Richard Wood named Photographer of the Year

Hawke’s Bay photographer Richard Wood scored the top honour at this year’s Iris Professional Photography Awards, being named the New Zealand Photographer of the Year for 2014.
Wood topped the Illustrative category in this year’s awards programme, organised by the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography (NZIPP), and was a finalist in the Portrait Creative category.

He was announced this year’s champion at a gala dinner last night in Rotorua, as part of the Infocus photography conference; this is the second the photographer has topped the competition, the first being in 2011.

Mike Langford, president of the NZIPP, says Wood is a photographer with a gift for continually producing images that sit at the cutting edge of the creative photographic process.

“He pushes the boundaries with his experimentation and originality, and shows us new ways of seeing.”

Below are is a gallery of Wood’s successful images from this year’s Iris awards; in the following days we’ll be bringing you galleries of the other category winners, so check back often.

Illustrative category, Gold award

Illustrative category, Gold award

Illustrative category, Silver Distinction award