a melbourne photographer has secured one of the most prestigious photography accolades in australia, the national photographic portrait prize from the national portrait gallery in canberra hoda afshar, 31, was awarded $25,000 for ali, an atmospheric and dreamy vision of a young boy wondering down a foggy pathway in a mountainous middle eastern village ms afshar beat 43 other finalists, selected from a record 2500 entries from across the country, in a unanimous verdict from the judges, who praised the dream like quality of the work ali, the winner of the 2015 national photographic portrait prizethe atmospheric vision captures a young boy wondering down a foggy pathway in a mountainous middle eastern village  hoda afshar, 31, was awarded $25,000 in a unanimous verdict from the judges she beat beat 43 other finalists, selected from a record 2500 portrait entries from across australia  the melbourne photographer returned to her native land of iran eight years ago in the hope of documenting elusive walks of life and that's exactly what happened when she stumbled upon a mysterious community living in the mountains 'it exists above the clouds about three hours' drive up a mountain and you get to this heavenly, dreamy sort of village that i have to say is like a forgotten place, and there's no electricity, no technology, nothing – people have a different sort of lifestyle,' she told sydney morning herald when she spotted the young boy wandering down the path, ms afshar captured the image on an old fashioned camera she told abc that while she knew she had taken a great shot at the time, she had to wait to return to australia to see the image in all its glory 'it's a moment i think every photographer experiences,' she said 'you know you have something special in there' feather, natalie grono, an image of a 78 year old byron bay local the competition drew entries from professional photographers, self portraitists, and amateurs alike  sebastien malone, taken by award winning international photographer juliet taylor  new york based commercial and fine art photographer michael kennedy's entry tom & pepper  miss harnaam kaur, brock elbank's portrait of 23 year old bearded woman harnaam kaur, who comes from slough, berkshire  ms afshar, who studied photography in tehran before moving to australia, plans to use the prize money to go abroad and show her works to a wider audience the judges praised the dream like quality of the work, deeming it to be deeply compelling the panel also impressed by the runner up, barry and alkirra, taken by newcastle photographer katherine williams  the dramatic black and white image depicts of a 17 year old boy cradling his brand newborn baby daughter the competition drew entries from professional photographers, self portraitists, and amateurs alike an exhibition of the finalists will be shown at the national portrait gallery until june 8 before touring nationally competition runner up, barry and alkirra, taken by newcastle photographer katherine williams, depcts a 17 year old boy holding his newborn baby  williams poses next to her entry judges were taken aback by the dramatic black and white image depicts of a 17 year old boy cradling his brand newborn baby daughter  divine, which comes from melbourne based commercial photographer hugh peachey  my friend sui’s dear mum, mrs chan, which comes from 2012 national photographic portrait prize winner rod mcnicol  marzena wasikowska's danny, dan, mia, kai, john, a candid shot of the canberra based wasikowska family  who's that lady (2014) by ferne millen
iran the national portrait gallery iranian june 8 25,000 31 australia hoda afshar ali melbourne
melbourne photographer hoda afshar, 31, was awarded $25,000 for ali in a unanimous verdict from the judges  the image depicts an atmospheric vision of a young boy wondering down a foggy pathway in a mountainous village  the iranian migrant beat 43 other finalists, selected from a record 2500 portrait entries from across australia  the melbourne photographer captured the image after stumbling upon a mountainous village while travelling in iran  an exhibition of the finalists will be shown at the national portrait gallery until june 8 before touring nationally 