Winners of InFocus 2025 Announced

Published on 11 February 2025

The winners of the 2025 InFocus photography competition have been announced today, to coincide with the launch of the 2025 Plunge Arts & Culture Festival program.

Five winners will each receive a $500 prize, and their images will be featured in the 2025 program. Large-scale banners featuring the winning photographs will be on display in the courtyard of the Grafton Regional Gallery from Thursday 27 March through the month of April.

The winners of the 2025 InFocus photo competition are:

• Plunge category; Misty Fisher, Jacaranda Sky
  Jacaranda Sky is a contemporary composition of Jacaranda blossoms in vibrant colour that will appear on the cover of the Plunge Arts & Culture Festival program for 2025.

• Community category; Abigail Smith, Woodford Island Crew
  Woodford Island Crew is a joyful image that celebrates canine contributions to our community.

• Landscape category; Kathy Brown, Little Dandahra Creek
  Little Dandahra Creek is a well executed concept that is a literal representation of ‘plunge’.

• Environment category; Mitchell Forrester, The Milky Way, Cane Fire and McFarlane Bridge
  The Milky Way, Cane Fire and McFarlane Bridge is a technically difficult and successfully executed scenic photograph.

• People category; Paisley Faith Padayachee, In the Spotlight
  In the Spotlight is a quirky self-capture that is unique and interesting.

The InFocus competition was created in 2013 to encourage local photographers to capture the culture of the Clarence Valley. 

Since then, the photographs have been displayed at the Grafton Regional Gallery and other venues across the Valley, used for the promotion of the Plunge Arts & Culture festival and featured within the program booklet. 

Entrants were asked to submit an image that demonstrates the theme of “My Clarence” in any of four categories:  Community, Environment, Landscape and People. The winners were selected by a panel of local, professional photographers.

The Plunge program will be available online from 11 February 2025 and copies available from Clarence Valley Council offices, libraries, galleries and arts & cultural businesses from 13 February 2025.