2019 Head On Photo Awards winners

9 May 2019

Head On Photo Festival recently announced the winners of the 2019 Head On Photo Awards. Offering a prize pool of $60,000 to professional and amateur photographers, the awards are judged anonymously by internationally renowned photographers, picture editors, and curators, across four categories: Portrait, Landscape, Mobile, and Student.

Juliet Taylor took out the headline prize, winning the Head On Portrait Prize for her image, Unlucky.

Exhibitions featuring the 130 finalist and winning works for each category are presented as part of the 2019 Head On Photo Festival at Juniper Hall, The Paddington Reservoir Gardens, NSW Parliament House, and The Festival Hub at Paddington Town Hall until 19 May 2019.

2019 Head On Photo Award Judges

Arianna Rinaldo, Artistic Director, Cortona On The Move   
David Alan Harvey, Photographer, Magnum Photos   
Enrico Stefanelli, Festival Director, PhotoLux   
Genevieve Fussell, Senior Photo Editor, The New Yorker   
Grzegorz Kosmala, Founder, BLOW UP PRESS     
Lucy Pike, Photography Director, WeTransfer   
Lydia Dorner, Assistant Curator, Musée de l’Elysée   
Mags King, Managing Photo Editor, Fairfax Media   
Michael Cook, Photographer     
Michele Aboud, Photographer     
Moshe Rosenzveig OAM, Creative Director, Head On Photo Festival 

2019 Head On Photo Award Winners

The Portrait Prize

Winner: Unlucky by Australian photographer Juliet Taylor.

© Juliet Taylor. 1st Place - Portrait Prize. Unlcky. Pioneertown sits in the basin of the San Bernardino High Desert, where is is so black at night you can barely see a foot in front of you. Sheryl sits in her taxi outside Pappy & Harriet's bar, waiting for her husband to finish drinking so she can take him home.
© Juliet Taylor. 1st Place - Portrait Prize. Unlcky. Pioneertown sits in the basin of the San Bernardino High Desert, where is is so black at night you can barely see a foot in front of you. Sheryl sits in her taxi outside Pappy & Harriet's bar, waiting for her husband to finish drinking so she can take him home.

Second Prize: Apparently André by Australian photographer Chris Bekos.

© Chris Bekos. 2nd Place - Portrait Prize. Apparently André. With the sun setting, playful André lies on the sand; the ocean seems to wash away my little boy to reveal the young man he will become.
© Chris Bekos. 2nd Place - Portrait Prize. Apparently André. "With the sun setting, playful André lies on the sand;
the ocean seems to wash away my little boy to reveal the young man he will become."

Third Prize: You are so self-controlling by American photographer Nadide Goksun.

© Nadide Goksun. 3rd Place - Portrait Prize. You are so self-controlling. My mother-in-law, reading a newspaper in the garden.
© Nadide Goksun. 3rd Place - Portrait Prize. You are so self-controlling.
"My mother-in-law, reading a newspaper in the garden."

Finalists

Alessandro Grassani, Camillo Pasquarelli, Chris Bekos, Chris Hoare, Darren Leigh Roberts, Eduard Korniyenko, Elizabeth Looker, Ella Dreyfus, Ella Mack, Eva Collins, Grant Smith, Itamar Freed, Javier Arcenillas, Jessica Opgård, Joe Ruckli, Joel Pratley, Jonathan May, Jouk Oosterhof, Juliet Taylor, Justin Tan-Torres, Kati Leinonen, Kelly Champion, Lauren Horwood, Loulou d'Aki, Max Mason-Hubers, Monica Denevan, Nadide Goksun, Natalie Grono, Nathan Stolz, Nick Bowers, Olga Stefatou, Owen Harvey, Peter Solness, Rafael Heygster, Rebecca Murray, Simon Harsent, Stewart Leishman, Sylvia Konior, Tristan Still, Vivian Keulards

The Head On Portrait Prize 2019 is showing until 19 May (daily) at the Festival Hub, Paddington Town Hall, 249 Oxford St, Paddington, NSW. 

The Landscape Prize

Winner: Blackpool, UK byAustralian photographer Bruce Haswell.

© Bruce Haswell. 1st Place - Landscape Prize. Blackpool, UK, 2016.
© Bruce Haswell. 1st Place - Landscape Prize. Blackpool, UK, 2016.

