Photographer of the Year 2023 — Winners
When you take a photo, why do you take a photo? The winning photographs of the 2023 Photographer of the Year can answer that central question.
Jaxon Czepanski and his best friend Reef wandering through a bush stream in the upper-North Island.
“I think that’s influenced me a lot,” Vidthia says. “I’m just proud of being a woman. And being assured of myself—I never had anyone tell me that that’s wrong.”
Ceejay Attenborough at her first high school ball in Ngāruawāhia.
Echo Webster and Becki Moss (the photographer) taken at home Tāmaki Makaurau.
A green sea turtle blows bubbles from her mouth, surprising Charlotte Piho, who had never seen anything like it before. Piho reckons the turtle, nicknamed Aria, is simply playing.
Glacier guide Cam Boyle climbs out of a 40-metre-deep crevasse on a trip up the Fox Glacier icefall. Spotting the shot, Will Turner quickly built an ice anchor and rappelled into the crevasse to capture Boyle’a ascent.
A New Zealand dotterel, or tūturiwhatu, dries its feathers after bathing in the freshwater stream that flows into the surf at Te Henga. Simon Runting is part of a local group that watches over these endangered birds in their nesting season.
Fascinated by the form of a giant sculpture titled Jacob’s Ladder by Gerry Judah, Erin Jacob took this photograph of its interior, looking upwards. It’s one of many artworks at Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park north of Auckland.
A network of roads crisscrosses the salt ponds at Lake Grassmere, allowing for the efficient harvest of salt and creating an intricate maze from above. The lake is a natural lagoon, separated from Cook Strait by a single row of sand dunes.
Sophie Hansen noticed a pied shag huddled on the beach at Mount Maunganui, and found the bird was tangled in discarded fishing line. It had swallowed a hook, another was stuck in its wing, and a sinker hung from one foot. Hansen and her family cut it free.
A green sea turtle blows bubbles from her mouth, surprising Charlotte Piho, who had never seen anything like it before. Piho reckons the turtle, nicknamed Aria, is simply playing.
A slipper lobster in its larval stage rides a mauve stinger jellyfish–free protection from predators as well as a free ride. Behind the pair, a school of trevally feeds. Photographer Irene Middleton specialises in finding unusual species in New Zealand’s northeastern waters.
Two kororā/little blue penguins preen each other after coming ashore after dark. Edin Whitehead was on a research trip to monitor the health of seabirds; to capture this image, she used the light of a colleague’s head-torch.
Members of the Samoan community gather at Tahunanui to show support for their team in the Rugby League World Cup final in November 2022. They were disappointed–the match was won by Australia.
A young mourner rests a hand on the coffin of 18-year-old Ariki Rigby, who was killed in September 2023 during a holiday to Hawke’s Bay. Rigby’s murder remains unsolved.
On Thursday, February 16, as Cyclone Gabrielle was finally departing, a group of young people in Wairoa went to clean out their kura. Access to the town was cut off, and the Wairoa River had burst its banks, flooding a portion of the town.
Highly Commended—Panasonic Lumix Society
Shona McGregor
Angus the Countdown Cat has a firm following of friends after spending the last eight years hanging around outside the local supermarket. As usual, he’s oblivious to the hustle and bustle around him.
Milo and Otis have known each other since they were just weeks old. Photographer Jessie Casson commemorated their transition to teenagerhood with a picture that captured both childhood play and the journey before them.
Photographer Alden Williams dropped in on poet Brian Turner while shooting a story about the Manuherekia River, not far from Turner’s home.
Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom president Sonny Fatupaito attends an inter-gang hui led by Hikoi Nation, where members and invitees shared their childhood experiences of state care with the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Winner—Britomart Photostory
David White
After heavy rain in February and March, some Aucklanders took to kayaks while residents of Karekare, on the city’s west coast, escaped their homes moments before floodwaters hit. On the east coast of the North Island, forestry slash covered the Wairoa River mouth and silt buried a cemetery in Tolaga Bay.
For a project documenting the lives of New Zealand’s teenagers, Becki Moss joined the Czepanski family: “Late nights with them playing boardgames, family dinners, swims in the bush, gaming on the computer, homeschooling and so much more.”
Wandering the 125th annual Golden Bay A&P Show and the 128th annual Nelson A&P Show, Braden Fastier looked for quirky moments and interesting people to capture.
Shooting portraits in a hotel overlooking Lake Wakatipu, Alex McVinnie Maidment noticed dramatic clouds rolling in over the water. “I wanted to avoid having any of the landscape surrounding the lake visible as I didn't want the location to be immediately obvious,” he says.
Stirling Falls on a moody day looks a bit like a monster emerging from the rock of Milford Sound, reckons Danny Rood. It’s always a challenging natural feature to photograph: “You only have so many seconds before the lens is awash with Milford mist,” says Rood.
The giant sand dunes near Northland’s Ninety Mile Beach are a popular spot for sandboarding, but Jay Drew opted to explore with camera in hand. “I was trying to get away from the rule of thirds that is the traditional approach to a landscape image,” says Drew.
Noticing a crop burnoff in progress, Roger Wandless stopped to compose a picture: fire, crop sprayer, birds escaping the flames, and mountains appearing through the smoke.
Forestry slash washing downstream from Cyclone Gabrielle finally came to a stop when it crashed into a farming crop. George Heard was reporting for the New Zealand Herald on towns cut off by landslips and damaged bridges north of Gisborne.
Fascinated by the form of a giant sculpture titled Jacob’s Ladder by Gerry Judah, Erin Jacob took this photograph of its interior, looking upwards. It’s one of many artworks at Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park north of Auckland.
From the Skyline Walkway, Brock Kilburn had a clear view over the Wellington suburbs of Ngaio and Wilton, each home representing a different life and story.
Highliner Gavin Alexander Lewis soaks up the views after a fresh spring snowfall on the Remarkables–while photographer Will Nelson, crouched in the snow on a small ledge at 1400 metres, captures the shot.
A network of roads crisscrosses the salt ponds at Lake Grassmere, allowing for the efficient harvest of salt and creating an intricate maze from above. The lake is a natural lagoon, separated from Cook Strait by a single row of sand dunes.
Paddlers on the Kaituna River travel in single file just above the seven-metre Tutea Falls. The Kaituna flows out of Lake Rotorua and Rotoiti, and it’s a kayaking and rafting destination.
After a long hike up with bikes over shoulders, Casey Brown, Conor Macfarlane and Robin Goomes descend a huge scree slope just as the sun sets. The group spent five days in the Canterbury backcountry scaling and descending the biggest scree slopes they could find.
On a spur-of-the-moment trip to Auckland’s Piha Beach after work one weekday, Tieshu Zhu was captivated by the stormy yet calm conditions. It was “like an alien world,” says Zhu.
A snow-covered Syme Hut on a winter tramping trip glows in the evening light. “It's not often that you get perfect weather around Mount Taranaki,” says photographer Hiroaki Teraoka, “so we were very fortunate to capture this moment.”