A photograph capturing the celebrations on the floor of the House of Representatives following the passing of last year’s marriage equality legislation has been awarded the top prize in the 2018 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year Prize.
Lukas Coch’s image Linda Burney Airborne was on the front of newspapers the day after the legislation passed. The photograph captured the NSW Labor politician being swung around in the air by Liberal-National member Warren Entsch.
Coch, who shoots for Australian Association Press, said the moment had deep significance as the grieving politician had a moment of joy.
“For Burney it was a bittersweet moment — her son, who was gay, had died just six weeks before. For all of those who campaigned so hard for so many years, it was both a happy day and a day far too long in coming.”
The judges praised the image as “a brilliant news picture with so much backstory behind it. The colour of the flag is visually powerful and tells so much. It’s a spontaneous moment superbly captured. There’s a lot of life in this image. And so much emotion, it humanises our parliamentarians.”
Aside from being the overall winner, Coch’s image was also the winner in the news photography category.
Also picking up an award was Sylvia Liber from the Illawarra Mercury who won the portrait prize for her photograph of a transgender couple.
Head over to the Walkley’s site to see the other amazing photographs in the competition.
OIP Staff
