CJPOTY round four winners

The theme for the fourth round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition was ‘From Up-Above’ and we invited photographers to take a top-down look on their subjects. We loved seeing all the images entered and there were some really interesting interpretations of the brief.

Now, after a lengthy judging session, we are delighted to reveal that the following images will go onto our shortlist to be judged by our illustrious panel at the end of the year. This theme was obviously one that resonated with some entrants as we have a few who have not one, but two images shortlisted!

And of course, one of these ten shortlisted images has also been selected as the round winner with the photographer being awarded a voucher from MPB worth £500 – scroll down to find out who.

CJPOTY April 2022 From Up Above shortlisted images

Sara Jazbar

Sara tells us that she captured this staircase in a 15-story building in her home city. We particularly like that she has included the gentleman looking down into the void because it adds to the sense of scale and spectacle. Sara captured her image using her Nikon D500 and a Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8 lens.

Charlotte Bellamy

Charlotte took her Nikon D750 up with her in a hot air balloon and was on the lookout for unique things to photograph in the Dutch landscape. She spotted this is a field of grass mowed by tractor- creating this amazing pattern that almost looks like a piece of material or corduroy. Something that the farmer could not mow over and had to drive round resulted in this eye-like shape. It makes for a captivating image.

Kathy Henry

Kathy used her Olympus SP560UZ bridge camera to capture this arresting image of a pigeon at the top of the Empire State Building. We love Kathy’s unique take on the brief and the fact that the pigeon could take off at any moment for a better view of those distant buildings.

Pawel Zygmunt

Pawel flew a DJI Mavic 2 above Kallur on Kalsoy in the Faroe Islands to capture this stunning shot with the drone’s onboard Hasselblad L1D-20C camera. On the way up to the take-off point, Pawel was bombed by a hail storm and there was a strong wind, but thankfully, the weather conditions improved enough to make it safe to put the drone up.

Pawel’s second shortlisted image was also captured using a DJI Mavic 2, this time over Lofoten, Norway and with a critically low battery. Thankfully, the drone made it back to shore safely and Pawel was rewarded with this fabulous image.

Carmen Drake

Carmen says that this is one of the first images that she shot with her first drone, a DJI Mavic Air 2. She now has two drones and holds the A2 Certificate of Competency for drone-flying. She tells us, ‘one of the greatest advantages of shooting images with drones is the new perspective that they show, something that we cannot see from the ground level. It was great to discover the patterns of the Iron Age earthworks around the ruins of the Knowlton Church.’

Carmen’s second image, this time of Maiden Castle in Dorset, was also captured using her DJI Mavic 2 Air, but this time she shot several images at different exposures and combined them to bring out more detail from the scene. This shot really demonstrates the benefit of shooting from high up when you want to see the contours of the land surface.

Molly Hollman

Molly was our round one winner and this time she pointed her Sony A7 III and 55mm Zeiss lens down towards a ladybird on top of a Rudbeckia to meet the ‘From Up Above’ brief. There’s a definite sense of height on a different scale in the image. Follow the link to read more about our CJPOTY round one winner.

For her second shortlisted image in this round, Molly used a DJI Mini 2. This image, captured in early autumn, shows the maze at Mount Ephraim Gardens, featuring rudbeckias, eupatorium and grasses. A drone is the ideal way to reveal the perfectly round walls of the maze.

Rebecca Hedges

Rebecca shot from one mountain to another with her Canon PowerShot G15 compact camera to capture this wonderful image of some huts that are used by farmers in the summer. Thanks to the pristine snow around them, the huts looks almost like the they are floating in clouds.

CJPOTY April 2022 winner: Kathy Henry

Congratulations Kathy, a voucherto the value of £500 from MPB is heading your way! Let us know what you spend it on. Your image will also join the other nine in our shortlist to be judged for the overall prize at the end of the year.

CJPOTY May 2022: ‘Beautiful Planet’

The theme for the fifth round of the Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition is ‘Beautiful Planet’. We want to see your favourite landscapes, whether they are close to home or a long-haul flight away.

This round of our monthly competition is open for submissions until 18:00 BST (19:00 CET and 10:00 PST) on 31st May 2022.

To submit your entry, visit cjpoty.com. You can submit one image per entry but make up to three entries for £2.00 plus payment processing costs (£0.26).

Beautiful Planet inspiration

If you’re relatively new to photography, take a look at our landscape photography tips for beginners, where you’ll find advice on lens selection, camera settings and composition. There are still some bluebells around in the UK at the moment, so follow the link if you’d like some specific tips on how to photograph bluebells.

MPB also has some recommendations for the cameras and lenses to use for landscape photography plus six tips for eco-conscious landscape photography.

Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year prizes

At the end of the month, the Camera Jabber team will pick one winning image and nine runners up from the April entries. The photographer of the winning image will receive a voucher from MPB.com to the value of £500 which can be spent on anything from a huge range of kit from the World’s biggest platform for used photographic gear.

All 10 of the selected images will go into our shortlist for the year.

We’ll do this each month in 2022 so that by the end of the year, there will be 120 shortlisted images. These will then go before our fantastic panel of judges who will decide the 1st, 2nd and 3rd-placed images. You don’t have to enter the competition every month, but you are welcome to do so and the more shortlisted images you have at the end of the year, the greater than chance of winning the top prize.

The photographer of the first-placed image overall, as decided by the panel of judges, will received a voucher to the value of £1000 from MPB.com as well as a trophy and the title ‘Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year 2023‘. The photographers who come second and third will receive vouchers worth £500 and £250 respectively.

The judges are:

Ben Brain – Photographer, journalist & Sigma ambassador
Sophie Collins – Chief Marketing Office at MPB
Donna Crous – Food photographer, author, Nikon Europe ambassador and Rotolight Master of Light
Kate Hopewell-Smith – Wedding, portrait & boudoir photographer, Sony ambassador
Sanjay Jogia – Wedding photographer & Canon ambassador
Pete Reed OBE – Three times Olympic gold medal-winning rower and keen documentary photographer
Dominique Shaw – Photographer and co-founder of York Place Studios and Fujifilm ambassador
Craig Strong – Lensbaby founder
Christina Vaughan – Founder of Cultura Creative, the home of inclusive stock photography
Jeremy Walker – Landscape photographer, author & former Nikon ambassador

About MPB

Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB is the world’s largest platform for used photography and videography kit. MPB has transformed the way people buy, sell and trade equipment, making photography more accessible, affordable and sustainable.

Headquartered in the creative communities of Brighton, Brooklyn and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service. Every piece of kit is inspected carefully by product specialists and comes with a six-month warranty to give customers peace of mind that buying used doesn’t mean sacrificing reliability.