A new photography competition celebrating adventure and named for a famous Australian photographer has attracted more than 1200 entries from 26 countries.
The Frank Hurley Photography Awards first prize was won by US photographer Jason Gulley for his underwater scene taken on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
Mr Gulley’s prize includes an expedition to Antarctica.
The awards were organised by the not-for-profit Mawson’s Huts Foundation, which works to inspire and educate people about Antarctica and to preserve Australian polar explorer Sir Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic huts from his famous 1911-1914 expedition.
Australian photographer Frank Hurley was part of this expedition.
The winners of the five competition categories were announced by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Hobart, Councillor Helen Burnet at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart.
The awards will be held every second year.
Apart from overall winner Mr Gulley, who also won the Portrait of adventure category, all other category winners were Australian.
To see all finalists photos visit frankhurleyphotoawards.com
For information about the Mawson’s Huts Foundation visit mawsons-huts.org.au
FRANK HURLEY
Frank Hurley was a famous Australian photographer and adventurer.
He was a part of explorer Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition to Antarctica, taking still photographs and movie film from December 1911 to March 1913, which he released as a pioneering* documentary movie called Home of the Blizzard. He returned to Antarctica in November 1913 to help rescue Mawson, who had become stranded.
In October 1914 he joined explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton on another famous Antarctic expedition, in which the ship, Endurance, was crushed in ice and the crew had to row lifeboats 1330km across the ocean to South Georgia Island.
Hurley’s other famous photographs are from World War I and World War II and from expeditions to the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea.
GLOSSARY
- pioneering: doing something new
EXTRA READING
Search for Shackleton’s ship abandoned
Hanging out with Smudge at Antarctica
Man crosses ocean in orange wooden barrel
Antarctica’s hottest day ever recorded
QUICK QUIZ
- Who was Frank Hurley?
- Why name a competition after him?
- Who was Douglas Mawson?
- Where are Mawson’s Huts?
- What was the first prize for the competition?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Art Review
Choose one of the 5 winning photos from the Frank Hurley Photography Awards and write a review on it stating the reasons why (you believe) it was a category winner or the overall winner. In your comments, you could mention things like light, colours, what enthrals or catches your eye, how it makes you feel or how it depicts the creatures or people in the picture.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: Visual Arts
2. Extension
Do you think all the entries in this competition wanted to win the prize of an expedition to Antarctica or just get the photography recognition? The overall winner Jason Gulley, was the only non-Australian of all the category winners. Do you think he’ll be wanting to complete the expedition to Antarctica? Explain your reasons why or why not.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Critical and creative thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Up-level it
Scan through the article and see if you can locate three words that you consider to be basic, or low level. These are words we use all the time and that can be replaced by more sophisticated words. Words like “good” and “said” are examples of overused words.
Once you have found them, see if you can up-level them. Think of synonyms you could use instead of these basic words, but make sure they still fit into the context of the article.
Re-read the article with your new words. Did it make it better? Why/why not?
