Springwood photographer David Darcy has taken out the people’s choice award in the National Photographic Portrait Prize.
The award win was announced at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra on Tuesday, June 28 after 11,000 votes were tallied.
Mr Darcy’s portrait of actor Levi Miller was taken on location of the sequel to the hit Australian movie, Red Dog.
The striking image was taken at the end of the final day’s filming in Karratha, where Mr Darcy was the still photographer.
“I just asked Levi to think about his time on set,” he said of the image. “He’d been there for six weeks and had formed a pretty strong bond with the dog while he was working. You can see him welling up a little bit thinking about that, and [about] saying goodbye to everyone.”
Posting on Facebook after the win, Mr Darcy thanked everyone who voted for the portrait.
Mr Darcy, who was also the still photographer on Red Dog, is confident the hit movie’s sequel will be another crowd-pleaser when it is released on Boxing Day.
“My gut feeling is this movie will be as strong, if not stronger, than Red Dog,” he said.