Second Prize: Arizona diptych by Israeli photographer Itamar Freed.

© Itamar Freed. 2nd Place - Landscape Prize. Arizona diptych. This photograph is of a diorama: a model of the Arizona permanently installed in New York. The diorama's original intent was to inspire environmentalism and visually preserve a unique landscape. I reinterpreted the scene; three-dimensional taxidermied birds and flora, and a two-dimensional painted mural in the background to produce a picture-perfect landscape, alerting the viewer to the disappearance of natural landscape and the dissolving of two seemingly separate categories - nature and culture.
© Itamar Freed. 2nd Place - Landscape Prize. Arizona diptych. "This photograph is of a diorama: a model of the Arizona permanently installed in New York. The diorama's original intent was to inspire environmentalism and visually preserve a unique landscape. I reinterpreted the scene; three-dimensional taxidermied birds and flora, and a two-dimensional painted mural in the background to produce a picture-perfect landscape, alerting the viewer to the disappearance of natural landscape and the dissolving of two seemingly separate categories - nature and culture."

Third Prize: When the dust settles by Costa Rican photographer Joel Jimenez.

© Joel Jimenez. 3rd Place - Landscape Prize. There is a symbiotic relationship between humanity and the landscape, continually evolving, changing and influencing one another. These traces of human intervention deal with themes of longingness, solitude, and nostalgia in contemporary society, through ambiguous and elusive imagery that respond to the personal experience of the land we inhabit.
© Joel Jimenez. 3rd Place - Landscape Prize. There is a symbiotic relationship between humanity and the landscape, continually evolving, changing and influencing one another. These traces of human intervention deal with themes of longingness, solitude, and nostalgia in contemporary society, through ambiguous and elusive imagery that respond to the personal experience of the land we inhabit.

Included in the Landscape Prize is the New South Wales Landscape Prize awarded in 2019 to Australian photographer Chris Round for his work, The Big Trout, Adaminaby, NSW. The image depicts The Big Trout in the trout fishing village of Adaminaby, weighing 2.5 tonnes and holding the illustrious title of the world's biggest trout.

The image forms part of a series about exploring the Snowy Hydro Scheme and surrounding region in NSW, explores the balance between nature and man's intervention - vast structures amongst epic landscapes, re-shaped waterways and newly created ones. Also, the exploration of life in the region - skiing in winter; walking, boating and fishing in warmer months.

© Chris Round. NSW Landscape Prize. The Big Trout, Adaminaby, NSW. The Big Trout in the trout fishing village of Adaminaby weighs 2.5 tonnes and holds the illustrious title of the world's biggest trout. Seemingly leaping into the air to swallow a fortuitously placed star trail, the fish is given a new lease of life. This image, part of an ongoing project about the Snowy Hydro Scheme and surrounding region in NSW, explores the balance between nature and man's intervention - vast structures amongst epic landscapes, re-shaped waterways and newly created ones. Also the exploration of life in the region - skiing in winter; walking, boating and fishing in warmer months.
© Chris Round. NSW Landscape Prize. The Big Trout, Adaminaby, NSW. The Big Trout in the trout fishing village of Adaminaby weighs 2.5 tonnes and holds the illustrious title of the world's biggest trout. Seemingly leaping into the air to swallow a fortuitously placed star trail, the fish is given a new lease of life. This image, part of an ongoing project about the Snowy Hydro Scheme and surrounding region in NSW, explores the balance between nature and man's intervention - vast structures amongst epic landscapes, re-shaped waterways and newly created ones. Also the exploration of life in the region - skiing in winter; walking, boating and fishing in warmer months.

Finalists

Abir Sultan, Allan Coker, Antonio Privitera, Ari Rex, Bradley Shaw, Brendon Kahn, Brett Leigh Dicks, Bruce Haswell, Catherine Barcan, Cathy Carter, Chris Budgeon, Chris Round, Christian Werner, Craig Proudford, Emma Perry, Fyodor Savintsev, George Byrne, George Nobechi, Itamar Freed, J Forsyth, James Ross, Joel Jimenez, Judy Thistleton-Martin, Kristyna Erbenova, Marcin Giba, Margeaux Walter, Max Mason-Hubers, Mikhail Potapov , Nicholas Moir, Nikki Easterbrook, Oli Sansom, Peter Williams, Robert McRobbie, Rodd Owen, Ross Duncan, Thomas Gloyn, Tim Georgeson, Tobias Titz, Ty Stedman, Wojciech Kruczynski

The Head On Landscape Prize 2019 is showing until 30 May (Mon-Fri) at the Parliament of NSW, 6 Macquarie St, Sydney.

