Melbourne-based Romanian photographer Mihai Florea was recently named the 2014 Photographer of the Year in Australia. Australian Photography + digital magazine organized this competition.

As the 2014 Photographer of the Year, Florea has won USD 5,000 in prize money and an Olympus OM-D package valued at some USD 1,500.

His portfolio Abstract Melbourne also took out first place in the Black & White category. This brought the Romanian an additional prize of USD 1,000 and a Manfrotto package worth USD 899.

"There were some great images on your website, so I really didn't expect this," said Florea, cited by australianphotography.com.

The 2014 Photographer of the Year competition challenged photographers to shoot a portfolio of six images in one or more of four categories: landscape, portrait, black & white and nature. Over 7,600 images entered the competition.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: australianphotography.com)