Landscape nominee

The solitude of this landscape is visually enhanced by the snow—refining nature down to a few simple bare elements. Lines intersecting lines, a tree with no base to root it, a horizon with no line to break it, tones of white on white, contrasted by the white of the sky. Presented in duality to show the challenge of finding solitude within—even when we are alone, nature still must compete with temptations of technology and unrelated thoughts of today’s life. We must turn off to find some quiet in our lives and try to reconnect.

Hokkaido, Japan

Full-time photographic artist and educator based in Wanaka, New Zealand.

Richard Young’s work offers a fresh approach to New Zealand landscape photography, defining himself as a photographic artist who works within the landscape. His vision has evolved over years from capturing the grand vista to focusing on an emotional and expressive engagement with the landscape—creating distinctive, personal bodies of work.

While most of this work is made in New Zealand, some of his collections originate from time spent in Antarctica, Africa and England. “The location itself does not define my work—I do not seek to simply to represent–the landscape is a canvas for my expressive and emotional response”. Richard’s photographs render nature in a way you could not see with your own eyes and are “approached with an authenticity that does not break their original connection with nature”.