My Blog

May 18, 2013 /Photography News/ Our landscape is not complete without trees. Whether urban, suburban or rural, trees are the integral part of nature of this planet. They are sometimes taken for granted, and sometimes they are revered with awe. We cannot exist without trees. TBM invites you to submit images depicting the beauty, reverence and importance of this botanical gift. Color and/or black and white images will be accepted. Representations of trees of any shape, color, condition or species are welcomed.

Prizes:

First Place: $400 (USD) cash prize

Second Place: $200 (USD) cash prize

Third Place: $100 (USD) cash prize

Three (3) honorable mentions will also be chosen.

Copyright: All submitted images remain sole property of artist/photographer.

Entry Fee(s):

$20 (USD) for first 4 images

(Up to 8 image entries may be submitted for additional fees)

Color and/or Black and White images will be accepted.

Eligibility: Contest is open to all individuals 18 years and older, worldwide.

Entry Deadline: June 5, 2013 (11:59PM CST)

Website: http://terabellamedia.com/photo-contest/

To view all current call for entries listed at Photography News: http://www.photography-news.com/2009/12/photography-competitions.html

May 15, 2013 /Photography News/ Life Framer is a monthly photography award and curated exhibition for the present day.  It’s a platform designed to source creative work and showcase outstanding photography. Our aim is to bring exposure to talented photographers from all over the world: your talent, your vision, your life.

Every month Life Framer makes a call to arms to the photographic community to provide it with their photographs that best capture its theme. Winners will have the chance to be exhibited in a gallery space in central London, to win cash prizes and to receive some great recognition and online presence along the way. 

Theme:

The May competition theme is “A human touch”. Is it not the way we look at others that actually define us? Let’s explore our humanity: the physical and the personal. Freeze a detail, an expression or a scene that captures our human nature.

 

Prizes:

The monthly winner:

• US$400 cash prize
• Your image printed, framed and displayed in Life Framer's end-of-year exhibition
• Your image exhibited on Life Framer's website and spread across its social media
• An interview featured on Life Framer's blog
• Feedback from the guest judge

The monthly runner-up:

• Your image printed, framed and displayed in Life Framer's end-of-year exhibition
• Your image exhibited on Life Framer's website and spread across its social media
• Feedback from the guest judge

8 further shortlisted entrants:

• Your image exhibited on Life Framer's website and spread across its social media
• The potential to be included in Life Framer's end-of-year exhibition 

 

Eligibility:  Worldwide

 

Judge/judging criteria: Julia Fullerton-Batten. 

Julia is an internationally acclaimed photographer who makes a huge contribution to contemporary photography with her utterly original style, impressive achievements (WPO, PDN, Hasselblad Master Award) and omnipresence in the art world.

 

Usage rights: Each entrant retains full and exclusive rights to their submitted work 

 

Deadline: 31th of May 2013

Website: www.life-framer.com

To view all current call for entries listed at Photography News, visit http://www.photography-news.com/2009/12/photography-competitions.html

May 10, 2013 /Photography News/ Photographers, you’re invited to join EXPOSURE. See.Me presents the 4th annual international photography competition offering over $30,000 in awards including a $10,000 grant and a reception for your work at the Aperture Foundation gallery in NYC. Photographers, this is your moment!

Eligibility:

EXPOSURE is open to photographers 18 and older from anywhere in the world!  The organizers are looking for all types of digital and film photography, including (and definitely not limited to): Fashion, Landscape, Travel, Candid, Digitally Manipulated, Artistic / Conceptual, Self-Portrait, and more

Prizes:

Grand Prize Award:

• $10,000 cash grant
• A Gallery Reception at Aperture Foundation
• Online feature published by See.Me
• Printed Feature in the limited edition EXPOSURE 2013 photography book

People's choice Award:

One selected photographer will selected from amongst the highest voted entrants and will be deemed the People’s Choice award winner with a $2,500 cash grant and a Dream Getaway to New York City or Paris. (Available to all entrants; determined by public votes.)

