Epson congratulates 2012 AIPP - Epson State Photographers of the Year

May 2012

Epson Australia is proud to be the principal sponsor of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (AIPP) state awards which recognise and reward the work of the AIPP’s more than 3000 members across Australia.

The AIPP Epson State Photographer of the Year attracts photographers from around Australia looking to have their work reviewed by a professional panel of judges and compared with their industry peers. Since its inception, the awards have been the launch pad for the successful careers of acclaimed Australian photographers Yervant, Jerry Ghionis, Peter Coulson, Nick Ghionis and Ryan Schembri here in Australia and abroad.

Neil Cash (Vic), Jonas Peterson (QLD), Jessica Ross (NSW) and Kelly Tunney (ACT) are all first time winners of the 2012 AIPP Epson Photographer of the Year in their respective States.

“In 2012 a remarkable 2458 prints were submitted by 404 photographers for judging across QLD, NSW, the ACT and VIC with 76.8% of submissions recorded as first time entries. The quality of the work presented by Jonas, Neil, Jessica and Kelly as first time winners is evidence of the health of the photographic industry and the wealth of emerging talent in Australia,” said Epson’s Business Unit Manager Craig Heckenberg.

“Epson has a long standing association with professional photographers in Australia and is proud to be associated with the AIPP for the Epson State Photographer Awards and wishes each winner the best of luck for the national awards in Melbourne.”

AIPP Epson NSW Photographer of the Year - Jessica Ross

NSW winner Jessica Ross has been working as a photographer for about 12 years and runs Jessica Ross Photography in Warriewood on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. She specialises in weddings and portraits.
On her way to winning several top awards, Jessica submitted four works including a three picture series of a girl cheekily stealing an ice block from her sister who then bursts into tears.

Jessica’s work was first recognised when she was awarded the AIPP NSW Student Photographer of the Year in 2002 and she has entered her work every year for the last 10 years. She said the biggest challenge is making people feel comfortable in front of the lens, but once they were relaxed, she enjoys bringing out people’s personalities and telling their story through a sequence of images.

“I just love all the moments that you can capture at a wedding although I still always get nervous as it’s such an important day for the couple involved and their families. The happiness associated with a wedding is what allows me to be creative in my capture and then interpretation of those unique and one-off expressions from a single moment. I am thrilled to have my work acknowledged by my peers in NSW and look forward to the national awards.”

AIPP Epson Victorian Photographer of the Year - Neil Cash

Victorian winner Neil Cash submitted a series of images from his latest fine art collection “The Shape of Music” which has been 15 months in the making.

A talented musician himself, Neil tapped into his musical experience and passion for art to design this latest collection which will go on exhibition in Sydney in May at Head On Photo Festival before heading back to Melbourne for the national AIPP judging.

By day Neil is the Creative Director for Verve Portraits, a business with studios in Melbourne and Sydney that specialise in portrait photography. Verve recently converted its print output over to the Epson Stylus Pro large format printer range with Neil’s winning entry printed on an Epson Stylus Pro 9890.

AIPP Epson Queensland Photographer of the Year - Jonas Peterson

Queensland Photographer of the Year Jonas Peterson was in Sydney shooting a wedding when he found out that he had won the wedding category of the QLD awards and had also taken out the highest scoring print and overall Photographer of the Year for 2012.

Relatively new to the profession, Jonas shot his first wedding in January 2009 and now spends half his year travelling overseas on wedding assignments. His blog has some 250,000 followers and he credits his success to his commitment to getting his work published. His winning prints were completed on an Epson Stylus® Pro 4900 which he acquired earlier this year.

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