The Finalists of the Sunstudios Emerging Photographer Award 2018

Sunstudios will this week announce the winner of its tenth annual Emerging Photographer award. With an aim to proper the best of Australia’s younger photographers, the award is a launching board for future photographic success.

To showcase the work of the finalists, an exhibition at their studios in Alexandria will present the works of the twelve selected photographers. The photographers will represent the four categories of the prize, advertising/product, fashion/beauty, lifestyle and news/reportage. Judges are also grouped into these categories and include luminaries such as Niccola Phillips, head of art at M&C Saatch, Jane Robinson, director of Artboxblack and documentary photographer Matthew Abbott.

Last year’s winner, Annette Ruzicka, won for her autobiographic series Eggshells, and this year photographers are shooting along the theme “shoot your dream commission”. While this will no doubt vary due to each photographer’s personal aesthetic and the demands of each category, such an aspirational theme will undoubtedly produce incredible images.

In the category Advertising/Product, Charlotte Koch is joined by James Thorn and Pier Carthew, while in Fashion/Beauty photographers include Carlo Fernandes, Mark Morgan and Romon Yang. For the lifestyle category, Bonnie Coumbe, Daniel Mulheran and Jeremy Shaw are the entrants. Daniel Njegich, Joel Pratley and Sean Paris are the trio selected in the News/Reportage category.

Crossing between film and digital and traversing a wide variety of subjects across all categories, the finalists selected are testament to the ongoing innovation and experimentation that the field of visual media is encouraging. Selected photographers range from those who focus on the human form and the even entrancing vision of the face to those who avoid this altogether, letting landscapes, objects and vistas engage the viewer. As we live in a world more and more defined by images, this selection of photographers argues for a considered, yet spontaneous, approach to seeing.