hutchinson
Printing: Yamada Photo Process, Japan
Pages: 32
Size: 182 x 254
Edition of: 700 Standard Edition, 30 Special Edition
RRP: AU $37.00 (Standard Edition)
Buy a copy


Photographer
Hutchison is an Australian based photographic artist whose primary focus is documenting the built landscape. His large-format photographs question the transformation of an architectural space and the human relationship with the environment. His photography projects have led to Artist-in-residencies in Canada and Japan, and research trips to China and Alaska.
 

Book
Elemental was inspired by Japanese architect Go Hasegawa's basic principles of a house and the relationship between architecture and its surrounding environment, especially in extreme weather conditions.The book was created during an artist residency in Alberta, during a harsh Canadian winter where temperatures ranged from +4 to -35 celsius.

The purpose of the book was also to distribute Hutchison's work to a broader audience, both nationally and internationally, so the neat size and softcover format made it affordable to create and to ship. To ensure the physicality of the book complemented the themes explored inside, its format is humble, quiet and tangible,  bound with hand tied Japanese cotton so the spreads lay flat and unobstructed.

Format
Bound using hand tied Japanese cotton. Offset printed pages on Takeo Araveal 90.5kg and 139kg for the cover.
 
Judges’ Comment
Well executed and visually satisfying photographs that provide a brief description of the atmosphere of a place. Beautifully crafted and well designed.

F I N A L I S T

Golden Triangle
Photography by Hannah Nikkelson
goldentriangle
 
Publisher: Self Published
Pages: 66
Edition of: 10
Not for sale

Photographer
Nikkelson is a second year student heading at Photography Studies College, Melbourne, heading into a Major in Photojournalism.

Book
Golden Triangle is a re-exploration of Nikkelson's hometown and its surrounding in country Victoria. The project originated from an urge to travel back home, and as an extension to a previous body of work about stagnant environments.

To me, living in a small country town was the epitome of discomfort. I felt detained and unable to achieve any of my goals. I was adamant not to return but, it was the perfect place to explore themes of boredom and unease, as it was where I experienced these most strongly.

Format
Grey hardcover with gold triangle foil.
 
Judges’ Comment
Sympathetic and well executed, aesthetically pleasing photographs showing the beauty, boredom and decay of a place.

F I N A L I S T

Kinglake
Photography by Jade Byrnes
jadebyrnes.com
 
Publisher: Self Published
Editing: Jade Byrnes
Design: Jade Byrnes
Printing: Press Print, Melbourne
Pages: 130
Size: 185 x 240
Edition of: 20
Not for sale


Photographer
Byrnes (b.1986) is a Melbourne photographer interested in place, and the friction and trauma within a landscape. His photography investigates the relationship humans have with the environment and the impact we have on it and its natural order. Byrnes work often combines his own images with found photographs and document.

He recently graduated from Photography Studies College, Melbourne, with a Bachelor Degree majoring in Documentary.
 

Book
While natural disasters are a part of nature, studies have shown that due to climate change, fires in Victoria, Australia, are occurring more frequently and with increased intensity. Kinglake, 47km north of Melbourne, has a long history of fires including the 2009 Black Saturday bushfire that destroyed 100,000+ hectares, drove hundreds from their homes and claimed many lives.

Kinglake is a photobook dummy about the aftermath of fires, tracing the trauma and their affect on the land and the people who inhabit it.
Byrnes continues to work on Kinglake and plans to self publish the book, that aims to appeal to locals, the environmentally concerned and those interested in Australian photography.

Format
Perfect bound, Cover Knight Digital Smooth White 325gsm, Pages Sovereign Silk 128gsm
 
Judges’ Comment
Successfully combines a subdued approach with a range of different elements (archival images, studio portraits, studio still life, landscape images). That taps into collective consciousness.

Judges
 

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