Category Awards:

Ten Premium Entrants will be selected by the jurors to each receive a Category Award of $500, a printed feature in the Exposure 2013 photography book as well as an online feature published by See.Me, exposing their work to tens of thousands of the most influential eyes in the photographic and arts communities. The ten categories are: (1) People & Portrait, (2) Documentary / Photojournalism, (3) Cloudscape/Landscape/Aerial/Cityscape, (4) Travel/Vacation, (5) Action & Adventure, (6) Events (Parties, Weddings, Celebrations), (7) Art/Conceptual, (8) Nature (Plants & Animals), (9) Commercial (Fashion, Product & Food), and (10) Analog.

Premium Entrants will receive a free See.Me Premium Account along with a “Thank You” package with over $70 in freebies and discounts.

Judges:

* Poppy Shibamoto, Photo Director, Monocle Magazine

* Clare Grafik, Head of Exhibitions and Publications, The Photographers' Gallery

* Jane Ace, Managing Editor, Phaidon

* Francois LeTourneux, Associate Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Montreal

* Julia Paoli, Assistant Curator, Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery

* Lise Beaudry, Director, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography

The panel of jurors will review and determine the winning photographers of the Grand Prize Award, Early Entry Award, and Category Awards.

Entry fees:

Participants can submit a Basic Entry for $29, or a Premium Entry for $69. There is no limit on the number of submitted photos. 

Standard entry deadline: April 30, 2013 11:59PM ET

Premium Entrants will receive a free See.Me Premium Account along with a “Thank You” package with over $70 in freebies and discounts.

Final entry deadline: May 15, 2013 11:59PM ET

All members who join before this date are eligible for the People’s Choice Award. Premium Entrants who join before this time will be considered for the Grand Prize and Category Awards.

At 5pm Eastern Time every day, a number of members will be hand-chosen to be featured across See.Me's Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Copyright: Photographers retain all rights to submitted work. 

Participate at: www.exposureaward.com

Check out all our current photo contests here. 

May 3, 2013 /Photography News/ May 3 is recognized around the globe as World Press Freedom Day. This year is its 20th anniversary, and an opportunity to reflect on the fundamental principles of press freedom.

Focusing on the theme Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media,  World Press Freedom Day 2013 highlights journalist safety, crimes against freedom of expression, and securing a free and open Internet as the precondition for online safety.

How safe are journalists today?

Securing the safety of journalists continues to be a challenge due to an upward trend in the killings of journalists, media workers, and social media producers. In 2012 alone, UNESCO’s Director-General condemned the killings of 121 journalists, almost double the annual figures of 2011 and 2010. In addition, there continues to be widespread harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and online attacks on journalists in many parts of the world. To compound the problem, the rate of impunity for crimes against journalists, media workers and social media producers remains extremely high.

The day is also an occasion to assess the state of press freedom throughout the world, defend the independence of the media, pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of work, recognize the critical role of a free press in protecting human rights, and make a commitment to do everything we can to ensure that journalists and other media workers can do their jobs safely. Because a free press needs you as much as you need it.

Prizes:

First Place: 

•$200 (USD) Cash Prize

•$100 Blurb™ Gift Card

Second Place: $75 (USD) Cash Prize

Third Place: $50 (USD) Cash Prize

All winners will receive:

• Winner's gallery exhibition

• Social media exposure

• PictureCompete™ newsletter exposure

Eligibility: Worldwide, amateur and professional photographers

Copyright: The entrant will have full copyright of his/her own photographs

Deadline: May 17, 2013 (11:59 PM CST)

Website: http://picturecompete.com/

To view all current call for entries listed at Photography News, visit http://www.photography-news.com/2009/12/photography-competitions.html

April 28, 2013 /Photography News/ The endless persecution of Muslim Rohingya continues in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and now they face further hardship as the monsoon season approaches the South East Asian country.

