Photographer Of The Year: Capturing Aotearoa

Isaac Taylor

The Southern Alps covered in yellowing dust from the Australian bush fires, a whale cruising near Kaikōura, Flatmates hanging out in social isolation, Black Lives Matter Protests on Queen Street. 2020 is littered with events we have all been simultaneously divorced from but a part of. Touchstone moments we all share, even if the impetus was triggered on the other side of the planet. The face masks your mum anxiously sewed together and the guitar riffs you finally got around to learning will one day be relics and treasures of this weird year that we shared in Aotearoa and across the world.

New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year, is the largest and most popular photography exhibition, celebrated the work of the stellar photographers across Aotearoa. Their entries document tumultuous, unsettling and consoling life as we know it—the winning images are chosen from five categories: aerial; wildlife; landscape; photo-story; and society.

“As the largest locally sourced photography exhibition, this is a unique opportunity to have a fresh insight into New Zealand’s environment and society, through the lenses of our most talented photojournalists.” explains New Zealand Geographic publisher James Frankham.