Maitland photographers snap up prizes at state competition

The annual NSW Top Shot competition is open to photographers from across the state, and Maitland Camera Club won eight of the 27 awards, including three first prizes and five minor awards.

Brad Le Brocque won first place in the Nature Prints category for his image Out on a Limb and Debbie Sutton won third place in the same category for her image Too close to the edge.

In the Nature Digital section Peter Ryan received second and third places for images taken in Kenya, Wildebeest with attachment (third) and Mid air confrontation (second).

Julie Rathbone was recognised for her excellence in portraiture and won first place in the Monochrome Digital section for her image Katrina and Piper.

Grahame Smith was awarded first and third place in Colour Digital for his images Vintage Josie Reading (first) and Two Little Bookworms (third), and Allison Hayes won second place in the Monochrome Print section for Devil Woman.

Maitland Camera Club secretary Debbie Sutton said the awards reflect the skills of the club members.

"We were quite happy with that, given it's a state-wide competition," she said.

"We're particularly strong with nature in our club, we've got a number of really serious nature photographers."

The awards, hosted by the NSW Federation of Camera Clubs, were held on Sunday, June 16 in Mosman.

Ms Sutton said the Maitland club has 48 members ranging from serious photographers to beginners, and is quite social with members looking after each other.

"We encourage people to pursue state, national and international competitions if they're at that level, but we've also got a program for developing photographic skills with members who are in more of a novice category," she said.

The first prize winners brought home quite the haul of new gear.

"We were a bit surprised, you know we typically pick up awards here and there but this has got to be a fairly consistent haul for us, so it was quite good," Ms Sutton said.

"Along with the actual trophies and certificates, Grahame Smith won a camera, Brad Le Brocque won a tripod, and Julie Rathbone won an LED light pad that she'll use in the portraiture, so it was a little bit of a haul to be bringing home."

Ms Sutton said the Maitland club is particularly strong at nature photography, with some exclusively shooting locally and some who travel far and wide.

Ms Sutton's own third place image was taken in Antarctica, and Peter Ryan's images were taken in Kenya.

"We've got some people in our club who only shoot locally; our oldest club member is Jimmy Thomson who's 94, he goes out every day and shoots birds and that's his love, the only place he travels to is every now and then he'll head to Queensland," she said.

"And then you've got members like, I shoot locally but then I also travel so it's a little bit of a mixed bag."

Ms Sutton said sometimes nature photography can be confronting, for example Peter Ryan's wildebeest image.

"That's the whole thing about nature, is that you've got to be basically willing to see some pretty terrible things in nature because that's what nature is," she said.