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Merit. I am unsure where the church is actually located but my wife’s aunty and uncle lived near Lowburn for many years until the construction of the Clyde Dam and the creation of lake Dunstan which took much of their farm land. I love the way you have created this image showing the white face of the frontage which contrasts with the dark background. Maybe the image could be more dominant in the frame to create a stronger emotional connection with the viewer?

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Merit. I really applaud your innovation with this image. It feels like a very wide angle lens has been used to encompass the “cockpit” of a car. The one distracting factor for me is the dull grey tones and I wondered if these tones could be brightened a little using a shadows slider. For me, if this this dullness in the greys were adjusted to open the tones up, I would have rated the image more highly.

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Honours. I enjoyed the way you have used intentional camera movement to create an impressionist image. Nice hues, nice lighting and lovely hues. Nice image.

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Honours. For me this is a truly beautiful image that shows a time when birds preen their feathers. Nice light, nice detail, nicely presented.

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Merit. I ejoyed the impressionist approach with a slight blur to make the hues stand out as the subject matter. I also liked the use of diagonal lines which gave me a feeling of instability and imply a feeling of motion throughout the image. Overall a nice image, although I found I could get a strong connection to the story.I felt that if the image had more contrast I would have had a stronger connection

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Merit. You have portrayed an interesting controversial topic. The message of the marchers seems clear.. For me the image is a little underexposed where the marchers are . I would have felt a stronger connection had you adopted a different perspective to show how many people were in the march. The bright tones on the left third of the image kept pulling my eye from the marchers. Remember that bright tones attract the viewer’s eye and these brighter tones could have been burned down with a brusch tool or a neutral gradient filter. Overall, I thought this was a well presented story.

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Honours. For me the image gave me a strong sense of serenity and peacefulness. I liked how you how you have used the depth of field to leave the waterfall pool and the waterfall itself in blur which has in my opintion really helped reduce the impact of the highlights. Nicely done. I also enjoyed the shutter speed selected which provides, in my view a gentleness in the water flow. While I found the overhanging vines a little distracting, in my opinion these vines were not a significant distraction from the quality of the story.

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Honours. A beautifully presented portrait of the karearea. I really am attracted to this image because of the clarity of the eyes which reveals the predatory nature of this bird.

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Achieved. I struggled to see a connection between the title and the image. Remember the story needs to come from the elements within the frame. The title suggests something outside the frame is important and I couldn’t see anything that gave me an idea of what was dropped. Visiually I enjoyed the sharpness around the beak and eyes and the light on the feathers on the right side of the image. Overall, I noticed the depth of filed seemed to leave part of the breast and most of the foreground out of the sharpness zone. This distracted from my enjoyment of the composition significantly. I liked the soft hues on the bird and fourn that to be appealing to me.

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Merit. This image brings back many memories of fishing on this river both above the gorge and below the gorge. I like the way you have used the the walkway as a line to lead me through the image and along the river. While I am unsure of the specific location it reminds me of the area around Garston where the river is nicely wending its way from the hills into the plains. I also liked your choice of shutter speed as it allows the movement in the clouds to be revealed. I felt the greens on the sides of the river could have benefited from a little brightening as in my opinion this would have given me a stronger connection to the scene. Overall the scene is a pleasant landscape showing the interface of a rural township with the mighty Mataura.

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Merit. As an avid watcher of Hyundai Country Calendar, I love these agrarian scenes which show part of the basis of our economy.I particularly enjoyed the contrast between the harbest of grain and the hay making that seems to sit in the foreground. I also liked the way you have included the dust that is created during the harvest process. The one thing I found a little distracting was there didn’t seem to be much space for the harvester to move into compared to the dust trail. For me that might have allowed me to connect more with the size of the grain field being harvested.

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Merit. In my view, you have cacputred the main elements of the image well, visually sharp and nice light on the birds. I felt a bit disoriented to see the reflections of the two birds cut off by the framing. Without the complete reflections the image felt a little out of balance to me. I also thought that the image seemed a little underexposed or could benefit from an increase in contrast. Overall an interesting portrayal of the two pūkeko.

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Achieved. Being a fisherman in my younger days, I enjoyed the sight of a trout in what seems to be a natural environment. The image shows me how trout like the quitter waters to rest and to move in out of the feed line. For me the dark shadow on the closest side of the trout prevents me seeing the textures of the fish. Maybe if you h ad used a brush tool to brighten this shadowy area, I would have felt a stronger connection to your story.