Community members in the remote river village of Inbargyi in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Locals say the village was attacked by a large group of people in October and several thousand people fled during the violence. The local Mosque was also burned to the ground. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

Verse's of the Koran burned in the violence in the remote river village of Inbargyi in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Locals say the village was attacked by a large group of people in October and several thousand people fled during the violence. The local Mosque was also burned to the ground and most say they are in desperate need of food and clothing items. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

A woman amongst the crowds in the remote river village of Gotepitaung in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Most families lost all their possessions and nearly all had their house burned to the ground during the recent violence. A total of 116 families live in the village and over 100 families were affected by the recent conflict in Oct 2012. Many houses were looted and ransacked during the violence and as a result the village has no access to proper sanitation and the drinking water levels are running low. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

A distressed Rohingya  woman and her family living alongside 32 others in two tents in the remote river village of Nabu Khan situated some 3 hours by boat from Sittwe. The conditions in this village were particularly bad. Two large makeshift tents housed over 32 families living on top of each other. The total population of the village is 2480 with some 480 families already hosting IDP's from the conflict. So far the villagers say they have received no assistance from any organisation and need food and access to medical supplies as soon as possible. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

Committee members check NFI (Non Food Item) distribution lists in Palinbyin Village near Sittwe in Myanmar's Rakhine State. The village is home to over 822 families and many complain they are receiving no non food items. The UNHCR field teams continue to investigate the issues faced by the people in the village. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

Mohammed Inasnu tells UNHCR staff he had no food for 7 days and has lost all of his possessions during the recent violence in Sittwe. His family was displaced from their original village of Jyaenaysu and he says he was also attacked by Rakhine people. They are now located in the Thet Khal Pyin Refugee camp near Sittwe in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

Rasoul Banu aged 75 years old in the Thet Khal Pyin Refugee camp. Rasoul was displaced from her original village of Raggon during October's violence. She is deeply distressed by these recent events and says she has no home or possessions to return too. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

A Rohingya woman and her family in Saydharmar village in Myanmar's Rahkine State. Since the fighting broke out in October 2012, thousands of Rohingya and their families have been displaced to temporary camps and shelters near Sittwe. Most are in desperate need of access to medical and sanitation services. Copyright: P.Behan / UNHCR

April 23, 2013 /Photography News/ After a number of unflattering photos of Beyoncé's Superbowl performance went viral online earlier in 2013, the superstar has reportedly banned photographers from attending her Mrs. Carter Show world tour, and will supply "pre-approved images" to the media after each show.

Beyoncé The Mrs. Carter Show 2013 World Tour guidelines for Photographers (via Music Photographers):

"[...] we all know how media works – they will do anything possible to get images that other publications don’t have. If they can’t send a photographer to give them original photos, the next best thing they can do is buy photos from fans in the front rows in the arena (cameras were not allowed, but no one can take away phones). It’s the next best thing for them, and a huge nightmare for Beyoncé and her publicist."

Beyoncé is hardly the first artist to heavily restrict photography at concerts. Recently the Yeah Yeah Yeahs asked people not to use their cellphones during gigs because it ruins the concert for people behind you, Bob Dylan doesn't allow photographs, and the Killers likewise have a ban. A few years back the Foo Fighters demanded rights to all images recorded by photographers at their concert. 

April 14, 2013 /Photography News/ Our landscape is not complete without trees. Whether urban, suburban or rural, trees are the integral part of nature of this planet. They are sometimes taken for granted, and sometimes they are revered with awe. We cannot exist without trees. TBM invites you to submit images depicting the beauty, reverence and importance of this botanical gift. Color and/or black and white images will be accepted. Representations of trees of any shape, color, condition or species are welcomed.

Prizes:

First Place: $400 (USD) cash prize

Second Place: $200 (USD) cash prize

Third Place: $100 (USD) cash prize

Three (3) honorable mentions will also be chosen.

Copyright: All submitted images remain sole property of artist/photographer.

Entry Fee(s):

$20 (USD) for first 4 images

(Up to 8 image entries may be submitted for additional fees)

Color and/or Black and White images will be accepted.

Eligibility: Contest is open to all individuals 18 years and older, worldwide.

