ASTROFEST ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION JUDGES
In 2024 we have a fantastic judging line-up including:
- Suzanne Jones
- Grahame Kelaher
- Andrew Lockwood
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Suzanne JonesSuzy grew up with a deep fascination with the Earth, our place in the universe and how it all formed. Her curiosity led her to study geology and geophysics, later venturing into astronomy. For her, photography has always been the bridge between science and art, allowing us to capture the wonders of science through our lens.
Suzy transformed her love of the night sky into her business Starbright Wonderland, where she teaches astrophotography, runs night sky tours and sells night-scape artwork. Her goal is to make astrophotography accessible to everyone who wishes to capture the stars. Suzy won Best New Talent award at Astrofest 2021. Starbright Wonderland Starbright Wonderland on Facebook Starbright Wonderland on Instagram Suzanne Jones on LinkedIn |
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Grahame KelaherMr Grahame Kelaher is employed by the Royal Australian Navy. He started his astronomical journey in the year 2001 by joining the local astronomy club in NSW (SASI). This involvement with the club has developed his passion and motivation towards studying a masters in Astronomy.
Grahame has over 20 years experience in astrophotography and is well recognised for his works in Australia and the world-wide astronomical scene. He has a broad range of technical experience with astrophotography from widefield and landscape shots through to high-speed planetary and space vehicle imaging. Grahame Kelaher on Instagram |
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Andrew Lockwood
Andrew Lockwood has been an enthusiastic astronomer since the early ‘70s, when he first saw Saturn through a 60mm telescope in his backyard in rural Queensland. His first serious telescope was an 8” he built as a teenager, although the collection has grown somewhat in the decades since.
As well as being a keen visual observer he has experimented with astrophotography since the days when hand-guided hour-long film exposures were the state of the art. As autoguiding, autofocus routines and digital cameras have made it much easier to capture exquisitely improved data, the increasing power of post processing has resulted in a similar increase in the quality of images amateurs can produce. Andrew’s industrial experience in signal processing and image enhancement from his lengthy career in applied geophysics makes him particularly difficult to fool, and he is a vocal adherent of the David Malin school of astrophotographic philosophy of ‘respecting the light’. He has managed to pick up a few awards and recognition for his astronomical images locally and internationally over the years, and still operates an observatory only 10km south of the CBD to practice his signal processing. |
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Tim Young
Tim is the SPIRIT Program Coordinator at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), where he trains students in the operation of remote telescopes and processing of deep space imagery. While his first images of the sky were taken in the radio spectrum, Tim has since branched out to become a multi-wavelength astronomer with the new Educational Radio Array (ERA) co-located with the SPIRIT observatory.
Previously, he has had research and outreach roles across radio astronomy, data science, and climate and biodiversity projects. Always keen for a new challenge, Tim is at his heart an avid science communicator. The SPIRIT Program at ICRAR |