In this selection, you will get to see shots that were submitted to the professional category. Photographers have shared their work either as a series of two or more images or as singles. If you’d like to see the full series of the winners and nominees below, make sure to visit theFAPA pagefor more.
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“I can’t describe a picture that describes itself in more than thousands of words. It is a story about me, and maybe about you. Even in the darkest times, there will be always hope and new awakenings…”
Bored Pandareached out to Andrea Zachrau, who won 3rd place with a beautiful shot of a horse named “Out Of The Dust”.We asked Andrea to share what inspired her to enter the Fine Art Photography Awards contest and how she selected the submitted photo.“My signature series is ‘Holi Horses’, for which I photograph horses with holi powder and that work has been internationally awarded before. The capture of the Spanish stallion Lio is different than my other work which is usually more colorful, in this case, I loved the fact that it is more of a black-and-white image and that it looks as if the horse is fading away,” wrote Andrea.
Bored Pandareached out to Andrea Zachrau, who won 3rd place with a beautiful shot of a horse named “Out Of The Dust”.
We asked Andrea to share what inspired her to enter the Fine Art Photography Awards contest and how she selected the submitted photo.
“My signature series is ‘Holi Horses’, for which I photograph horses with holi powder and that work has been internationally awarded before. The capture of the Spanish stallion Lio is different than my other work which is usually more colorful, in this case, I loved the fact that it is more of a black-and-white image and that it looks as if the horse is fading away,” wrote Andrea.
“The horses are shown in an artistic way, escaping the conventional and using techniques from various segments of photography.”
“A mountain toucan, with an acrobatic braking, is landing at the nest where its eggs are.It is the black-billed toucan that lives in the Andes and wears the colors of the forest.”
We also asked Andrea to walk us through the process of capturing this image. She wrote: “This photo was taken in my mobile photo studio for horses, I’m working with a 6x4m black background and 4 Elinchrom strobes. At first, we got the horse used to the studio with lots of praise and treats and walked him through the studio before we let him run through it. When he was comfortable with the situation, we put flour in his mane and let him jump/run through the studio, which created this special effect.”
“For more than 5 hours I observed these European Bee-eaters, who were so funny. The male wanted to offer his future European bee-eater female a nice offer so he caught this beautiful butterfly. Such a nice moment.”
“Estonian native horse Allegro and the cherry blossoms.”
No creative photoshoot comes without its challenges. Therefore, we asked Andrea to share what difficulties she encountered while taking this picture.“The biggest challenge is to catch the best movement of the horse while it is galloping between the strobes to get the perfect light and the black background. When working with artificial light, I cannot use serial shots with my camera, so I have to catch the perfect moment with one shot,” explained Andrea.
No creative photoshoot comes without its challenges. Therefore, we asked Andrea to share what difficulties she encountered while taking this picture.
“The biggest challenge is to catch the best movement of the horse while it is galloping between the strobes to get the perfect light and the black background. When working with artificial light, I cannot use serial shots with my camera, so I have to catch the perfect moment with one shot,” explained Andrea.
“During a walk with our dog…”
“A beautiful German Shepherd Dog putting in maximum effort to jump up and catch the stick.”
Andrea also shared her opinion about what elements contribute to creating a truly stunning wildlife/animal photograph and how she incorporated these elements into her work.“My approach to photographing animals is more of an artistic nature. I love to use special effects to create unique images, and I work mainly with artificial light to be able to control the outcome of the photo 100%. Most horse photographers work in nature and with natural light and I love these images, but my aim is to create photos that are different and to portray animals in a new way,” wrote Andrea.
Andrea also shared her opinion about what elements contribute to creating a truly stunning wildlife/animal photograph and how she incorporated these elements into her work.
“My approach to photographing animals is more of an artistic nature. I love to use special effects to create unique images, and I work mainly with artificial light to be able to control the outcome of the photo 100%. Most horse photographers work in nature and with natural light and I love these images, but my aim is to create photos that are different and to portray animals in a new way,” wrote Andrea.
“About the photography of the swans, I have been interested for about 5 years, every year I am trying to make some small progress on how to be as close to the swan as possible. Every year they will show me some scenes.”
“Not far from the North Pole are the Svalbard Islands, frozen lands of snow and ice.At a temperature of -22° C in the middle of a hypnotic white universe, a solitary Arctic fox appears, almost imperceptible due to its ice-colored soft coat. Camouflage, sharp (acute) eyesight, and a fine sense of smell are its allies for capturing prey hidden under the snow.”
