Rare view of salt ponds puts Marlborough on photography map

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

A rarely seen view of the salt ponds in south Marlborough has scooped a national photography award.

Photographer Sam Lewis has been on a road trip of New Zealand this year, leaving his home in Auckland and heading south, on the hunt for 'interesting photos'.

Lewis was on his way from Blenheim to Kaikōura when he spotted the Dominion Salt plant at Lake Grassmere, near Seddon, in April.

Lewis found out at an award ceremony in Auckland last Thursday he had won the New Zealand Geographic award for Best Aerial shot.

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'I submitted to the competition not really hoping [to win] but in the end it came out on top which was pretty awesome,' he said.

'I was driving down the South Island on a bit of a road trip and I saw some cool colours on the side of the road, and I got in there and took some photos,' Lewis said.

Lewis wanted to travel and 'document' all the state highways in the country, he said. 

Another photograph of Marlborough was included in the New Zealand Geographic awards.

Andrew Macdonald took a picture of 'thousands of fairy prions circling after dark' at Stephens Island, at the tip of the Marlborough Sounds.

Macdonald was volunteering with Wildlife Management International counting nocturnal Hamiltons Frogs at the time.

'We were walking back along the top ridge of the island about 2am and the sky was just filled with thousands and thousands of fairy prions so I stopped and used my backpack as my tripod and took a couple of frames,' he said.

Out of 3000 entrants, 51 photographs made it to the finals, and only nine won an award across five categories.

New Zealand Geographic 2019 winners:

Nikon Photographer of the Year, Rob Suisted

Young Photographer of the year, Rachel Mataira

Lumix People's Choice, Lee Cook

Resene Colour Award, David Wall

Electric Kiwi Wildlife, Rob Suisted

Resene Landscape, Ryan de Dominicis

Society & Culture, Kirk Hargreaves

Progear PhotoStory, Tatsiana Chypsanava

Aerial, Sam Lewis