Simon Devitt Prize for Photography
Winner 2016

Jodie Salmond is the winner of the 2016 Simon Devitt Prize for Photography.


The postgraduate student from Elam School of Fine Arts was awarded the 2016 Simon Devitt Prize for Photography, for her series of three images captured using an iPhone.

This year’s theme was ‘a chance encounter’ and Salmond, who is in her final-year of her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA), included two haiku poems as part of her tryptich entitled ‘When I’m night driving’.

Judge Simon Devitt, described Salmond’s work as ‘beguiling and arresting’. When presenting the prize to her he said “the winning work took risks, pairing a familiar night road trip scene with a close up study of an aggregate surface and road markings, which were unsettling in their shift of speed and scale.”


The Simon Devitt Prize for Photography is an annual award to celebrate the best student photograph at the University of Auckland, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries with this year’s theme entitled: A Chance Encounter.

A selection of twenty finalist from seventy entries have been chosen for this year’s exhibition to feature in the Auckland Festival of Photography Fringe Programme. The overall winner will receive the Simon Devitt Prize for Photography Trophy, NZ$1000 and a Canon Power Shot G7X camera.

Thank you to our valued sponsors and partners:
Simon Devitt, Auckland Festival of Photography, Canon and John Leech Framing Workshop

See the exhibition images here »

I recently took off on holiday to The States and left my camera gear at home cooling down after a blazing few months around New Zealand and offshore. My eyes and trigger finger couldn’t help themselves though, with the abundance of superb light, iconic architecture, art, spaces, compositions the iPhone camera was heading for data overload. So many classic moments from dinosaurs to the Dia that needed to be captured. Here’s a few of my favourites.

New Whitney Museum

New Whitney Museum, Meat packing district, NYC by Architect: Renzo Piano

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Raking late afternoon light across Radio City Music Hall, NYC by Architect: Edward Durell Stone (1932)

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Interior space at Noguchi Museum, Queens, NYC

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Tree line lines at the pointy end of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park,
Manhattan, NYC by Architect: Louis Kahn

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United Nations Headquarters photographed from Roosevelt Island, Manhattan, NYC by Architect: Le Corbusier

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Monumental steel with Richard Serra at Dia Beacon, New York

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The Mermaid I met first in 1995 at the Americas Cup in San Diego
(during my first professional assignment) by Roy Lichtenstein at Storm King, New York

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Muted top light falls gently onto the courtyard at the Frick Museum, NYC

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Boats, People, Lake, Summer, Central Park West, NYC

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Dem Bones, Natural History Museum, Central Park West, NYC

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Slice of light runs up the Flat Iron Building, NYC by Architects: D.H. Burnham & Co. (1902)

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Ground Floor Elevation at the Donald Judd, Spring Street Building, NYC

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Getty Centre with waterless water feature due to current Californian drought,
Los Angeles, California by Architect: Frank Gehry

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‘Jesus Saves’ or ‘Susej Sevas’ depending on your world view.
Shot from the comfort of the rooftop bar at the Ace Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles, California

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Blue sky meets garden green reflecting in the Walt Disney Concert Hall,
Downtown Los Angeles, California by Architect: Frank Gehry

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Last of the evening summer sun, Griffith Observatory,
Los Angeles, California by Architects: John C. Austin and Frederick M. Ashley (1932)

Congratulations to the winner and six finalists in the 2015 Home of the Year Award, announced in April. Amongst those in the running for the award were some stunners I’ve photographed: The Rammed Earth House by Justin and Louise Wright of Assembly Architects and the Titirangi Red House by Ken Crosson of Crosson, Clarke, Carnachan Architects.

See the finalists here »

Titrangi Red House

I’m heading over to Papua New Guinea soon to photograph the 2015 Pacific Games Village by New Zealand architects Warren & Mahoney, and the Taurama National Aquatic and Indoor Sports Centre by Peddle Thorp. Stand by for some great shots.