Hobby snaps win top photograph prizes

Two Kalgoorlie-Boulder hobby photographers have taken out the main prizes in the Kalgoorlie Miner’s annual Goldfields Best Photograph competition. And with a drone image of Wylie Bay in Esperance that she submitted just hours before the deadline, Elmarie Dreyer was selected as the judges’ and people’s choice winner in the Esperance Best Photograph competition. She told the Kalgoorlie Miner she first found a passion in photography as a child after a relative gave her a camera. Now, she said, her camera and drone were never too far from her side. The Goldfields judges’ favourite image was a “reflective” moment captured by Kalgoorlie- Boulder’s Kathryn Hustler while at the Coolgardie Rodeo and Ute Muster in August. Ms Hustler said the black-and-white shot was one of many she took at the rodeo, but the stoic cowboy and his horse had caught her eye amid the chaotic day. “I just like that one because it looked reflective,” she said. “There were a lot of professional photographers in town so I was expecting one of those to win so I wasn’t expecting for one second to win it.” Tari Laatz was the people’s choice award for the Goldfields entrants with an image inspired by mining. The judges’ prize winners will receive $500 plus a framed certificate and and be featured on the Kalgoorlie Miner 2022 calendar.