She may be new to the photography scene, but Samantha Midgley captured the hearts of voters at this year’s Lakeland photography competition. Photo: Supplied.
A first-time entrant of the annual Lakeland photography competition has snapped up the hearts of community members, winning the Opens (18+ years) People’s Choice Award from more than 100 entries.
Despite placing third with the judges in the nature category, Samantha Midgley’s “Grub’s Up” was the most popular photo with the 82 people who cast their votes.
“I was actually pretty surprised, because the judges put it third, and I didn’t even think about People’s Choice,” she said.
Ms Midgley said photography was a fairly newfound hobby after purchasing a camera at the beginning of the year.
“It’s different, because I normally do hunting and fishing and stuff, but it’s a new way of being in the outdoors and seeing stuff you wouldn’t normally really see,” she said.
Ms Midgley was taking a brand new lens out for a spin when she captured her winning photo of blue-faced honeyeaters during feeding.
“I reckon it might’ve been a bit of a fluke, because I’m only new to photography, and you don’t see [a feeding] every day,” she laughed.
“I heard them in the tree and I had a look, and I was just like ‘oh my god, this is the best thing you could capture for your first photo with the new lens.’”
Lakeland Progress Association spokesperson and event organiser Stefanie O’Kane said it had been a tight race again this year, with hundreds of entries from a variety of age groups and experience levels.
“We had some beautiful entries, and we had a lot more creative entries this year,” she said.
“It’s really quite difficult for the judges to choose every year, because they’re just such great entries and there’s quite a few in the different categories.
“Sometimes, the People’s Choice result is different, and I guess it’s just down to how you personally perceive the photos.”
Ms O’Kane said Ms Midgley’s fresh take on nature might have gotten her the votes of the people.
“Everyone that comes to see the photos, we give them a little card, and they choose their favourite Juniors, Teens, and Opens photo,” Ms O’Kane explained.
“The Opens includes all of the categories, so that would have been over 100 photos that people had to choose from.
“It was good to see her photo of a mother bird feeding her chick; it was cute, it was different, and we hadn’t really seen it before.”
Samantha Midgley says she was in the right place at the right time when she captured this extraordinary photo. Photo: Samantha Midgley.
