Tamara Dean

Winning the Moran Prize is a remarkable achievement for any photographer, but it was a very special highlight in Tamara Dean’s career. “It’s something that I had had a go at every year for the past twelve years,” she explains. “I’ve entered the Moran every year since it began in 2007, and I’ve been a finalist nine times, and highly commended twice, so there have been a fair few images that I’ve put forward.”

Winning with is an “extra bit special” too, she adds because it has a lot of personal value to her. “It talks about some of my most fundamental concerns and loves – the environment and the experience of being alive. To be able to have an image that speaks to something bigger than myself is wonderful because I’ve always tried to use symbolism to tell a more universal story about being alive, and this image articulates my concern about our planet and the effects of climate change in a way that has made the judges respond.” Not only that, it was shot underwater, and to make the image Dean had to get over her fear of the ocean. “I have a healthy respect for the ocean, but it’s definitely not my natural environment,”