/ 2026 / Nature / Trees

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Peter Ogden, Australia
• Date of Photograph
  13th JANUARY 2026
• Website
  https://www.thebrutalbeauty.com/
• Instagram
  @mrpogphotog

The Koolewong Track is the shortest walk in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, Sydney. It is also one of the most beautiful – a ‘greatest hits’ of Australian flora and fauna, and we have walked it countless times. At the end of the trail is a viewing platform with stunning views across to Lion Island and, beyond the fence, untold treasures. This time, temptation got the better of me, and I ventured beyond said fence…to find layered rock shelves that led down to shelters, soaring red gums, a stunning sunset and no footprints except my own.

Australia is a landscape unique in its savagery and spectacle. As a boy born in industrial Manchester, UK, this contrast was never more apparent than when I first arrived in Perth many moons ago; that first experience saw me basking in the stunning vistas of the Nambung National Park whilst using a big stick to fend off brown snakes. I was the art director on a commercial photography shoot – keeping one eye on the back of the camera, the other firmly on the red dirt around the tripod.

That juxtaposition, the incredibly beautiful and the incredibly scary, has had me hooked ever since.

Awards Australian Photography Awards 2023 Finalist

International Photography Awards 2023 Top 5 - Landscape

Mono Awards 2023 Highly Commended 2 x Commended x 2

Bluethumb Art Prize 2023 Finalist

Capture ‘Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers 2023’ Top 10 Landscape - number 7

NSW National Parks Photography Awards 2023 Shortlist - Landscapes and Vistas

Tokyo International Foto Awards 2022 Official Selection - Nature

Mono Awards 2022 Highly Commended 1 x Commended x 2

Monovisions Landscape Series 2022 Honourable Mention

Australian Photography ‘Photographer of the Year 2021’ Commended x 3

Australian Photography Awards 2021 Top 20 Finalist x 2

Natural Landscape Photography Awards 2021 First Main Judging round (top 33%) x 2

Mono Awards 2021 Commended x 6

Monovisions Landscape/Fine Art Series 2021 Honourable Mention x 3

Capture ‘Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers 2021’ Highly Commended x 1, Commended x 2

Fine Art Photography Awards 2020 Nominee x 3

Frank Hurley Photography Awards 2020 Finalist - Scenic

Tokyo International Foto Awards 2020 Honourable Mention - Architecture

Australian Photography ‘Photographer of the Year 2020’ Highly Commended x 1, Commended x 4

ND Awards 2020 – Silver in Architecture: Bridges, Honourable Mention x 2 in Nature: Trees

Australian Photography Awards 2020 - Shortlisted

International Photography Awards 2020 Honourable Mention x 2 - Architecture and Landscape categories

Mono Awards 2020 Highly Commended x 5, Commended x 3

Monovisions Landscape Series 2020 Honourable Mention

Capture ‘Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers 2020’ Commended x 1