The Mobile Prize

Winner: Fruit Crush by Australian photographer Mel Meek.

© Mel Meek. 1st Place - Mobile Prize. Fruit crush. On a hot day the whole family was at the beach. My niece had been swimming all day and it was time for a rest. I looked up and took a photo that was not so typical of our family photos, no silly faces or asking them to pose. I found my self asking what is she thinking about? It was the first time I saw her not as a child but as becoming so grown up.
© Mel Meek. 1st Place - Mobile Prize. Fruit crush. "On a hot day the whole family was at the beach. My niece had been swimming all day and it was time for a rest. I looked up and took a photo that was not so typical of our family photos, no silly faces or asking them to pose. I found my self asking what is she thinking about?
It was the first time I saw her not as a child but as becoming so grown up."

Second Prize: Cloud surfing byAustralian photographer Lulu Pinkus.

© Lulu Pinkus. 2nd Place - Mobile Prize. Cloud surfing.
© Lulu Pinkus. 2nd Place - Mobile Prize. Cloud surfing.

Third Prize: Weed on ice by Australian photographer Jennie Groom.

© Jennie Groom. 3rd Place - Mobile Prize. This photo is all about nature, textures and ice, the real stuff.
© Jennie Groom. 3rd Place - Mobile Prize. "This photo is all about nature, textures and ice, the real stuff."

The Student Prize (open to school years K-12)

Winner: LAST GOODBYE by Australian photographer Aimee Sluga.

© Aimee Sluga. 1st Place - Student Prize. THE LAST GOODBYE. My grandma was brought into hospital with severe pressure sores, dementia, pneumonia and weighing only 45 kg. She is completely reliant on nurses and no longer knows who I am. Although she was smiling, you could tell it she was in pain and it wasn't a genuine smile, as though she was just copying my smile. I was shocked to see her this way and wanted to capture the sadness in a photo before she passed away.
© Aimee Sluga. 1st Place - Student Prize. THE LAST GOODBYE. "My grandma was brought into hospital with severe pressure sores, dementia, pneumonia and weighing only 45 kg. She is completely reliant on nurses and no longer knows who I am. Although she was smiling, you could tell it she was in pain and it wasn't a genuine smile, as though she was just copying my smile. I was shocked to see her this way and wanted to capture
the sadness in a photo before she passed away."

Second Prize: Spilt Milk by Australian photographer James Dryden.

© James Dryden. 2nd Place - Student Prize. Spilt milk. A portrait focusing on forced advertising of commercial products.
© James Dryden. 2nd Place - Student Prize. Spilt milk. A portrait focusing on forced advertising
of commercial products.

Third Prize: Change by Australian photographer Sonia Joudo.

© Sonia Joudo. Change. Is it her hair, her smile, her laugh? The clothes she wears, the shoes. Is it because she's not the same? Nothing is; everything moves, everything changes, fashion, hairstyles, and people. Why is it like that, why do you think that? This image describes change and the effects of it, the different tones of lighting portray each individual to be their unique selves.
© Sonia Joudo. Change. Is it her hair, her smile, her laugh? The clothes she wears, the shoes. Is it because she's not the same? Nothing is; everything moves, everything changes, fashion, hairstyles, and people. Why is it like that, why do you think that? This image describes change and the effects of it, the different tones of
lighting portray each individual to be their unique selves.

Finalists

Aimee Sluga, Chloe Stocks, Chris Siu, Finley Starr, Jack Marr, Jack Sheill, Jade Melvey-Lester, Jade Reed, James Dryden, Joel Parkinson, Joshua Di Mattina-Beven, Lachlan Starr, Lachlan Thompson, Lewis Dobbin, Linda Peng, Mason Wang, Maya Armstrong, Oscar Lodge, Reuben Wilder, Sonia Joudo

The Head On Student Prize 2019 is showing until 19 May (daily) at Paddington Reservoir Gardens 251-255 Oxford St, Paddington, NSW. 

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