This imaginative photo, taken by Whangarei's Michael Karlkoff, is one of the stand-outs so far among those submitted for the Herald's Holiday Pictures competition.
An imaginative father and his brave daughter created this special photo - one of the stand-outs so far among those submitted in the Herald's popular Holiday Pictures competition.
Whangarei's Michael Kalkoff, holidaying in South Africa with his family before Christmas, took the picture of 6-year-old Nina at Camps Bay Beach
in Cape Town.
Nine-year-old Kyra helped dig Nina in, while Sebastian, 11, lay about, and provided the bodywork.
Mr Kalkoff admitted Nina needed a wee bit of encouragement: "We had to tell her everything was safe and we could get her out again afterwards and not just leave her in there.
"The photo's called The Headless Nina because of that ghost in Harry Potter, Nearly Headless Nick. It just fitted."
Herald associate picture editor Alex Robertson said the competition was red hot this year with hundreds of entries arriving each day.
"The standard is extremely high."
Many were themed around the beach. "This shot stands out for its humour and composition and was obviously well thought out. There's still two weeks to go for entries to the competition, so keep them coming in. This is the best year by far."
* The winning photo will receive a Canon EOS 350D camera valued at $1799. Email your entry to photocomp@nzherald.co.nz with name, address and phone number, by January 20.
