Getty Images announces 2010 GRAB winner

Madeleine Stevens has been selected as the winner of the 2010 GRAB Australian Life Captured competition.

Over 2,400 photographs were submitted by photographers from all over Australia. Each photographer aimed to capture the essence of Australian life.

Stevens' photograph shows a realistic and intimate view of a family outing at a local beach.

To commemorate the memory of their grandmother, Stevens went for a family swim with her mother and sister at Freshie Beach to remember and celebrate their grandmother’s life on Mother’s Day.  

"It was important for me to capture that piece of time, that particular moment. But I wasn’t sure if I had or not since it was shot on film," said Stevens.

"When I received the film back a few days later and saw this particular image, I remember saying, ‘there it is.’ I am thrilled to have won the Flickr GRAB competition."

Stevens' won $5,000 of Nikon pro camera equipment, and is now part of the Getty Images team as an official Flickr Contributor.

All of the images entered will be reviewed by Getty Images and have the potential to be part of the Flickr Collection, which offers customers fresh and purely original imagery.

"The imagination and originality of the images demonstrates the diversity of our unique nation,” said Stuart Hannagan, director of photography and vice president, Australasia, Getty Images.

"While our new anthology of images shows that Australians have an affinity with the beach, it also illustrates the exceptional quality of images that will now be available to Getty Images customers as part of the Flickr collection."

Steven’s image joins the top 20 images in an exhibition hosted at the Challis Studio’s in Potts Point, Sydney, for the month of December 2010.