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The Guardian
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Guardian Australia's Carly Earl wins top award in 2025 Australian Life photography competition
Guardian Australia's picture editor, Carly Earl, has won the $10,000 top award in the 2025 Australian Life photography competition, with the judges praising Earl for capturing 'a beautiful insight into reality of life in rural Australia' in her portrait of young drovers in central Queensland. Earl, a Sydney-based photographer and picture editor for Guardian Australia, took the portrait of 19-year-old Riley Swanson while covering a droving team working south of Roma in central Queensland. 'Young drovers in rural Australia spend months on horseback moving cattle, far from modern distractions,' Earl wrote in her artist statement for the winning work. 'Sleeping in trailers and riding 12-hour days, they face isolation, injury risks and financial loss. Many quit early, but a few, like Riley Swanson, endure the harsh, romanticised life on remote, decades-old stock routes.' Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Australian Life, an annual competition and exhibition run by the City of Sydney council as part of their public art program Art and About, showcases works from amateur and professional photographers. Earl's photograph, one of 30 finalist images across different age categories, was awarded the top prize by judges Hank Paul, who won last year; photographer Milly Hooper; and documentary and travel photographer Matt Horspool. Hooper said Earl's portrait offered 'a beautiful insight into reality of life in rural Australia – an ordinary story that most city folk wouldn't be aware of', while Horspool praised her 'use of shadows, colour and composition'. Earl's win was announced at a ceremony at Sydney's Customs House on Thursday night, along with the winners of Australian Life's youth category, open to photographers aged 13 to 17, and the Little Sydney Lives competition, open to photographers aged five to 12. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Callum Poling won Australian Life's teen category for his black and white photograph February Boat Carnival, showing the 'organised chaos' of a surf boat carnival, while Chloe Wiseman won the Little Sydney Lives category with a black and white portrait of her mum titled Home-made Mummy Double-Exposure, using a double-exposure technique. Zoe Morris was named runner up with her ebullient photograph Sibling Love, capturing 'the close bond between a brother and a sister'. The finalists from Australian Life will be showcased in an outdoor exhibition at Circular Quay, while the finalists for the Little Sydney Lives competition will be exhibited at Customs House nearby. The Australian Life and Little Sydney Lives exhibitions run until 24 August, at Customs House Square and Customs House Library, respectively.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Australian Life photography competition 2025 finalists
Young drovers in rural Australia spend months on horseback moving cattle, far from modern distractions. Sleeping in trailers and riding 12-hour days, they face isolation, injury risks and financial loss. Many quit early, but a few, like Riley Swanson, endure the harsh, romanticised life on remote, decades-old stock routes. Photograph: Carly Earl Chris lost his home in the catastrophic floods of 2022. Due to being flood affected and the ongoing housing crisis in Lismore, he's been occupying a government buy-back house. He recently received an eviction notice, leaving him with no other options. Photograph: Elise Derwin Captured over the summer holidays, this photo shows an Australian family enjoying a picnic, with the father smoking a traditional hookah. Part of the Summer Highway series, it reflects the vibrant blend of cultural traditions and Australian beach life, where families picnic, play and connect. Photograph: Natalie Grono Max is the son I always dreamed of, perfect in my eyes, though he struggles with societal gender expectations and because of this, at just four years old, he described feeling like his body was 'broken'. Now eight, Max finds comfort with friends who accept him for who he is. Photograph: Rob Palmer My three sons in the bath, determined to still fit in there together. From the ongoing series 'Brothers', a visceral journey of childhood, navigating the emotional landscape of siblings. A journey of transformation, connection and becoming. Photograph: Camilla Johansson-Merrick I took this photo of my sister as she was moving goats around in a yard. The dust started billowing up so much so one could hardly see. Photograph: Rachael Ryan Acceptance is elusive and the very need for it is disputed by the middle way of chaos and control. Each element within this world is placed and carefully curated over months of world-building among the wind, flies and unusual sandy heat. Photograph: Dave Laslett Every Wednesday during summer, at dawn, a group of revellers who call themselves Cold Nips, gather for a dip in the Indian Ocean to start their day. The red pontoon at South Beach in Fremantle is not only a local icon but an invitation to climb, jump or dive no matter your age. Photograph: Lidia D'Opera Enter Sabio's Tasmanian world of handmade objects: fantastical, grotesque, visceral, often pulling the carpet from beneath you. Opposite sides of Sabio are captured here. In 2022, Sabio's world was upturned by aggressive cancer, a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. She rose fantastically from the ashes. Photograph: Chrissie Hall Melbourne's beloved Gasometer Hotel was a maze of graffiti-covered walls, sticky beer-stained stairways, and a dancefloor beneath a retractable roof — and for this party at least, a clothesline. When word spread the venue was closing, friends and lovers gathered for one last dance, one final night of music, memories and movement before the wrecking ball arrived. Photograph: Louis Lee On this scorcher of a day, Adelaide topped the charts as the hottest city on Earth. While the kids watched on, it was the poodle who stole the show — charging through the spray like a beast unleashed, ears flying, water everywhere. Pure joy in motion, beating the heat in true Aussie style. Photograph: Melissa Crisa I captured this frame during the crowded Ramadan Nights at Lakemba this year. It was very interesting to see how the person was focused completely preparing the dish. Light and smoke was apt, even in the crowd I was lucky to get a glimpse of it and captured the frame. Photograph: Prasad Gaanesh Louie and Max met for the first time minutes before this image was taken. In between changing film rolls, the boys compared scars and spoke about masculinity. Photograph: Robert Tennent From a series entitled The Community Cup that documents the 2024 Louth Cup, the largest outback race in NSW. It features the official volunteer timers as the horses cross the line during one of the seven races in the program. The whole event is almost entirely volunteer-run. Photograph: Joe Kennedy In the midst of an Australian heatwave, 27 year-old Jarryd couldn't help but to cool off. So what better way to do so than to crack a cold one... all over himself. While unconventional and messy, it serves as a satisfying reward after a hard day's work. Photograph: Brooke Rochow Late in 2024, I picked up an old digital camera with a CCD sensor to see what the hype was about. A few weeks later, while my partner Fiona was making coffee, I casually snapped this photo from the couch. I didn't think much of it—until a month later, when looking for a submission for Australian Life, I realised how much it captured. This image distils the best parts of my life in Sydney – moments that have become my fondest memories. Photograph: Jourdain Vitiello Alice's eight-year-old daughter, Frieda, is one of thousands of children in Australia experiencing 'school can't' – difficulty attending school due to emotional distress, sometimes linked to neurodiversity. 'It's a really lonely and confusing and shameful world because you assume that you are the problem,' the Sydney mum said. This image was taken as part of a 2024 ABC Four Corners investigation, in collaboration with filmmaker Sascha Ettinger-Epstein. Photograph: Mridula Amin Self portrait of my son and I, after another lonely sleepless night. Sleep deprivation can be so crippling. And with bed-sharing the only thing that brought reprieve, shame was often an emotion that was felt, due to social pressures and expectations on how to be a good mum. Photograph: Grace Alexander
