Photographer wins Five Lands award

Umina resident Ms Stacey Saul has been named the winner of the Five Lands Walk photography competition with her photograph, Home Time.

Ms Saul said when she was advised by Five Lands Walk president Mr Con Ryan that her photograph had been picked in the final eight she was surprised, having had minimal experience in photography previously.

"When my name was called for the first prize, I was very happy and also surprised as there were many wonderful entries," she said.

"A couple of years ago my husband decided he wanted to buy a digital SLR to take photos of our three boys playing soccer at the weekend.

"Around the same time my very good friend had also bought a new camera and she talked me into doing a TAFE course for the introduction to digital photography.

"Upon finishing the course, I had found a new hobby and have taken it from there," she said.

Ms Saul said it was the beauty of MacMasters Beach that inspired her winning photo.

"My sister lives at Macs and it is such a pretty place down there.

"The competition stipulated that the photograph had to be taken within the five lands between May 1 and May 16.

"My sister was the one who encouraged me to enter the comp and the photo is actually of her and her son walking back to the house after a walk along the lake feeding the ducks," she said.

Ms Saul has just launched a photography business, M&S Photography, with friend Ms Margaret Channing.

"We have been getting work pretty much by word of mouth but we have a website in progress which will hopefully give us some further exposure," she said.

"With three school-aged children, photography is something I can fit into our family life without causing too much disruption," said Ms Saul.

Kaitlin Watts, 22 Jul 2011 Interviewee: Stacey Saul