The votes were cast to determine the top 3. Stefan Haworth is proud to announce the winner of Moments Captured 2020 content creation contest. Congratulations!
In this European summer, I was able to go back to my roots. Waking up every morning thinking about the delicious meals I was going to eat, the wonderful people I was going to meet, and the waves I was going to surf. It was a new rebirth and a new opportunity to appreciate life. In this video, I collect many of the moments that made me happy and that I will always remember forever.
Special thanks to all the finalists! We were blown away with the quality of the moments submitted, keep up the good work. The top 3 were selected by you, but there could only be one winner.
It was January of this year. My brother & I planned an astronaut themed photo shoot 2 days before he passed. Tomorrow is not promised. I couldn’t fathom taking pictures without him, or even picking up my camera. Who could possibly understand my crazy ideas like he did? We had so many adventures together & I will cherish every one of them. The one thing Isaiah would have never wanted was for me to stop creating. I could imagine him laughing at me being a dork running around in a space suit & for the first time in a while, it made me laugh. I did this shoot with my wonderful mother, my biggest encourager. In this life there is pain, loss and uncertainty. Yet, still so much beauty in the midst of it. I love creating, behind the camera and in front of it. I hope as an artist I can capture the beauty that does remain and share it with others. Because there is still hope.
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I was feeling stuck, so I decided to go on my first solo camping/road trip. I found this place on Google and showed up in the middle of the night, a bit scared and not even sure I was in the right spot. It was so dark and I couldn’t see anything. I slept in my car and woke up for sunrise. It felt like I was on another planet. So I climbed to the tallest point I could see to take it all in. Such an otherworldly place.
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With Melbourne lockdown throughout most of 2020, my partner has been tinkering away at his other love ready for summer time. With our first weekend free for Regional Victoria, regardless of the weather, we took it upon ourselves to do a small family adventure x4 day adventure up the Great Ocean road & through the Otways. between a broken clutch cable, rainy nights & one smelly pup, this is what we saw.....
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More often that not it's the things that don't go to plan that make the trip memorable. Sometimes it's the struggle that you reminisce the most once the trip comes to a close. This trip was filled with them. Struggles and things not going to plan. The heaviest rain in seven years, multiple broken bikes and stuck sleeping under the stars with no means of cooking was all part of it. Being wet, cold and hungry was not super enjoyable at the time but every time we talk about the trip is what we laugh at the most. Our mechanical skills definitely improved, we made tea in empty beer cans over the fire and we learnt the difference that good company can have in a trying time. The morale of the story is don't plan too much, you never know what fun you might have.
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Moments coalesce and gather to form some of our best memories. Its always interesting taking a step back and see where they all started. A dive into the unknown, a last minute decision, a desire for change or a turn of the key. The ability to record these memories or capture them at thousandths of a second is something we will always love and cherish, something that ultimately will be all that we have. They will be the things that truly matter. The ability to reminisce, become nostalgic, cry and laugh. This is why we capture and record, for the little details and minutiae of memories. To recall moments.
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This was moments before he told me he had just come out to his parents. He said it went really well. This wasn't posed or practiced. I think he just felt free.
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It was May 2019, and those of us graduating from school could feel the nervous buzz that comes with stepping into a new chapter. We agreed it was the perfect time to get away from it all, and no better place to do it than the Grand Canyon. An eight-hour drive turned to ten as we navigated a dizzying number of dirt roads to finally find the unmarked trailhead. Then came the most challenging part of the journey. 40lb backpacks, 3000ft elevation drop, 105-degree heat, and only a few cairns to mark the way. There was sweat, there was swearing, and yes there was even dehydration sickness, but we made it...together. Knees buckling, we collapsed into turquoise blue water, remaining there until the sun sank well below the warm canyon walls. The gurgling river and harmonious tune of the crickets lulled us to sleep while the rising moon cast a shadow on the tall reeds beside us. As we hiked out the next day, we could hear the booming sound of a revolver reverberating off the canyon walls, a salute to the American Southwest - a place where many before us had come to find mischief and adventure.
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In my moment, time does not exist. Only a collection of emotions, visual stimuli, temperature, humidity, and a barrage of unregulated vital signs present themselves to remind me of where I am, and that I am exactly where I need to be. No more and no less, as time stands still if only for a moment — however long that may be. My moments are both my home and my adventure all at once. Whether it be the quiet that overcomes me as I stand, witnessing the gentle snowfall across an ice-torn terrain, or the adrenaline that pumps through my chest as I hover over turquoise waves softly tapping at the edge of ancient hardened volcanic lava — I am home, and this is my moment. This is our moment, because my homes and adventures are fluid. They exist when and where we experience them, together -- my best friend and I (sometimes I call him my husband). When the winds howl and push us along an empty, unforgiving tundra, and when the trickling creek beckons us to go just a little bit further into the fern-lined valley, we are home. These are the moments. These are our moments.
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Was sitting on top of a hill staring out at the massive icebergs in the icefjord. All of a sudden we noticed a pod of Humpback whales playing in the bay. You can hear the unmistakable sound of these majestic creatures from quite a distance! What an incredible moment and one which I will never forget. Ilulissat Icefjord, Disko Bay, Western Greenland.
