The EPSON International Pano Awards 2010
Professional and amateur photographers around the world were invited to enter The EPSON
International Photographic Pano Awards to compete for over $13,000 in cash and prizes.
The inaugural 2010 EPSON International Pano Awards is dedicated to the art of panoramic
photography. Advances in digital photography and software such as PTGui and Adobe
Photoshop has resulted in an explosion in the popularity of image stitching, especially in the
panoramic format. Panoramic film photography also remains alive and well.
The inaugural competition was very well supported with 2,740 entries from 945
photographers in 79 countries. The overall winner was Bill Leigh Brewer of California, who
also placed first in The Built Environment category of the Open competition.
Bill’s winning image, Speed of Light, depicts a moving train speeding through the desert and
was captured on a Fuji 6x17cm film camera. Bill says, ‘I wanted the train’s blur within the
seemingly unchanging desert environment. When I picked up the film from the lab, I was not
happy about the hot reflection on the train’s engine….I put the image away, and it was
months before I came across the image and saw it with fresh eyes. I realized that the
reflection made the image more dynamic, more energetic. And I learned something about not
letting my expectations get in the way of a good image.’
© Bill Leigh Brewer – Speed of Light
Bill has been a Los Angeles photographer since 1982. Assignment photography has taken
him from LA to New York as well as Malaysia, Nova Scotia, and Cost Rica, while personal
work has led him to Cuba, Europe, and the American Southwest. His specialty for assignment
work remains cars. He’s shot Acura, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Isuzu, Lexus, Mazda, Nissan,
and Toyota in the studio and on location. www.billybrewer.com
The winner of the Amateur competition was Cynthia Hedgecock, of San Diego, California,
who also placed first in the Nature category. Her image Storm Wave at Sunset was taken
with a Canon digital SLR in Kaua’i, Hawaii, on the NaPali Coast – a wild and volcanically
formed coastline of cliffs and rainforest, approachable by sea or helicopter, or in part by hiking
trails. The wave was formed at high tide, when huge storm waves were pounding the cliffs
then surging back out to meet the oncoming waves. This one exploded into the fan formation,
with backlighting from the sunset through the blue-green water.
© Cynthia Hedgecock – Storm Wave at Sunset
Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, Cynthia is a wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, administrator,
analyst and a photographer. Cynthia says, ‘photography is a meditation, a passion, a focus of
all my senses upon a moment. I am called to use everything inside me to capture an image
and it stretches me. When it comes together I sometimes forget to breathe.’
First place in the Nature category of the Open competition is Roy Samuelsen, an avid
amateur photographer living in Andenes, in northern Norway, 300km above the arctic circle.
Roy’s stunning image of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) was captured by 7 individual 30
second exposures using a Canon 5D Mark II, which have been stitched together. Roy says
the challenge was that the lights are moving all the time and during the 30 seconds it takes to
expose each image, it may have moved a lot. Roy spends much of his spare time carrying
heavy camera equipment, both in the lowlands and high mountains. Photography has been
an interest for most of his life, but became a passion when he bought his first digital SLR in
2007. www.tnett.no/roy/
© Roy Samuelsen – Northern Lights
First place for The Built Environment category in the Amateur competition was awarded to
Bernhard Hartmann from Germany. His image, Mare Aeternum, was shot on the Ligurian
Coast in Italy, near Imperia. Captured on a Fuji GX617 film camera, the image was not an
easy accomplishment. Balancing the tungsten light and the ambient light required a 5am
shoot, which also ensured there were no fishermen walking about in the shot. Minutes after
the image was created, the first early morning swimmer had arrived.
Bernhard lives in upper Bavaria near Lake Starnberg and works as a legal council in Munich.
His passion is photography, both nature and cityscapes. www.bernhardhartmann.de
© Bernhard Hartmann – Mare Aeternum
The competition is proudly supported by Epson Australia, Lonely Planet, Apollo
Motorhome Holidays, 360 Precision, PTGui and Panoramic Images.
The judging panel includes some of the world's top panoramic photographers and industry
professionals, including Christian Fletcher, David Hugh Evans, Nick Rains, Jaspal Jandu,
Peter Eastway, Christian Fleury, Tom Putt, Glenn Beanland, Michelle Novak and Doug Segal.
For enquiries and more information, contact;
David Evans, Curator
info@thepanoawards.com
**Images are available for publication on request.
