19 June 2020

Local photographer, Sam Nerrie takes out awards

| My Gungahlin
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Local photographer, Sam Nerrie recently received awards for photographs she had captured at Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary.

These awards were from the International Photography Awards and Black and White Spider Awards. The International Photography Awards and the Black and White Spider Awardsconducts annual competitions for professional, non-professional, and student photographers on a global scale. The judges of both these competitions are esteemed professionals in the field: curators, photo editors, gallery owners, art directors, and other luminaries from the international photography community.

This photo that Sam titled ‘A Good Catch’ received an honourable mention in the micro special category in the International Photography Awards competition. This photo of a Harpobittacus tillyardi was taken at Mulligans Flat Woodlands Sanctuary near Canberra, ACT. This Hanging-fly has just grabbed its prey with its prehensile foot. Hanging-flies can’t walk with these opposing prehensile subsegments on their hind legs. They suck out the insides of their prey after injecting it with saliva leaving the exoskeleton after they have finished.

This photo Sam titled ‘Trees in the mist’ also received an honourable mention in the trees category in the International Photography Awards competition and a received a nominee award in the Black and White Spider Awards. Sam said of this picture “Misty and foggy mornings are a common event in and around Canberra, Australia. They make the harsh landscape seem soft and ethereal.”.

This photo titled ‘A portrait of a Teenager’ a photograph of her daughter was awarded an honourable mention in the Black and White Spider Awards.

The deep passion that Sam has for the Australian bush has been her inspiration for her nature and landscape photography. “Being surrounded by the bush or ocean gives me inspiration.” Sam said. “I spend quite a good deal of my time wandering through the bush with my camera. Favourite place for wandering in the A.C.T. is Mulligans Flat Woodlands Sanctuary.

I constantly seek to push the boundaries of what I and the camera can do although it isn’t actually about the technical, it is more about being creative and understanding the environment around you. I love that these photos (Trees in the Mist and A Good Catch) were taken within 20 metres of each other albeit in different seasons. And they are totally different views on the world. Trees in the Mist represents Canberra’s fresh and frosty winter mornings that cling to the trees in a ghost-like way and the Hanging Fly in A Good Catch represents the incredibly decadent spring growth we had last year when the place was clicking and humming with insects of all kinds. This year unfortunately the lack of rain has kept the growth of grasses at bay and the insects and birds are harder to find.”

Sam Nerrie states,” I used the eerie background of the Trees in the Mist to represent the loneliness and feeling of isolation of teenage hood. The portrait A Portrait of a Teenager is of my teenage daughter who has been through some issues as most teenagers have been. I wanted a photo to symbolize the journey through the stages of growing up; the dark times and the eerie times when nothing seems normal and the teenager feels lost.”

“I am chuffed as it is a great honour to be awarded two honourable mentions from the International Photography Awards as well as from the Black and White Spider Awards as their judges are industry leaders and you are up against the world’s best.”

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