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A wintery quest in the south of Iceland. The objective? Capture, explore, sleep – repeat. Making our beds just a couple of kilometres from the glaciers of Vatnajökull National Park, we’d open the curtains every morning to see the Defender half frozen, icicles emerging from places they probably shouldn’t. In the distance, snowy mountain peaks called out, urging us to roam their ice caves and summit their crystal blue walls. And so we did. Crampons and ice axes included. We found ourselves on this insane 7-day adventure bender, so high on life that at one point Nico thought he needed to cool off with a swim. It certainly put a bit more hair on his chest and got the blood flowing – but wasn’t enough to make me want to follow suit. Day after day we’d traverse the glaciers, admiring their everchanging shapes. We’d spend 8-10 hours shooting, hiking and climbing, and often found ourselves racing back to the car in the darkness. The drive home was almost the best part. That isolated stretch of road gave us enough time to think about all the epic stuff we’d just captured, whilst getting us pumped to do it all again the next day.
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Flying on a beach in the Sicilian south coast I found this perfect example of social distancing.
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Shot on Illford HP5 film pre covid in New Delhi. I had been backpacking around Sri Lanka and India on a passion project shooting film photographs for a travel magazine that I was creating, and on the trip I kept one black and white roll of film with me. Walking through Hazrat Nizamuddin Shrine in New Delhi, through the thick crowd a lady in a burka was approaching. As we got closer I pulled my camera out and clicked the shutter, and in that moment it was like she looked through my soul and time stopped for a little while.
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I am an ocean photographer and have captured these incredible moments with these beautiful creatures. A single moment in time I am honoured to have shared between myself and these ocean dwellers
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Two friends & I decided to drive 6+ hours to photograph this art prop that looks like an actual Prada store in the middle of the desert. Things never go according to plan and we missed the sunset shot we wanted. We decided to keep going and at least see it, by the time we got there there it was the most epic scene I could ever ask for. There was a hail storm brewing up in the background and about 10 mins after I got this photo the hail storm reached us. I wanted to give up after knowing the sunset shot was not possible but so glad I made the decision to keep going. This is a moment I’ll remember forever!
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After heading out of level four lockdown during winter, my mate and I decided to go on an adventure throughout the south of NZ making the most of the often crowded epic spots in the country. From Milford Sound, Lake Marian to Mt Cook and the Godly Valley of Tekapo, we got to see these spectacular spots in their prime during the heart of winter.
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One moment. A chance to face my fears, to push myself past my boundaries. A combination of anxiety and excitement overcame me as I dove deeper into the underwater cave. One breath. One lung full of oxygen, my physical strength and my mental power is all I could rely on to get me back to the surface safely. But to my surprise once my eyes adjusted past the blinding light beam into the black depths of the cave, what was found? Peace. Tranquility. An absolute silence I’ve never experienced in my entire life. An unforgettable moment in time where the chaos of life and the noise of my anxious thoughts were put to rest. One moment. One breath.
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Before visiting Iran for two months I didn’t know what to expect. I preferred to take a plunge and make up my own mind since media talks mostly negatively about the country. It didn’t surprise me that my family and friends were worried when I decided to travel to this controversial country. My partner and I planned to hitchhike and couchsurf, which is illegal in Iran but our hunger for the experience of meeting people in such way was bigger than following the rules. The images I shot show quotes from people of all ages from all over Iran. The conversations I had with them inspired me for this photo project. I wrote the quotes on pieces of printed paper and placed each on either public or private spaces. I published the Images on Instagram, a place where the world can hear their voices. Iran is very much more than just politics, but it quickly becomes a topic when the rest of the world judges upon it.
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Sumo wrestling in Japan is considered a sacred cultural art form. Access to the athletes is often restricted and their day to day activities are deliberately shrouded in secrecy. Here we take a rare glimpse into a training session at one of Tokyo’s Sumo stables where agility, leg squats and movements are performed as aspiring and junior athletes are put through their paces by the stable’s master.
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Jess and I were driving a from Copenhagen to Florence for a friends wedding and decided to make a stop at Cinque Terre, on the Italian Riviera along the epic road trip adventure we had found ourselves on. We swam out with Jess' underwater housing and while swimming around naked for her to photograph me, I had to stop her and flip the camera to grab this image. I had an image like this in mind for so long and had never had the space between subject and background, water clarity or the moment just align and at this spot, everything just worked out. I shot a few sequences of Jess diving under, we didn't have a large dome so the under/over was quite difficult to get, but when we got back to the accommodation that looked down on this beautiful town, this is what we had. This moment was one that I won't forget any time soon, just writing this makes me so excited to get back out there and make more images.
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As long as I can remember I've always been afraid of the dark. A totally irrational fear, I know. But picking up a camera for the first time in 2020 has helped me overcome finally overcome my fear. Seeing all these amazing starscapes and always loving astronomy as a kid, I knew I wanted to try astrophotography. With a little push from my girlfriend, we went to a dark local spot with my camera and started shooting. All the time I was shooting I forgot about how dark it was because I was focusing on the camera/nightscape, asking my girlfriend to try different things with her torch. I'm forever thankful for that push and I can't wait to try more starscapes. I'm still working towards not being afraid of the dark without my camera for a distraction...
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The moment I set foot on the island I was blown away. There are more sheep than people and mosquitoes don’t exist. Yes, I’m talking about the land of Vikings and endless summer days. Iceland 🇮🇸 With it’s magnificent landscapes and rough untouched nature. Who doesn’t love that!
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