Silver in Nature/Trees / 2025 / Nature / Trees

• Prize
  Silver in Nature/Trees
• Photographer
  Peter Ogden, Australia
• Website
  https://www.thebrutalbeauty.com/
• Instagram
  @mrpogphotog

Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, Sydney - just a 20-minute drive from home - is named after the Guringai people, the traditional custodians of the land on which the park sits. It is an incredible place, and it has helped our family through many ups and downs - it is my photography muse.

On mornings like this on the Waratah Track, with fog for miles and the sounds of wallabies jumping through the bush, the park becomes otherworldly; a magical realm where anything seems possible. In black and white, those ancient gum trees and shades of wonder are accentuated…

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