Australians scoop the pool in the International "Astronomy Photographer of the Year"!

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Err..Kudos to Martin for sure...but isn't Martin British??

(not that there's anything wrong with that, so was my Dad)

But being Australians, if there's reflected glory to be had, we'll adopt anyone and call them Aussies.
eg. Russell Crowe, The Bee Gees, Split Enz, Mel Gibson etc etc

[Martin Pugh]

Not that I need to explain myself, because there is no need to.

Firstly though, I am Australian, and exchanged a number of emails with the ROG (at their request) so that they could get the press release correct, and the website post still managed to get it wrong. I also made it clear where the images were taken.

Peter, for the benefit of the group, please list the edition of Australian Sky and Telescope magazine where the winning image was published.

I would also suggest that the competition rule stating: "Photos that have already been widely published or that have won a prize in a major competition (one receiving more than 500 photos) are not eligible" is open to interpretation.

I also seriously doubt that every image taken by every Brit, Aussie or American astrophotographer has been widely published thereby excluding them from the competition.

Martin

[DavidU (Dave)]

AS&T print run is probably quite small in the big picture so Martins pic may not be "widely published"
just a thought

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

Not that I need to explain myself...

Hello Martin, no you don't & I apologise, I was unaware you taken up Oz citizenship & it was Mike's Cent -A image that was in AS&T...but I could have sworn I have seen your HH in print recently....perhaps I am mistaken?

[Martin Pugh]

Yes Peter, I was an Australian citizen within 3 months of emigrating in Oct 04 because of my employment with the Australian military.

You certainly are mistaken about HH. The only place it has been published was right here in this forum, and was subsequently purchased by Alex (1 copy) and Jen (2 copies). In Flickr, I also posted my NB image of the Running Chicken nebula which clinched the David Malin award in 2008 as you well know. I did not however enter that image because in my mind, it had won 'a prize in a major competition'.

Regardless though, I would most certainly concur with David's post below. Does publication in AS&T brand that image as 'widely published'?


Martin

[RB (Andrew)]

Congratulations everyone.

Wonderful work all-round !!

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

Does publication in AS&T brand that image as 'widely published'?


Martin

That was my interpretation, I think the print run is 12,000 issues & it's widely available on news-stands.

In any event, Kudos to you Martin, it is a splendid image.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Many Aussies, Brits and Americans didn't enter as the rules excluded
images that had already been published elsewhere.

But to point out the obvious, Martin's winning image was published in AS&T.

Please don't get me wrong, there are no sour grapes
as Martin (who is a Brit) is an excellent imager and deserves
kudos....and a well done....but gee, many others might have entered
otherwise.

Peter, I have known you for a while now and you are an inteligent man (I think?) but I must say you say some funny things sometimes.

Fancy making that your first post on this thread

Yes I am sure you will make some glib reply but quite frankly if trying to quibble over the rules and making demeaning comments is the only thoughts you have on this how about you just keep them to yourself? - fairdinkum

If 9 judges from a broad cross section of the astronomical world haven't seen an image before, how tha hell can it be deamed to have been widely published??

Shame you couldn't have just been a gentleman and simply congratulated Martin instead of muddying the waters around the validity of the contest. You chastised an individual on the Sydney Observatory forum for doing exactly this after the 2006 David Malin awards...remember?

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

If 9 judges from a broad cross section of the astronomical world haven't seen an image before, how tha hell can it be deamed to have been widely published??

Did not your entry get a feature page in AS&T? So you're me kidding about "widely published" right? Dunno whether you've noticed Mike, but the rest of the world thinks Oz is near the spot on the edge of the map that says "Here be Dragons..."

I see a lot of published material in my travels, and could have sworn Martins excellent image was in a magazine elsewhere...I should have double checked, it turned out to be a *very* stupid thing to say, and a sincere apology was extended.

The fact that Martin is a Brit who took up citizenship mattered not to me, other than for the record, I thought a Brit had won, not an Aussie. I got it wrong again. Martin has all bases covered!

But as for the rules.....yes, I guess they were open to interpretation.

Sydney Obs blog? Had to think about that.... Some suggested the Malin Awards were rigged...yes I did object!

Are you suggesting I'm suggesting RGO comp was rigged?! I think not!

My position is simply this... I read the rules and chose not to enter, as my best images had been published. A lot of other imagers thought the same as me.

You thought differently, chose to enter and did well..... so good for you too.

[h0ughy (David)]

righto guys - photon pistols and ion drives at 20 paces with no Ha shields......come on!!!!

I couldn't care less who was published where, but i will say that the images I saw were terrific, and if the comp is on again next year - there will be more Aussies entering i suspect, whether we fair OK is up to the judges and our luck on the night of capturing the photons and processing the results.

