The fourth Epson International Pano Awards is dedicated to the art of panoramic photography. It showcases the work of panoramic photographers worldwide and is the largest competition for panoramic photography.
This year there were 4,068 entries from 843 photographers in 57 countries.
Prizes included an Epson Stylus Pro 7900 printer, an Epson Stylus Pro 4900 printer, an Epson EB-1775 Ultra-Slim Projector and US$8000 cash.
Craig Heckenberg, Business Unit Manager at Epson Australia said the quality of the entries sets a higher benchmark each year, with 2013 providing compelling panoramic images from extremely talented photographers.
“We have already seen some of the images published in various media so there is no doubt this competition and the enthralling entries are capturing the imagination of people everywhere,” Craig said.
“Epson congratulates the winners and every entrant not only for the quality of their work but also for their incredible ability to work with light in so many diverse and outstanding ways.”
The overall winner of the Open Competition was Timo Lieber of the Great Britain with a compelling B&W image of Dumont Dunes in the Mojave Desert, USA.
Timo recalls, “Earlier in the year I was asked to spend several weeks on a project in California. The opportunity to photograph the state’s beautiful landscapes came as an added bonus. Studying the route for the way back from Death Valley, I figured that one desert was never enough and headed for Dumont Dunes. A building sand storm chased away a group of dune riders, who obligingly left behind curved tracks providing additional structure to the dunes pattern. And again, as ever, I am captivated by human presence, so fragile against nature.”
Dmitry Moiseenko of Russia was the runner-up in the Open competition, with a spectacular aerial image of Barcelona from a bird’s eye perspective. Dmitry is part of the formidable Airpano team, well known for their panoramic images shot from helicopters in locations around the world.
Dmitry says, “When I decided to do spherical panoramas over Barcelona I found just one company with helicopter that could do all I had to do to get a result. The only restriction was the minimum altitude 800ft (250 m). It wasn’t enough to get all details of the buildings, but I found that Barcelona has unique structure of blocks and streets. So I asked pilot to go higher and higher trying different altitudes to get the best “structure” view.”
Judging panel included some of the world’s top panoramic photographers.