Professional and amateur photographers are being asked to train their lenses on the spectacular Illawarra flame trees now in full bloom across the region.
To mark their entry in an international solar building competition, Team UOW Australia is holding a photographic competition to celebrate the tree from which the team has taken its name.
The Solar Decathlon in China challenges universities to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.
The teams are required to construct a full-size house and ship it to China for competition finals in August 2013.
The team's project manager Lloyd Niccol said the flame tree was not only a natural icon of the region, but also representative of the transformation of a house.
"The seasonal transformation of the tree, to a profusion of red blossoms, is very similar to the retrofitting concept of the house," he said.
Illawarra photographers Dee Kramer and Mark Newsham will judge the entries in the photo competition, and the finalists will be exhibited in January.
The UOW team starts construction at the TAFE Illawarra campus this month. For more details, go to illawarraflame.com.au.