To say that we are an ink blot on the map, so be it, but its a pretty darn good blot.


So I can see Mike holding the scope, with Peter on the camera and Martin capturing the photons - you guys can call it MiPeTin Capturing Inc........

[NickHowes (Nick)]

wow...

As a Brit, who almost emigrated a few years back to Oz (my wife and I love your country so much...but family issues had to come first), I was just immensely proud and honoured to even be in the same shortlist as some of the amazing images at the event. Martin's image is being debated all over the world, my take on it, having seen it first hand in print, and 8ft high on the roof of the planetarium at the RGO on the award night, is that it;s a staggering piece of work, which shows immense technical skill and great attention to detail.

I have been first hand at Mt Palomar in the control room of the Hale scope, and had images to work on taken with that monster. Martin's image, for an amateur setup (okay so a v good one!) is truly as good as what most pro observatories could have taken up to only a decade or so ago..

I hope some of you managed to come over to our shores (bring your weather with you please!), to see it all first hand, and all I can say again is huge congratulations to Martin and all the other Aussies, Brits, Americans etc, who managed to get to the final/images published.

I write for a UK Astronomy Magazine, and my pics are published in mags all the time, as are a huge proportion of the 500 images submitted...frankly I don't care...I talked to the judges (who blind reviewed each image with no names known), 6 of whom I know personally, and the only things I suggested for next year is to completely forbid any images taken with robotic pro scopes (I have access to FT and a few others, and no way would I submit images from them, it's not fair), and also no way allow any submissions of doctored Hubble data (it was done!)

Anyway... well done Martin et al...keep em coming, keep inspiring me and everyone else...and rol on 2010

[DavidU (Dave)]

Well put Nick. Are you serious about someone fiddling with Hubble data?

[NickHowes (Nick)]

Yup...two images were submitted which were Hubble data..

Oh....and this made me laugh

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk...ws_289035.html

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by NickHowes

Oh....and this made me laugh

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk...ws_289035.html

Looks like the Pom's want you back as one of their own Martin

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

So I can see Mike holding the scope, with Peter on the camera and Martin capturing the photons - you guys can call it MiPeTin Capturing Inc........

If it were you and I Dave we would just be EatMePie

Mike

[Martin Pugh]

Hello Chris and many thanks for that write up and interesting post.

Blimey, if I only had some sort of inkling I would have done everything to get out of my military duties here (or rather at the time of the announcements) and flew to London. I just cant imagine what the image would have looked like, 8ft tall, projected onto the roof of the planetarium.

But what was it that made you laugh about that article you linked to?

I only know that I exchanged multiple emails with the RGO team because they wanted to be clear on where I came from, and what my nationality was (which I firmly declared as Australian). They wanted this right for the press release, yet every web article I have read has me down as British (which is still part true as I have dual-citizenship, but for the purpose of this competition, I was firmly Australian).

thanks for the post.

cheers
Martin

[avandonk]

Congratulations to all that participated. I always stay away from competitions as it can lead to 'inbred' opinions of what is a very good image.

It is obvious to me that all the top images were very good.

I would hate to be a judge given the quality they have to winnow.

Bert

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

But what was it that made you laugh about that article you linked to?

The title of the article:

"British photographer scoops astronomy title"

Taken from Australia by an Australian now, ah huh! but hey kobber you are still British, what

"Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler, when you think old England's done..."

[gregbradley]

Congrats to all the winners. That's a great result.

Did you go to London as well Mike?

Greg.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Did not your entry get a feature page in AS&T? So you're me kidding about "widely published" right? Dunno whether you've noticed Mike, but the rest of the world thinks Oz is near the spot on the edge of the map that says "Here be Dragons..."

I see a lot of published material in my travels, and could have sworn Martins excellent image was in a magazine elsewhere...I should have double checked, it turned out to be a *very* stupid thing to say, and a sincere apology was extended.

The fact that Martin is a Brit who took up citizenship mattered not to me, other than for the record, I thought a Brit had won, not an Aussie. I got it wrong again. Martin has all bases covered!

But as for the rules.....yes, I guess they were open to interpretation.

Sydney Obs blog? Had to think about that.... Some suggested the Malin Awards were rigged...yes I did object!

Are you suggesting I'm suggesting RGO comp was rigged?! I think not!

My position is simply this... I read the rules and chose not to enter, as my best images had been published. A lot of other imagers thought the same as me.

You thought differently, chose to enter and did well..... so good for you too.

I sympathise with you Peter, it would really sh*t me too, having thought you were doing the right thing and not entering a published image. But not so publically perhaps . Clearly, "widely published" should be better defined.

Anyway, congrats to the winners.