Overview
Images of flatmates chopping each other's hair during COVID-19 lockdown in Auckland, a whale cruising near Kaikōura, dust from the Australian bush fires settling on the Southern Alps, a memorial for victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings, and a flock of rako Buller's shearwaters flying below the Milky Way are among those taken by photographers competing for the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year 2020.
Forty entries are on display at the New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui A Tangaroa from September 2020 to March 2021 in the A Year in Aotearoa exhibition.
Nathan Secker (cropped).
The competition is the country's largest and most popular photography exhibition. Now in its 12th year, the competition run by New Zealand Geographic magazine attracts thousands of hopefuls. Their entries document tumultuous, unsettling and consoling life as we know it, with the winning images chosen from five categories: aerial, wildlife, landscape, photo-story and society.
Visitors are encouraged to be a judge and vote for their favourite image in the People's Choice award. The nation's favourite image will be announced alongside category winners and the overall winner of Photographer of the Year at the awards night in late October.
Top image: Petra Leary (cropped).