CJPOTY round 5 winners

The theme for the fifth round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition was ‘Water’, and once again, we were impressed by the interpretation of the brief and the wide variety of images submitted. We are delighted to announce that the following images will be added to our shortlist to be judged by our illustrious panel of judges at the end of the year.

One of these ten shortlisted 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 May 2023 ‘Water’ shortlisted images

Sara Jazbar

Sara has two very different images shortlisted in this round. We love how this image captures above and below the water line as the swimmer approaches the lane’s end. It conveys that feeling of being in a pool perfectly. It’s great to know that she captured the image using the GoPro Hero10 that she bought from MPB with the voucher she won in a previous round!

Sara’s second shortlisted image is one of those shots that many photographers aspire to capture, the moment a kingfisher emerges from the water after a dive. On this occasion, the bird’s beak is empty, reminding us that not every dive for food is successful. Sara’s exposure and focus are perfect, and we can see every detail in the feathers as well as the splash, while the background is blurred beautifully.

Jules Renahan

Jules tells us that this is one of the many stunning waterfalls in UNESCO world heritage site, Plitvice Lakes, Croatia. She photographed it at the perfect time of year and day using her Nikon Z6 and Nikkor 24 -200mm f/4-6.3 lens. We love that the leaves on the trees are turning red while the sun is low in the sky and brings out their colour.

Jules’ composition works very well, there’s a sense of peeping down through the trees to the beautifully blurred water.

Helen Trust

Jokulsarlon Glacier, South Iceland, is a popular location, but Helen has captured it particularly well with her Canon EOS 5D Mark III. The ice in the foreground is shaped a little like a boat and appears to be pushing through the sea, while the foam of the receding wave creates attractive patterns on the black sand.

Janina Wilde

Janina tells us that this is a multiple-image composition of the fountain at RHS Wisley. The background is soft because of the extremely cold, frosty conditions and the fact that Janina used a Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens (on a Canon EOS 80D). We love the muted tones and painterly effect.

Cliff Spooner

Cliff has two images shortlisted in this round. In this image, he’s captured the sea’s power, with the foolhardy people at the centre of the frame adding a sense of scale.

Cliff’s careful composition of the lines and contrasting colours at the corner of a swimming pool caught our eyes. His image has an Art Deco look to it. It’s, in essence, a very simple image, but the lines are perfectly straight, and the balance between the blue and the yellow is well-judged.

Angela Harrod

We saw several images of reflections in this round, but Angela’s was our favourite. The colourful boats contrast nicely with the blue water, and the long masks emphasize the ripples in the water.

Christine Holt

We spent quite a bit of time looking at this image, even debating whether it was created using AI, and if it’s more of a wildlife image than a water image. But as Christine points out, if you take a look at the waterline around the whale, you’ll notice some nozzles. Yes, it’s a fountain rather than a live whale. Nevertheless, the timing of this shot is excellent as the inclusion of the ‘plane adds to the sense of drama and scale.

Carmen Drake

There’s a lovely symmetry to Carmen’s shot of the River Thames, and her long exposure has delivered super-smooth water with almost mirror-like reflections. Carmen’s timing is also very good as there’s still detail and colour visible in the buildings while the sky and water pack a punch.

CJPOTY May 2023 winner: Christine Holt

Congratulations, Christine, a voucher worth £500 from MPB is heading your way!

Christine’s image joins the other 9 images selected this month and goes onto our shortlist for our panel of VIP judges at the end of the year for the overall prize.

CJPOTY June: Wildlife

There are just a few days left to enter the sixth round of the 2023/24 Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition, the theme is ‘Wildlife’. We’re looking forward to seeing images from your wildlife encounters, whether that’s with tiny insects in your back garden or majestic elephants from a safari. The photographs can be taken anywhere and at any time.

This round of our monthly competition is open for submissions until 23:59 BST (00:59 CET and 15:59 PST) on 30th June 2023.

To submit your entry, follow the link to cjpoty or click on the CJPOTY button at the top of any of our website pages. You can submit up to three entries for £2.00 plus payment processing costs (£0.26). Images should be Jpegs at least 1920 pixels along their longest side but no larger than 2MB.

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 June 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 2023 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 receive 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.

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.