The theme for the September 2023 round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition was ‘Natural Colour’. The Camera Jabber team was very impressed by the standard of images entered, and we all enjoyed selecting the top ten images. 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 September 2023 ‘Natural Colour’ shortlisted images
Edyta Rice
Edyta has two images shortlisted in this round; both are landscapes. She picked the perfect time of year to capture this lovely image because there’s a beautiful blend of green, yellow, brown and red in the foliage. She also cleverly spotted that from the right angle, the road makes a heart shape in the scene. Edyta used her Nikon D850 in the early morning light to make the best of the landscape. We love it.
Edyta’s second shortlisted image is another autumnal scene, this time it’s of Pitlavice Waterfall in Croatia with mirror-like reflections in the water below.
Kath Aggiss
Kath Aggiss also has two images shortlisted in this round. She captured this beautiful images of a Flame-faced Tanager in Amagusta, Ecuador using her Sony A7R IV with a 100-400mm mounted. We love how the bird appears to be looking back quizzically at Kath, it’s also striking the perfect pose to show off its colour.
Kath’s second shortlisted image is another stunner, this time shot in her garden using a Nikon D500 and a Nikkor 105mm macro lens. The level of detail on the Orange Tip butterfly’s wings is simply superb. The butterfly’s colours stand out brilliantly from the purple of the surrounding wallflowers. Fabulous work Kath!
Samantha Deakin
Samantha tells us, ‘Every year, my children look forward to foraging for wild garlic since it’s one thing we can be sure to identify safely without risking poisoning the whole family. We make garlic focaccia and garlic butter in quantities that could kill every vampire in the UK. I love the way the snowy white blooms look against the green backdrop, and I dressed my daughter in analogous colours to blend into the natural environment.’ We love Samantha’s colour processing for this shot.
Linda Wride
Linda’s close crop of the head of a highland cow draws attention to the subtle variations in the colour of its remarkably vibrant hair. The horn protruding into the top right corner adds a bit of contrast and points towards the eye shrouded by long red eyelashes.
Michelle Jackson
Michelle captured this stunning portrait of a kingfisher one morning in February using her Canon EOS 5D IV with a Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4x. The Camera Jabber team are in agreement that this is one of the best portraits we’ve ever seen of a kingfisher; the level of detail is incredible and the blurred background complements the plumage perfectly.
Pawel Zygmunt
Pawel Zygmunt is the third photographer to have two images shortlisted in this round; both were captured using a Nikon Z7 and Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S lens. He says, ‘The iconic mountain of Kirkjufell is a must-see place in Iceland. Unfortunately, the popularity of this place means it attracts crowds. As I didn’t want to participate in fighting over a spot, I moved to a different location. When I was returning home after a whole night shooting, I stopped at it again, but not at the standard spot. I found a beautiful meadow full of flowers that worked ideally as a foreground. Because the light was still nice, I decided to capture this magnificent scene.’ We’re glad you did Pawel!
Pawel’s second shortlisted image is of the epic Landmannalaugar mountains in the Icelandic Highlands. Pawel tells us that it’s an excellent spot to photograph big vistas, but it’s also worth looking closer into the colourful landscape. He says, ‘Due to the strong wind and constant rain, photographing was extremely difficult. To be honest, most of my shots from this area were blurry as I could barely stand, not to mention trying to photograph with a telephoto lens. Icelandic weather has no mercy, but I managed to bag one shot I am really happy with.’ It’s a wonderful image that captures the rich tones of the harsh landscape.
Lori Henderson
Lori created this image in her studio using a lightbox behind some cosmos flowers. She tells us that it’s comprised of a few layers, all shot using her Sony A6500. Lori shot the background layer with intentional camera movement and then modified it to fit behind the top layer with an image of the group of flowers. The result is beautiful.
CJPOTY Setember 2023 winner: Michelle Jackson
Congratulations, Michelle, a voucher worth £500 from MPB is heading your way!
Michelle’s image joins the other 9 images selected this month and goes onto our shortlist for the overall prize. It will be decided by our panel of VIP judges at the end of the year.
CJPOTY October: Animals
The theme for the tenth round of the 2023/24 Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition is ‘Animals’.
The photographs can be taken anywhere and at any time, and the animals can be wild or domestic pets – we love them all equally.
This round of our monthly competition is open for submissions until 23:59 BST (00:59 CET and 15:59 PST) on 31st October 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 October 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.