The theme for the first round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition was ‘New Beginnings’ and we’re delighted to reveal that the following images will go into our shortlist to be judged by our illustrious panel at the end of the year. One of these fantastic images has also been selected as the round winner with the photographer being awarded a voucher from MPB worth £500 – scroll down to find out who.
CJPOTY January 2022 New Beginnings shortlisted images
John Thorndike
John captured this fabulous sunrise image of Wrawby Mill in Lincolnshire using a Canon EOS 40D with a Sigma 10-20mm lens mounted. He timed his image to perfection, managing to combine the warmth of the sun behind the mill as a flock of geese went by, adding some extra interest to the sky.
Sara Jazbar
Sara’s image features a swallowtail hatching from its chrysalis, perfectly encapsulating the brief. Sara used a Nikon D500 with a Sigma 150mm macro lens, placing the focus on the butterfly’s eye.
Amy Bateman
Amy scored a hat trick, getting all three of her New Beginnings images into our shortlist. This one is called ‘In Good Hands’ and like the others, it was captured using a Sony A7R III with a Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 lens mounted.
Amy’s second shortlisted image, ‘Rosie’s Lamb’ was captured in the depths of the Covid pandemic
when all was locked down. It shows the youngest generation of farmers caring for nothing but the next generation of
sheep on her farm.
In this image, ‘The Young Shepherdess’, the next generation of shepherd learns the ropes by caring for the next generation in her flock.
Molly Hollman
Molly used a Sony A7 III with a Zeiss 55mm lens to capture this beautiful image of a shoot emerging from an acorn in a shaft of light. It’s hard to believe that this tiny, fragile seedling could one day become a might oak tree.
Leanne Hilless
Leanne says that she likes to think of Spring as nature’s New Year and every year she looks forward to the plants and trees coming back into bloom and seeing the animals breed new life. She photographed this gorgeous newly born Canada gosling in the Nene Park, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in April 2021 using her Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and Sigma 150-60mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary DG OS HSM lens.
Angela Harrod
Angela was out early with her Canon EOS M50 and 11-22mm lens to capture this image of two paddleboarders at the start of their day.
Sylvia Fillingham
Sylvia used her Nikon D750 and 300mm prime lens with a 1.4x teleconverter to capture this super shot of a starling feeding her fledglings.
Gemma Young
Gemma says, ‘newborns are the definition of the words “new beginnings”, everything that they do is new and every single baby will be completely different from the last. This little child is a completely blank slate and everything it does is a new experience for them.’ She captured the lovely image on a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L lens mounted.
CJPOTY January 2022 winner: Molly Hollman
Congratulations Holly, a voucher to the value of £500 from MPB is heading your way! Let us know what you spend it on. Your image will also join the other nine in our shortlist to be judged for the overall prize at the end of the year.
CJPOTY February 2022: ‘Urban Abstracts’
There’s still time to enter the second round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition, the theme is ‘Urban Abstracts’. It’s all about the shapes and patterns in towns and cities, those interesting details or unusual juxtapositions that often get missed in the bustle of urban life. You can go in close or take a wider view, it’s up to you.
This second round of our monthly competition is open for submissions until 18:00 GMT (19:00 CET and 10:00 PST) on 28th February.
To submit your entry visit cjpoty.com. You can submit one image per entry but make up to three entries for £2.00 plus payment processing costs (£0.26).
Urban Abstracts inspiration
One of the great things about Urban Abstracts as a subject is that they’re so readily available. If you’re lucky, you can pop into the nearest town or city and spend the day shooting, but if you’re pressed for time, you can fit it around work, taking photographs in your lunch break or during your commute.
It can take a few minutes to tune into all the creative opportunities around you in an urban environment, it’s almost a sensory overload. However, once you’ve taken your first few shots, you’ll be on a roll.
If you’re in need of some inspiration, take a look at this interview with freelance architectural photographer Jo Underhill. Jo Underhill‘s work has been widely published and she loves to focus on light, material and detail.
MPB, our competition sponsor, also has this beginners guide to architectural photography with great tips from Ian Howorth.
Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year prizes
At the end of the month, the Camera Jabber team will pick one winning image and nine runners up from the February entries. The photographer of the winning image will receive a voucher from MPB.com to the value of £500 which can be spent on anything from a huge range of kit from the World’s biggest platform for used photographic gear.
All 10 of the selected images will go into our shortlist for the year.
We’ll do this each month in 2022 so that by the end of the year, there will be 120 shortlisted images. These will then go before our fantastic panel of judges who will decide the 1st, 2nd and 3rd-placed images.
The photographer of the first-placed image overall, as decided by the panel of judges, will received a voucher to the value of £1000 from MPB.com as well as a trophy and the title ‘Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year 2023‘. The photographers who come second and third will receive vouchers worth £500 and £250 respectively.
The judges are:
Ben Brain – Photographer, journalist & Sigma ambassador
Sophie Collins – Chief Marketing Office at MPB
Kate Hopewell-Smith – Wedding, portrait & boudoir photographer, Sony ambassador
Sanjay Jogia – Wedding photographer & Canon ambassador
Pete Reed OBE – Three times Olympic gold medal-winning rower and keen documentary photographer
Craig Strong – Lensbaby founder and photographer
Jeremy Walker – Landscape photographer, author & former Nikon ambassador
You don’t have to enter the competition every month, but you are welcome to do so and the more shortlisted images you have at the end of the year, the greater than chance of winning the top prize.
About MPB
Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB is the world’s largest platform for used photography and videography kit. MPB has transformed the way people buy, sell and trade equipment, making photography more accessible, affordable and sustainable.
Headquartered in the creative communities of Brighton, Brooklyn and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service. Every piece of kit is inspected carefully by product specialists and comes with a six-month warranty to give customers peace of mind that buying used doesn’t mean sacrificing reliability.