First Award!

This weekend was an exciting one for McCall Wildlife Photography!

On Saturday, I attended the Queensland’s Natural Wonders Photography Awards hosted by the Queensland Conservation Council. Celebrating their 50th anniversary, QCC sponsored the photo contest to “recognise and celebrate the power of images – and the importance of photographers – in protecting our natural world.” The three photo categories, Land and Sea Scapes, Native Plants and Wildlife, and People and Nature, were judged by the Director of QCC, Louise Matthiesson, Kerry Trapnell, a documentary photographer and contributor to National Geographic, and Steve Parish, one of Australia’s best-known professional wildlife photographers. If you saw a photo of an Australian animal in a book, magazine, postcard, or calendar in the ’80s and ’90s, chances are the photo was taken by Steve Parish.

My photo of a Peron’s or Emerald-spotted Tree Frog (Litoria peronii) was selected by the judges as Runner-up in the Native Plants and Wildlife category! The winning photos from each of the categories as well as the People’s Choice were printed on canvas and displayed at the awards night. It was amazing to see my photo printed at 20×20″ and presented in that way.

My photo was also chosen as one of four to be sold in a live auction at the event. It sold to a very generous gentleman for $300, all of which was donated to the QCC. Though I didn’t receive any of the money from the sale, I was happy to contribute to a worthy cause. The Queensland Conservation Council is a non-profit, non-government conservation group with a mission to “protect the environment, wildlife and landscapes, conserve our precious natural resources and make Queensland businesses and communities more sustainable.”

It was a great experience and I didn’t leave completely empty-handed. I met some really interesting people, including Steve Parish, got some much-appreciated exposure for my photography, and a $200 voucher to a local camera shop in Brisbane. I will be using the voucher to gear up for my upcoming trip to 🇭🇳Honduras 🇭🇳…more on that soon.