In regards to post-processing when editing her images, Andrea shared how she maintains authenticity while still enhancing the visual impact.“My main aim is to capture the image the way I imagined it to be during the shoot already, e.g. I always use real powder, fog, etc. when creating the photo and never add special effects in Photoshop. So editing the image is mostly to enhance colors and details, add contrast, and remove something like the halter or the owner standing next to the horse.”
In regards to post-processing when editing her images, Andrea shared how she maintains authenticity while still enhancing the visual impact.
“My main aim is to capture the image the way I imagined it to be during the shoot already, e.g. I always use real powder, fog, etc. when creating the photo and never add special effects in Photoshop. So editing the image is mostly to enhance colors and details, add contrast, and remove something like the halter or the owner standing next to the horse.”
“During my trip to Dubai, the first week of March, just before the lockdown, to photograph the serene and beautifully tranquil sand dunes in the desert, suddenly a whole herd of about 40 camels/dromedaries appeared behind a high sand dune, contrary to the report that only camels were traded on the market in town. A breathtaking, unforgettable experience, especially due to the large number of calves, including a newly born white calf. I am so grateful that I had the, for me a once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity to photograph this moment…”
And lastly, Andrea added: “Reaching 3rd place in the FAPA competition was a big honor for me, especially since the winning images were both amazing captures of wild animals while my photo had a totally different approach with a domesticated horse in a photo studio. Of course, this photo will also be part of my next big exhibition ‘Horses - Same, but different’ which will take place in the German Horse Museum in Verden from March 19th til May 12th.”
“Searched the South African plains in September 2022 for a herd of zebras to capture the artistry of these elegant animals. A heavily cloudy day so you can take advantage of the light background.”
“The polar bear’s cute, unique, and earnest gesture makes people feel at ease.”
“They seem so cuddly and they walk so gracefully, but they are perhaps the most graceful predators of the African plains. In this series, a composition of 3 sisters and 2 brothers at various times of the day, photographed multiple days in October 2022.”
“Bean, the 5-year-old black cat, carefully watching her surroundings.”
“The magical hidden world of insects.”
“Jilime, the famous leopard of Maasai Mara had killed a jackal pup earlier that morning. While she was on the tree, she had a quick nap. Upon waking, she realized that the branch was empty. The prey had fallen.This picture is when she was carrying the kill back on top of the tree.”
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“Silent but for the rhythmic footfalls and soft blow of breath.Recreation of 15th Century horsemanship, homage to William Cavendish, within the walls of a fairytale castle with performers Ben Atkinson and Sebastian.”
“Mystic scenery created with flour and Spanish stallion Lio.”
“As a photographer, I love working with dogs, they are really rewarding “models”. They take the photo shoot as a game, it’s so much fun. I particularly like to freeze their athletic run and their expression when they look straight into the camera.”
“As we move into winter in Minnesota, most of the lakes start to freeze up. In this series, you can see those mallards staying active in the water which in return delays it from freezing. This is due to the continuous movement in the water. As it gets colder and colder, the ducks leave the lakes and the water heals up into ice.”
“An eagle sets its gaze on prey far off in the distance in Jasper National Park, Alberta.”
“It was very beautiful for me to see the deep love between these two male and female cats who had just got their kittens. Seeing them, I traveled in time and felt that I was capturing a mythical love from the heart of history.”
“You would think that these photos of alien ships were taken with the new James Webb Space Telescope - photos of a colony, a transporter, a researcher, and a shuttle. But it is not the case - the small Nemo gives you a hint about the true location!You see mollusks in an open ocean 1 km from the coast taken early mornings underwater. Small particles and plankton play the role of stars.”
“Ascent, the beautiful tricolor border collie exploring the state of Missouri, USA.”
“Spending time with this silverback in Ruhija Bwindi as the silverback of the Mukiza group was definitely the highlight of our Uganda trip and definitely one of the very special and beautiful things I was allowed to experience.In the whole mountain region Uganda, Rwanda and Congo are only app. one thousand gorillas left. Here in Bwindi live approximately still 460 of these amazing creatures. Fortunately, the population is currently stable at least from a human thread point of view.This photo is my favorite gorilla shot, a photo that is not easy to achieve. gorilla trekking in Ruhija starts at a height of 2.300m as a challenging hike. The overall time varies between three to five and up to eight hours. I do like hiking and with a porter next to me who carries my backpack, I can keep up and handle the thin air. The biggest challenges are the steep rainforest slopes so full of wet and green vegetation that you can’t see the soil and your feet are stumbling up and down these slopes until you reach the gorillas, these beautiful and massive animals who move so elegantly in their natural habitat.”
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