Best of WA professional photography on show at State Library

When she set out on a trip to the Arctic, nature photographer Sharon Jones hadn't intended to visit Vigur Island in Iceland's Westfjords.

But as she stepped off the boat onto the island, she snapped an award-winning image of an Atlantic puffin.

"We were meant to go to Greenland, but there was too much ice, we couldn't get there and ended up spending a little bit of extra time in Iceland instead," Jones said.

"One of the extra places that we went to was a little place called Vigur Island, which is way up in the north of Iceland. And that's where I got the puffins."

Jones has won the environmental category in Western Australia's annual Ilford Orloff Awards for her photograph of the puffin and other images.

Her winning entries are a combination of being in the right place at the right time and having a keen eye for a striking image.

"That was just a lucky shot," she said of the puffin.

"We'd literally just got off the ferry on to the island, and were hanging around this particular rock, waiting for the rest of the group, and I turned around and this puffin flew in, right next to me, sitting there, beak full of fish.

"He sat there for about a minute and then took off again."

Celebrating WA's photographers

The third annual Ilford Orloff Awards, named for famed interwar photographer Izzy Orloff, were awarded last week and work from all the finalists is now on display across two floors of the State Library in Northbridge.

Celebrating all kinds of professional photography, the awards are a showcase for the work of WA-based professional photographers.

For commercial photographer Mark Brierley, president of Pro-Photography WA, the awards are a chance not just for recognition, but to come together as a community in a profession where days are spent working solo.

"[Pro-photography WA] has been around since 2022; our members were past members of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, which went into liquidation in 2019," he said.

"And so a few of us got together and said, 'Look, we still need something here in WA.'"

From commercial to fine art

Since the group's creation, it has attracted about 80 members and made the awards an annual event.

"It's nice to get together with people that are like-minded and you're not alone, that's one of the greatest things," Brierley said.

Brierley is a commercial photographer and entered four images in this year's competition, three of which are architectural images, a particular passion of his.

But it's the fourth image that is the most striking, a mysterious white-on-white image of medical equipment that almost looks like an abstract sculpture.

"That [photo] was for a brand-new dental practice in Rockingham," he said.

"The brief was to capture the entire practice, photograph the rooms, show off the equipment in the rooms.

"When I saw what the image is, which is an X-ray machine, the way it was just positioned on the wall, packed away, it just created this beautiful abstract look to it.

"And there was soft light coming through the window, which created a little bit of shadow.

"I shot it knowing with the light, it could be used for a competition shot because it's got that art factor to it.

"The shot I delivered to a client was a little bit more realistic."

Split-second timing

While Sharon Jones usually has little opportunity to carefully compose shots, another of her striking images, a red-footed booby on Christmas Island with a branch in its mouth, took a lot of patience to capture.

Jones's work takes her to Christmas Island several times a year, allowing her to spend her free time on the island taking photos.

"And that was just an early morning before work, the boobies were all nesting in quite dense rainforest in that area," she said.

"There's a road that runs through and because it's kind of a bit clearer, they tend to come down there and collect nesting material.

"So I was standing in the middle of the road — luckily not a very busy road — and just waiting for these birds to come down, and hoping that one would come down at about head height, so I could get that really engaging head-on look, and luckily enough, I did."

Telling the stories of WA

For awards partner the State Library, the event is part of the institution's ongoing project to record West Australian history.

"The State Library has been collecting photographs for about 150 years," said David Craddock, manager of the library's engagement and creative programs team.

"The reason we're supporting the Ilford Orloff Awards, and working with Pro-Photography WA, is it's a connection with contemporary photography.

"We're really interested in the stories that contemporary new WA photographers are telling, and in some cases, we acquire these photos because they're a beautiful snapshot of what's happening in WA right now."

Izzy Orloff, who the awards are named after, captured more than 1,000 images of everyday life and work in Perth and Fremantle between the wars, leaving a priceless record for the State Library.

"His collection is one of the treasures of the State Library's heritage collection," Mr Craddock said.

In that spirit, the library sponsored a new category in the awards last year, the narrative award, which acknowledges images that record life in WA.

"It must be a West Australian subject shot in Western Australia by a West Australian photographer," Mr Craddock said.

This year's winner of the narrative award was Richard Goodwin, with an image titled The Poppy Sisterhood.

It depicts a craft group from directly above, with members knitting around a large round table in a coffee shop in the Swan Valley.

The group began by knitting poppies for Anzac Day and now makes knitted items for breast cancer patients.

"It's beautiful, it's literally a fly on the wall photo … it very much sums up the storytelling that we're trying to capture," Mr Craddock said.

The finalists and winners' photographs, in all the categories, are on display at the State Library until February 8, 2026.