The winners of the sixth Epson International Pano Awards have been announced. The overall winner of the 2015 Open competition is Max Rive from the Netherlands and his six-shot stitched panorama, 'The Ice Prison' (above). The Epson Digital Art Prize went to Darren Moore from the United Kingdom. This award is new to the competition and aims to reward excellence in modern digital post-processing. The overall winner of the 2015 Amateur competition is Mateusz Piesiak, whilst the new Jeff Mitchum Fine Art Prize has been awarded to Carlos F. Turienzo for his image, 'Lighting the Way.' The winner of the VR/360 competition this year is Russian photographer Dmitry Moiseenko, who created a breathtaking interactive aerial image of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano.

Epson Press Release

Winners announced

The EPSON International Pano Awards 2015

Professional and amateur photographers around the world were invited to enter The EPSON International Pano Awards to compete for more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

This year the competition received 4345 entries from 1055 photographers in 60 countries. The sixth Epson International Pano Awards is dedicated to the art of panoramic photography. Advances in digital photography and editing software has resulted in a surge in the popularity of image stitching, especially in the panoramic format. Panoramic film photography also remains alive and well.

The Epson International Pano Awards showcases the work of panoramic photographers worldwide and is the largest competition for panoramic photography.

The overall winner of the 2015 Open competition is Max Rive from The Netherlands!

The runner-up in the 2015 Open competition is Darren Moore from The United Kingdom.

Darren says, ‘Built in 1799 the tower stands majestically, 1000 ft. above sea level, one of the highest points in the county. I wanted to create a fairy tale atmosphere with this image, it took a number of visits over a 6 month period to get the low cloud and morning mist, but the end result was worth all the early starts, as the image turned out exactly how I imagined it.’

The winner of the new Jeff Mitchum Fine Art Prize is Carlos F. Turienzo from Spain. The aim of this prize in this age of accelerating digital progression is to reward photography that conveys ‘feeling’ and tells a story…to encourage images that elicit emotive responses, in addition to being well crafted through photographic technique. Images entered for consideration must have been created predominantly ‘in camera’.

Patron Jeff Mitchum says, ‘When I see a final print, I'm always curious about the root of it’s beginning. So, judging submissions for the Jeff Mitchum Fine Art Prize was not only a pleasure but an honor, and I'm so grateful to the EPSON International Pano Awards for creating it. In today's world of technology and post-processing software, I felt it was important to shine a light on the artists who were capturing stunning images in-camera; akin to our famed photography forefathers like Ansel Adams. After reviewing the raw files from many fantastic photographers, including the work of this year's winner, Carlos F. Turienzo, I am thrilled to see that in-camera techniques are thriving. My hope is that the Jeff Mitchum Fine Art Prize inspires other photographers to think more about what can be created in the field and less about what could be achieved at a desk.’ Carlos says, ‘This photo was taken last June at Punta Nariga Lighthouse, which is located in a zone known as 'Coast of Death', in Galicia, Spain. It was planned several months ago when I realised that the Milky Way would be just above the light beams of the lighthouse at the beginning of the summer. It was not easy to take the photos for the pano due to weather conditions, I can still feel the heavy wind of that night, but finally I could find a relatively well protected spot and everything went fine.’

The winner of the EPSON Digital Art Prize is Darren Moore from The United Kingdom. This award is also new to the competition and aims to reward excellence in modern digital post-processing. Darren says, ‘There are several of these fascinating curved sea defences in this area, which are unique to this stretch of coastline. You have to wait for calm conditions and a spring high tide to get them fully submerged and isolated. This is a 150 second exposure using a 10 stop neutral density filter, which completely smoothed out the sea, thick fog helped remove the horizon line and create an ethereal effect.’

The overall winner of the 2015 Amateur competition is Mateusz Piesiak from Poland. John says, ‘I arrived here in the moonlight the previous night to shoot and explore the scene. I returned as the moonset in the morning hoping the sun would rise through the fog but it was too thick initially. I raced over as it started to break through and then came the colour. I remember being quite excited realising what I was capturing. I have dreamed of capturing this for years and now to share it with the world’

The winner of the VR/360 competition this year is none other than Dmitry Moiseenko of Russia, for his astonishing aerial image of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano. The interactive image can be viewed on the website.

Dmitry says, ‘I have had an eye on Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano since quite a long time ago. The volcano has a very beautiful, ideal conical shape. Moreover, it is not just the highest erupting mountain in Eurasia, but in the whole world with the only exception of South America. This giant erupts once in a couple of years and this show lasts up to two or three months. On the 1st January 2015 a new eruption occurred. AirPano team had never taken the decision to go on expedition so quickly:
everyone agreed at once that we should go. We also decided to squeeze the monthly work plan into one helicopter flight session:
beginning with documentary photos and ending with the stabilized 360 and 4k video, not speaking about usual for AirPano spherical panoramic photos.’

“Once again I was truly impressed and mesmerised by the images submitted in this year’s competition. Without doubt the Epson International Pano Awards continues to attract and recognise an ever-growing number of extremely talented photographers from around the globe. Epson is very proud to sponsor this prestigious competition and we wish to congratulate all of this year’s finalists and winners.”
Craig Heckenberg, General Manager – Business Division, Epson Australia

Prizes include an Epson SureColor P-7070 printer, an Epson Stylus Pro SP-4900 printer, and an Epson EB-1776W Ultra-Slim Projector.

Epson Australia also displayed 40 of the highest scoring entries at The Digital Show, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, October 16-18.

The judging panel includes some of the world's top panoramic photographers and industry professionals, including Jeff Mitchum, Mark Gray, Mel Sinclair, Timo Lieber, Arild Heitmann, Bill Bailey, Lauren Bath, Joshua Holko, Julie Fletcher, Stefan Hefele, Denis Gadbois, Marcio Cabral and Aaron Spence.

thepanoawards.com

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