Page 60 - Australian Photography Feb 2022
P. 60
WINNER
MOBILE
MAN IN THE DESERT WITH A FALCON
TONY LAW
500px.com/tonylaw
Sydney photographer Tony Law’s Mobile Category winning photo was taken in the desert near Sharjah, UAE at the end of 2019.
“I had always wanted to take photos of the Arabian desert landscape, so I contacted two other photographer friends to join me on a shoot,” he explained.
“The original plan was to take a desert camel ride, but instead we took a falconer with his bird to the red desert dunes. This is a he- roic portrait taken with a Huawei mobile phone during outdoor shooting. Nowadays, mobile photography is becoming increasingly power- ful, with the potential to shoot incredible pho- tos with a small and accessible device.” For our judges, the perfect lighting and intriguing subject matter made it a clear winner this year.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
TIM LEVY: I hate to use the French phrase ‘je ne sais quoi’ (or in Kentucky speak, ‘special sauce’) but this, and many great photos have it. A desert land- scape sprawling out into infinity, a warm light wrapping around the subject, the strange comedy of the bird, the pensive look on the person’s face. It all seems part of a larger story.
PRIZE: $1000 cash; plus a Nokia XR20 valued at $879, and a Nokia X20 smart- phone valued at $599.
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