A BIT of country was brought into the Perth CBD last week with the winning photos of this year's CBH photo competition showcased in the foyer of 240 St Georges Terrace, alongside a selection of other entries.
This year's photo competition theme, 'The Face of Farming' was chosen to show the faces of Western Australia's growers, as well as the changing landscape of agriculture.
Kristen Fuchsbichler, Koorda, won the 2019 competition with her photo 'Dad's Girl', while 'Harmony at Work', taken by Kristo Orma, Hyden, was voted the People's Choice winner.
With the photographs in the exhibition providing real-life insights into farming, CBH Group general manager grower and external relations Brianna Peake said the calibre of photos received from WA growers were extremely high.
"We always get good talent as WA has such amazing grower photographers and they're sort of a hidden talent under their farming hats," Ms Peake said.
"It's always really hard to choose the winner, so we get some experts in from Farm Weekly, the Countryman and even a professional photographer to make the decision."
Ms Fuchsbichler's photo of her husband and daughter depicts an everyday moment in farming life, after a long day of hard work on their farm.
"It's a typical farming scene that's really beautiful and captures really nice light," Ms Peake said.
Ms Fuchsbichler grew up on her grandparents small farm at Kondinin and moved to a mixed cropping and sheep farm in Koorda with her husband in 2004.
"I've always liked taking photos, but I've never been confident enough to enter anything," Ms Fuchsbichler said.
"When quite a lot of people commented on the photo and said you really need to enter that into something, I saw the CBH photo competition come up on Facebook and thought I'd give it a go and see what happens."
Ms Fuchsbichler said the competition was important in helping to bridge the city country divide.
"I think by having these sorts of competitions and people sharing it online, it helps remind city people about the agricultural industry, its importance, and the hard work our farmers do," she said.
"We're also pretty lucky with where we live, so it's nice to share photos from our farm, because nature puts a show on for us every day."
CBH Group chairman Wally Newman said you could always tell how well the season is going by visiting a country pub and looking at people's faces.
"The mood of any farming community is totally dependent on how well the season is going," Mr Newman said.
"If they're all looking a bit glum, you know it hasn't rained or it's too wet and they can't get their crop in.
"Unfortunately this year we've experienced a dry finish to the season and we're expecting a below-average yield.
"But the photographs in this exhibition provide those real-life insights into farming."
The CBH Group's photo competition has been running for 19 years.