Manilla's Shannon Swanton and Barraba's Paula McIver win Rural Aid competition

Manilla's Shannon Swanton and Barraba's Paula McIver both were among the 12 winners from across Australia, in a competition receiving more than 300 entries.

Mrs Swanton's winning work, titled Father and Son, features her shearer husband Jamie relaxing on a 'smoko' break talking to their son, Nash, now nine, while working at the 20-stand Bando Station at Mullaley in January.

"They were most likely talking about what it's like to be a shearer as Nash is keen to follow in the footsteps of both his father, as well as my father and Nash's grandfather, Paul Handsaker, who was a local shearer for close to 60 years," she said.

A keen photographer, armed only with her mobile phone, Mrs Swanton is proud of her family's close connections to the shearing industry, having also worked as a woolclasser and roustabout in the past herself.

"The day I took (the winning image) I was snapping photos in quick succession at 'Bando', and took the one of Jamie and Nash as I walked past, continuing on taking lots of other photos that day.

"Shearing is in my blood, and it was the natural, raw feeling of the moment of the father and son together that drew me to take that photo and then select it as one of my entries in the competition," she said.

This was only the second photographic competition Mrs Swanton had entered. Her first was at the 2023 Manilla Show photography competition, where she won the novice section and collected the Lindsay Bignall Memorial Trophy for Champion Print of the Show.

Mrs McIver entered two winning photographs in the Rural Aid competition, neither of which were planned.

During a trip home through Tamworth with her husband Irvin, they came across a farmer moving a mob of sheep along the road, and stopped to take the photo, titled Moving the mob, using her mobile phone.

Mrs McIver's second winning entry, titled Historical buildings at Grenfell, was taken during a trip to see family living in the Central West town.

"Irvin and I were killing some time while waiting to go to dinner, so took a stroll around Grenfell when I took the photo - it was early evening and the light was beautiful," she said.

The photo was taken using Mrs McIver's camera and a 28-300 millimetre lens, which is her main choice for photography due to its flexibility.

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Mrs McIver first entered the 2022 Rural Aid competition, to win her first award this year, and loves to work during the early morning and later afternoon/early evening when the light is soft.

"The most important factor for me is the light - the right light can be a magnet for me," she said.

"Sometimes my photos are taken by chance, as the sheep mob image was, but I do love working during that 'golden hour' of light."

In recent years Mrs McIver has had some success in the international Monochrome Awards for black and white photography as well as Frost Over Barraba.

She has been a member of the Barraba Shutterbugs photography group for the past couple of years, describing herself as an amateur who has also done some commercial work on request.

Rural Aid Chief Executive Officer John Warlters said this year's competition entries included a lot of animal and livestock images, demonstrating the close relationship between animals and people on the land.

The 12 winning photos will be used to create a 2024 calendar, with profits from their sale directed back into Rural Aid's range of award-winning programs, Mr Warlters said.

The calendars are available for pre-order now through the Rural Aid website.

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