When we rang Jan Moore in Bannockburn yesterday to tell her she had won the "My city, my town" photo contest — and a chocolate bar! — it was clear we had really made her day.
"Oh, that’s lovely — just what I needed to hear on a day like this," she laughed.
Why? Well, Jan’s winning photo, republished today, showing nearby Cromwell in all its autumn glory, could not have been replicated yesterday, she confessed.
"No, it’s been awful today; a low inversion cloud, freezing cold and quite miserable. We just need a wind to blow it all away," is how she described the weather in her town.
In congratulating Jan for her winning effort, I pointed out my ODT photographic colleagues and I had agreed her picture "met the brief" we set readers last month — capturing the essence of her town.
Jan managed to get Cromwell’s distinctive "big fruit" sculpture, the contrasting colours of the Wooing Tree vineyard and the rugged Central Otago hills as a backdrop, all in the one image, taken on April 28 this year.
"Well, the light was just perfect that morning," she acknowledged modestly.
Jan admits photography is one of her main retirement hobbies. A former radiographer from Dunedin ("I’ve swapped black and white for colour"), she moved to Bannockburn about 11-12 years ago and says she just loves where she lives.
Such was the quality of the other images, I’ve decided to name four runners-up.
Stu Hardisty’s shot of the iconic (and disappearing) St Clair "poles" and the recent aurora was a strong contender for top honours, as was Brian Treanor’s moody shot of the Octagon on a wet night.
Craig Latimer’s eye-catching photo of the "Roman baths" at Blackhead got full marks for its "surprise" qualities, as did Helen Laney’s imaginative take on the portal at Oamaru’s Steampunk headquarters.
So, well done to that quintet and also to everyone else who participated. We ended up with 58 entries (43 published in the print edition), which was a great response. All entries will be published on ODT Online.
• Stay tuned for The Wash’s next readers’ photo contest. We’ll give some thought to the topic and let you know. Suggestions anyone?
