Pro Photography W.A. is a newly established organisation that supports and services professional photographers, across all genres, within Western Australia. Over the past few years, there has been a void of photography associations in Australia, therefore the development of Pro Photography W.A. was celebrated by many professional photographers living in Western Australia.
To pay homage to Abraham “Izzy” Orloff (one of W.A.’s most prolific professional photographers throughout 1920-1940’s), Pro Photography W.A. announced the inaugural Orloff Awards this year. An award program were entrants can receive constructive critique, gain recognition and be rewarded for outstanding imagery.
I firmly believe that art is a highly subjective form of expression and this led me to enter my top 4 awarded images from an alternate international award program. I wanted to captivate a wider audience and discover if my images also resonated with local judges and fellow photographers.
The format of The Orloff Awards, is unlike other awards I have entered in the past, as The Orloff Awards has 2 stages of judging. The first stage is the judging of all digital entries. Once the scoring is complete, the entrants who achieve finalist level are asked to present their images as matted prints, for the second stage of judging. My 4 images were awarded as finalist images, therefore I was invited to attend the Award Night and Exhibition opening at The State Library of Western Australia in September.
The event was extremely well organised and very enjoyable. It was so inspiring to view all of the finalists printed images in the portrait category and the many other categories, including: landscape, travel, pet, wedding, commercial and student. The Orloff Awards are sponsored by Ilford and the award sponsors included: Fitzgerald Photo Lab, Jorgensen Albums, Camera Electronic, Team Digital, Nikon, Sony, Epson, North Metropolitan Tafe and Success Legal.
Even though I didn’t win the Portrait Category, I am so thankful that I made the decision to enter this incredibly supportive, local awards program. With newly learnt skills and many new concepts in mind, I am looking forward to creating fresh, emotive images in my portrait studio. My goal is to enter the 2024 round of The Orloff Awards and hopefully make it through to the finalist stage again. It feels incredibly special to have my images mounted and printed, as part of this current exhibition.
The 2023 Orloff Awards Exhibition is open until 4th December 2023 at The State Library of Western Australia (Levels 2 + 3). If you are in Perth, I highly recommend viewing this stunning collection of photographs.
Christine
x