Youth Photography Award

After two extremely successful International Youth events hosted by Canada the committee of Charolais Charbray International elected to host an international youth photography competition whilst international travel was restricted in 2021. The aim was to allow youth members from member countries to take an image to reflect Charolais in their country. Each country ran their internal selection and then the winning images from each country competed for the International award and prize.

Jacqui Bateman, a renowned Australian rural photography from Robe in South Australia appraised the entries for the Australian pre judging. Jacqui is a winner of the World Agricultural Photography Award 2017 for a photograph named “The Naked Gun”. This image shows a naked shearer shearing a real sheep. Initially taken as some skylarking in the woolshed, the image was released in 2016 when PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) declared war on the Australian Agricultural industry. Their ads showed naked models with fake lambs titled WOOL – The Naked Truth, supposedly highlighting the abuse of sheep. Jacqui mocked up her own ad with the Naked Gun shot and the words WOOL – The Naked Gun. This went viral internationally on social media. Jacqui also recently took some stunning images of Light Horseman re-enactments and these are highly recommended to view on her website. Her composition skills shine in these images which are available for purchase. We sincerely thank Jacqui for your judging of our Australian entries and present the top three placegetters here. Laura’s winning entry will represent Australia in the international section of the awards and results will be advised next year.

Placings

1st: Laura Lockhart, Inverell NSW 2nd: Stephanie Hartwig, Jones Gully, Qld 3rd: Sarah Nesbitt, Cooma NSW

1st: Laura Lockhart, Inverell NSW (see above)

Jacqui’s comments: This is definitely my favourite of the four submitted images. From an artistic perspective, the beautiful golden light of early morning/late afternoon provides a lovely soft rim light around the calf, which is clearly the main subject. The use of negative space to the left of the image and the uncluttered background draws the eye right to the calf who is looking right down the barrel of the camera. Well done to the author.

2nd: Stephanie Hartwig, Jones Gully, Qld e Jacqui’s comments: This one is my second choice. While it doesn’t quite have the ‘wow’ factor of the winning image, this is a lovely image. The colours of the white calf, and the light coloured cow contrast beautifully against the grass and the blue sky. The light is soft, with no harsh contrast and is a very pleasing photo. I do find the barbed wire and the powerlines in the background a little distracting, however.

3rd: Sarah Nesbitt, Cooma NSW

Jacqui’s comments: This is my third choice but could potentially have been the winner. The colours are superb, with no harsh light or shadows with a beautiful background – the overall image is lovely and very pleasing to look at. If the author had managed to get the bulls’ attention and photographed them with their heads up and looking at the camera, I think I would possibly have awarded this the top spot. This also would have worked if it was photographed in a landscape format

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Thank you to our judge Jacqui Bateman www.jacquibateman.com.au

Stop Press

The results of the International section of the Youth Photography competition recently concluded. The International judging panel awarded the champion image to Dale Weinbender from Canora, Saskatchewan, Canada. This image is seen to the right.

The Champion video was entered by Aidan Kinahan from County Limerick, Ireland. This video can be seen by scanning this QR code. Congratulations to all entrants in these competitions.

Queensland Celebrates

The Queensland Region officially celebrated fifty years (plus one) of Charolais in Australia in November 2021. The event was well supported with a cross section of old and new members. Hoping that in 2045 we can celebrate 75 years of Charolais in Australia on time!