Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013 - Greenwich Observatory

[Adelastro1]

Well time for some bragging! :D John Sarkissian from the Parkes Observatory emailed me today congratulating myself and Mark Sidonio on having our images chosen for use in publicity for the announcement of the shortlisting of images in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013 competition! Well done Mike too!

And John sent a link to the London Telegraph main front webpage where my photo was selected as the image to advertise the story!! Wow! It's as good as getting it on the front page of the newspaper itself!

Clicking on that image took me to the gallery of 12 selected images from the shortlisting (see below), where mine was shown first too!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/10209965/The-2013-Astronomy-Photographer-of-the-Year-competition.html?frame=2630406

I took the image straight after the 2012 David Malin Awards dinner and the red light at bottom left is Alex Cherney's camera setup! ;)

As you can probably tell I'm a tad chuffed with this! :D:D:D:D
I'll be very happy with just having this honour if I don't win anything, and I don't expect to.

Now the dilemma... do I fly over once again to the awards night in September (I did last year and it was great but no prize). Hmmm.

[jjjnettie]

:D Congratulations, to both of you.
I do think they should let any overseas winners know, in strict confidence, if they have won. so they can plan their trip. Don't you think?

[iceman]

Well done Wayne! I saw it yesterday too. Looks fantastic. I'm a real fan of that image!

[OneCosmos]

A truly awesome image. Congratulations. :thumbsup:

[Adelastro1]

Haha yeh well maybe let them know if they at least have a placing in the top 3 for a category. Then at least no one knows still who won exactly.

[Adelastro1]

And thank jjjnettie, Mike and Chris!

[Paul Haese]

Hey nice stuff Wayne and Mike. I made two images in the shortlist but not sure how well my images would have went in the final judging which was just a day ago. It will be a long month or so waiting to find out.

[Paul Haese]

Seen one of my solar images (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stunning-images-of-night-sky-revealed-as-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-announces-shortlist-for-astronomy-photographer-of-the-year-8737624.html?action=gallery&ino=12)here, that might mean from experience that I have not won anything for this image. I note my Saturn image has not shown up in the press releases yet. That is interesting. Exciting times.

[Adelastro1]

I think a couple of images they used for publicity still got commendations last year, but not won categories, so there may be something in that. Still, you never know and I'd be ecstatic if they ended up using mine on merchandising!

[Peter Ward]

And why not? Well deserved!

I rather like how you got the shot of the milky way lined up with "the dish" ...a clever concept :thumbsup:

I'm hoping they are saving the best ;) for last :lol:

...if not there's always next year (Northern lights seem to do well :question: )

[Forgey]

Congrats Wayne, stunning image! Head over again you know you want to :)

[Paul Haese]

Yeah that is true.

[Adelastro1]

Thanks Peter. Yes the lining up worked out well and I thought it would make an interesting image. Thankfully The Dish was pointing the right way!
So are you saying that you have an image or two shortlisted?! Good luck if so!
Yes auroras do well but if you scroll through all the entries on flickr there are vast numbers of aurora shots (last year and this) so I don't think it's not surprising.

[Adelastro1]

Thanks! You and your mother won't be there this time though! Say hello to her too! ;)

[Peter Ward]

No worries. I have to say the level of images, like the Malin's is now getting stratospheric, I've got one shortlisted, but, who know's what catches the judges eyes....

[Adelastro1]

I couldn't agree more! I thought that before this year's Malins and wasn't too surprised that I didn't get any awards this year. Anyone can buy a resonable camera and take great photos, night or day, now.
Good luck!

[strongmanmike]

Just for fun...(errr..and I hope I get a look in too of course :D) This (http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcolorenzi70/8896698777/) is my pick as the winner this year..it's just such a work of art...

You heard it here first :thumbsup:

Mike

[Paul Haese]

Yep that is a great image of Marco's, will be interesting to see what wins this year.

[Adelastro1]

Yes indeed. And importantly it would look great on merchandising and posters!! ;) I think they definitely judge images with that in mind, ie. to make money!

[Adelastro1]

Now even more publicity. Wow! This time the Sydney Telegraph. Not sure about the corny headline though!

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/the-fifth-annual-astronomy-photographer-of-the-year-aussie-had-a-parkes-to-play-in-star-rivalry/story-fni0cx12-1226692414055

And the Independent in London ran it last week too:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stunning-images-of-night-sky-revealed-as-the-royal-observatory-greenwich-announces-shortlist-for-astronomy-photographer-of-the-year-8737624.html

It's great to see these publications running stories like this on astrophotography, which is what I always push for to publicise everyone's work when given the chance, just usually more locally though!

[redbeard]

Well done Wayne, that is one fantastic image. :thumbsup:

Keep well.

Damien.

[Adelastro1]

Thanks Damien.

I just received an email from ROG after I returned my bank details form. I thanked them for selecting my image for use in publicity and they said that:

"The 15 images that were selected to represent the competition and the exhibition in the press were chosen by our marketing team for their visual appeal, and not by the competition judges. As you know, the winners of each category, the winners of special prizes, and the overall winner will all be announced on 19th September."

I didn't know this at all so I guess there's always a chance of getting a prize or commendation, or even onto the merchandise.

[Adelastro1]

And a further email regarding selescting the images for merchandising. There's hope yet! So there's three (possibly all different) groups of images that would receive some sort of recognition.


"Similarly, the images used for merchandising will not be chosen by competition judges but by specialists in our commercial department. However, as winning images may be more popular with customers, the judges’ decisions may have a bearing on whether an image is chosen for that purpose."

[Paul Haese]

Best of luck Wayne, it is a lovely image all the same and even has some ionised oxygen in the lower left. Just to make for something a little more interesting.

[Adelastro1]

Thanks Paul. Yes I was happy to see that there too!
I don't know what images you have shortlisted but best of luck again too!

[Paul Haese]

The solar shot that is drifting around is one of the shortlisted shots and I have dual image of Saturn that has not surfaced in the advertised images. Time will tell.:)

[Adelastro1]

I just received this message from Publishing at Greenwich, so once again I'm extremely happy with my image being chosen! Just have to wait until 2015 though....:sadeyes:


"A commercial calendar manufacturer has approached Royal Museums Greenwich with a proposal to produce a calendar featuring images from Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013. The first calendar will be for 2015 and we expect it to be on sale in summer 2014.

I am pleased to inform you that your image Receiving the Galactic Beam is one of the images the company has selected to use in the calendar. If you are happy for your image to be featured you will receive a payment of £25 and a copy of the calendar, once it has been printed."