THE JUDGES

We're delighted to announce our esteemed Judging panel for The Landscape Awards 2024, presented by SanDisk.

Matt Palmer

Matt Palmer is a landscape photographer focused on conservation issues based in Bright, Victoria. With his partner Mieke Boynton he operates the Alpine Light Gallery. Matt has been recognised as a Master of Photography in Australia and New Zealand, and in 2019 his documentation of fires in Tasmania won him AIPP Australian Professional Photographer of the Year. 

Matt has a diverse history in photography, including 15 years of documenting some of the world's most influential musicians from Metallica, Pearl Jam, TOOL, Nick Cave and hundreds more. He also is a former AIPP Australian Professional Sports Photographer of the Year for his documentation of the sport of Muay Thai, and he has acted as an ambassador for Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania as well as collaborating with the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

Matt has also been the chief photographer and creative director for Brisbane Roar FC, run a wedding and portrait photography business, and worked with a children's hospital to create images and designs to assist fundraising for medical care and research.
www.mattpalmer.co

Joel Tjintjelaar

Joel is a Fine-Art photographer, author, and educator, specialising in black and white, long exposure, architectural, landscape, and still life photography. Born in Jakarta, raised in the Netherlands, Joel trained as a criminal lawyer, and worked in IT for over 20 years before he quit his daytime job in 2014 to pursue professional photography full-time.

Since then, Joel has won multiple first and second prizes and received other prestigious commendations over the years. He is currently exhibiting his most recent architectural work in the M7 museum in Doha, Qatar.
bwvision.com

Petra Leary

Petra Leary is an award winning New Zealand born aerial photographer. Her ability to capture her subjects from unique perspectives is striking and ground-breaking. 

She has an innate design sensibility, reflected in her unique process all the way from conception to post-production. An intrepid world traveller, she hunts out unusual landscapes, captures them from unforeseen angles such as her signature bird’s eye angle from above, and manipulates and accentuates colours in post-production to create her final work. 

Her work is simple yet bold in arrangement and composition. Belying this effortlessness are deeply honed technical skills, and a knowing iconoclastic eye for pop culture. Among many other awards, she is the Webstar Magazine Media Awards 2019 Best Photographer, and a finalist in the New Zealand Photographer of the Year 2018 Aerial Category.
petraleary.com

Serena Dzenis

Serena Dzenis is a lens-based artist from Australia who resides in Iceland. She uses her imagery to tell stories about science, conservation, environmental issues and the future of mankind.

Serena’s work places a strong emphasis on storytelling within the landscape – connecting with the land and immersing oneself in the rhythms and dangers associated with the living presence of this world. Her hope is to deliver the voice of nature through visual storytelling to a much broader audience in collaboration with researchers, scientists and media outlets.

Having originally made her name in the world of music photography, Serena’s work has continually evolved over time to include documentary, landscape and nature photography, as well as journalism and public speaking. She was named Architectural Photographer of the Year in the 2022 ND Photography Awards. Her current project, “2021 ± II: Utopia Broadcasting”, has been exhibited in several countries and achieved accolades worldwide, including being shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2022.

Previously, Serena was the Senior Vice President for the Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) in Australia, where she used her organisational abilities to motivate change. She also has over a decade of experience as a Mental Health clinician in youth early psychosis crisis assessment and treatment, as well as adult forensic psychiatry. Whilst maintaining a career in the health sector, she continued to work as a freelance photojournalist.

Given her unique background, Serena’s photographs depart from the traditional, with a focus on capturing the otherworldliness that is sometimes associated with nature on our own planet. Through her work, she has embraced the challenge to inspire others to think more deeply about our actions as a species, one image at a time.
serenavsworld.com

Will Patino

William Patino is an award-winning landscape photographer and educator based out of Te Anau in the South Island of New Zealand. Will's work has been collected around the world and he has had the pleasure of teaching thousands of students through his workshops and online courses. Will is most passionate about pursuing dramatic moments in the grand landscape, with his work placing an emphasis on atmosphere, light and expressing emotion. Although originally from the coastal shores of Wollongong Australia, Will's passion and calling is for the rugged mountain and forest scenes of Fiordland NZ, where he resides with his wife and two young children.
williampatino.com

Candace Dyar

Candace Dyar is a nature and conservation photographer, educator and wildlife advocate based in Seattle, Washington State. Currently partnered with several nonprofit organizations and conservation groups, she shares imagery and works to educate the public in efforts to relist gray wolves of the Northern Rockies as an endangered species, among various other projects. Her goal as a photographer is to connect with viewers on an emotional level, while also drawing attention to important issues relating to environmental issues, conservation and climate change. More than anything, she aspires to stir something within the viewer and to motivate them.

Candace is passionate about exploring and photographing the diversity of wilderness areas in their entirety, including wildlife, flora and landscapes. Having a background education in art history significantly contributes to her overall artistic vision and she is known for portraying a painterly type of style within her work.
candacedyarphotography.com

Steph Vella

Steph Vella is a passionate travel, landscape and portrait photographer based in Sydney, Australia. 

She loves capturing and sharing the natural beauty of the world. Along with shooting, she also loves teaching others through her private and group workshops. She is also the co-founder of the In Focus Women community, which celebrates, supports and inspires women in landscape photography from around the world.  
stephanievella.com.au

Anthony McKee

Anthony McKee is a Melbourne-based writer and social documentary photographer. In 2014 he was named AIPP 2014 Australian Documentary Photographer of the Year. He has also won awards for his landscape photography. He has judged professional and amateur photography awards on both sides of the Tasman and in 2013 was made an Honorary Fellow of the NZIPP for his services to photography. He is a regular contributor to Australian Photography magazine.
anthonymckee.com.au

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