Painting Melbourne Red

Thursday November 17, 2011: A northern suburbs mother of eight – soon to be nine – has taken out the major prize in a national photography competition with an image of the iconic Flinders Street Station in Melbourne.

Alison Crea, 41, is an amateur photographer whose image of her daughter standing in the middle of the famous Melbourne landmark holding a red balloon wowed the judges, and saw her walk away with the $2000 major prize.

The RedBalloon Let’s Paint the World Red photography competition attracted almost 500 entries from budding and professional photographers whose entries had to feature a red balloon in some way.

Interestingly, Alison took the winning photograph long before she knew about the competition, or the online experience retailer.

“Instead of taking a boring subway image with busy blurred people, I wanted to add some interest to the photo, and I chose red balloons because they are so vivid and add impact to a photo,” Alison said.

“I am a keen amateur photographer and I love trying different things with my camera and entering photo competitions. Once I learned of this competition, I knew I had the perfect photo to enter.

“I feel very surprised, honoured and proud to be selected as there were so many fantastic entries.”

Judging the competition were RedBalloon founding director and award winning entrepreneur Naomi Simson; Luke Ballard a photographer with more than 20 years experience behind the lens; as well as the general public who were tasked with voting for the people’s choice winner.

The people’s choice award went to a photo depicting a boy dressed in army fatigues, standing in front of a war memorial holding a red balloon, staring down at a pair of empty army boots. It attracted almost 800 votes.

The Let’s Paint the World Red competition was hosted by online experience retailer RedBalloon.com.au, and was part of the company’s tenth birthday celebrations.

Note to the editor: High res images of the winning entries available. View the full winner’s list here - http://competition.redballoon.com.au/red/winners/

For more information please contact: Lauren Ashton, Communications Specialist - P: 02 8755 0034 M: 0404 136 765 E:lauren@redballoon.com.au

About RedBalloonRedBalloon.com.au has been giving people the chance to fulfil their dreams for a decade in Australia and New Zealand. With over 2500 unique gift ideas including race car driving, hot air ballooning, horse riding on the beach, and tiger moth flights to massages, romantic dinners and getaways, RedBalloon has the perfect gift for any occasion. RedBalloon Experience Vouchers, Gift Certificates and Gift Boxescan be purchased online or in selectedretail outlets.