1st Prize Winner, MPB Photography Award Winners 2026

Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2026

Laura Tait

Title:

“Blackberries and Pears” 

Medium & Dimensions:

Digital photography: Canon R5/Canon 100mm

About the Artist

Laura Tait is a New Zealand-based fine art photographer whose work focuses on contemporary botanical still life. By cultivating, arranging, and photographing flowers grown in her own garden, she maintains complete creative control throughout the process. Influenced by the Dutch Masters, her photographs explore the enduring relevance of the still life tradition within contemporary photographic practice.

“Blackberries and Pears”: There is something deeply nostalgic about foraging for blackberries, the way they stain fingertips, the quiet ritual of gathering them into baskets. Blackberries and Pears celebrates the abundance of high summer: golden pears, David Austin roses grown in my garden, and the warm glow of sunflowers. The work begins in the garden, created as both sanctuary and studio, where fragrant flowers evoke nostalgia and awaken memory while providing a haven for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Inspired by the Dutch Masters and reimagined through a contemporary lens, the image explores our connection to nature, the changing seasons, and the enduring sense of belonging found in the simple act of gathering.