PHOTO
An East Otago photographer has had her work featured at Tūhura Otago Museum for the second straight year.
The Tūhura Photography Exhibition is on display in Dunedin at present.
Created in collaboration with the Department of Conservation, the exhibition features the best images submitted to the 2026 Tūhura Photography Competition.
Waikouaiti-based photographer Michell Brunton has five of her shots featured in the exhibition.
‘‘I couldn’t believe I got five in — that was a bit of a surprise,’’ she said.
The key to wildlife photography was ‘‘heaps’’ of practice, she said.
Understanding the animals she was shooting also helped.
‘‘It’s not really hit and miss. There’s quite a bit of thought and planning that needs to go into it.’’
She has road-tripped to the West Coast, Central Otago and the Catlins to shoot, but also loves taking photos at Hawksbury Lagoon in Waikouaiti.
In previous years, the competition was only open to Otago residents and the record for entry numbers was under 5000.
But this year, organisers opened it up to photographers across the country with a new national pop-up category — Wild Aotearoa — and received more than 9000 entries across all four categories.
Other categories were wildlife, botanical and landscape.
The exhibition at Tūhura Otago Museum will run until July 19.