Entry Deadline: June 5, 2013 (11:59PM CST)

Website: http://terabellamedia.com/photo-contest/

To view all current call for entries listed at Photography News: http://www.photography-news.com/2009/12/photography-competitions.html

April 13, 2013 /Photography News/ TeraBella Media has just announced the winning photographers in the "Signs of Love" call for entry:

First Place: Andy Lee

Second Place: Daniel Polidori

Third Place: Nicholai Go

Honorable Mentions: 

Shane Ernest

Leanda Parker-Sleeman

Terry Wild

Merit Winners:
Tony Bowen

Jane Goodrich

Paul Kessel

Untitled by Andy Lee, 1st Prize Winner

Judges’ Statement: 

The two top finalists were able to capture the viewer’s attention in a most endearing and eloquent fashion. Andy Lee’s image allows us to be a part of an almost private world between two  youths. The feeling of love that is conveyed is one of longing and/or  perhaps a forbidden one. In “Mother and Daughter” by Daniel Polidori the subjects were photographed at an angle and with the use of reflective glass to impose an ethereal feeling of love. Nicholai Go’s  representation of love is more of an implication or suggestion and much  is left to the imagination of the viewer. This image is one of a more  contemporary sentiment.

The three Honorable Mention recipients give their own interpretation to the different types and  ranges of love. Their images clearly relate that love comes in different  forms and has no boundaries. The Merit Winners received their honors for clearly communicating through their cameras the classic “love stories.”

Congratulations to the finalists!

View the winner's gallery: http://terabellamedia.com/photo-gallery/2013/signs-of-love-2

To view TeraBella Media's current call for entry: http://terabellamedia.com/photo-contest/

To view all current call for entries listed at Photography News:  http://www.photography-news.com/2009/12/photography-competitions.html

April 9, 2013 /Photography News/ Born 183 years ago, Eadweard James Muybridge was an English photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection. He is also known for  his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography.

By 1860, Muybridge was a successful bookseller. During one of his business trips, he suffered severe head injuries in a violent runaway stagecoach crash which injured every passenger on board. The impact of the head trauma was nearly impossible to discern at the time, and certainly impossible to treat. Without doubt though, erratic episodes and dark chapters dogged Muybridge throughout his later years, not least his shooting dead the man whom he suspected of fathering his young wife’s child. 

Arthur P. Shimamura, a psychologist at the University of California Berkeley, has speculated that Muybridge suffered orbitofrontal cortex injuries, which may have led to some of the emotional, eccentric behavior in later years, as well as freeing his creativity from conventional social inhibitions. 

While recuperating in England, Muybridge took up the new field of professional photography sometime between 1861 and 1866. He learned the wet-plate collodion process in England, and may have been influenced by some of the great English photographers of those years, such as Julia Margaret Cameron. Also during this period, Muybridge secured at least two British patents for his inventions.

Galloping horse, animated in 2006, using photos by Eadweard Muybridge.

Muybridge's The Horse in Motion, 1878

Zoopraxiscope disc by Eadweard Muybridge

Jumping; running straight high jump, ca. 1884 - 1887

Plate 539, c. 1887

The history of the Roma is one of continuous struggle and persecution. The Romani people have long been a part of the collective mythology of the West, where they were -and very often still are- depicted as outsiders, aliens, and a threat. From the time of the Abolition of Romani Slavery in 1856, to the present day, the Roma have fought for their just social and human rights, but never forgot to enjoy life. 

April 4, 2013 /Photography News/ Life Framer is a monthly photography competition for the present day. It’s a platform designed to source creative work and showcase outstanding photography.  Every month the organizers make a call to arms to the photographic community for photographs that best capture the theme. They shortlist their favourites, ask a guest judge to select their winners. 

In it for you is the chance to be exhibited in a gallery space in central London, to win cash prizes  and to receive some great recognition and online presence along the way.

Theme: "An instant"

Prizes:

The monthly winner:

• US$400 cash prize
• Your image printed, framed and displayed in Life Framer's end-of-year exhibition
• Your image exhibited on Life Framer's website and spread across its social media
• An interview featured on Life Framer's blog
• Feedback from the guest judge

The monthly runner-up:

• Your image printed, framed and displayed in Life Framer's end-of-year exhibition
• Your image exhibited on Life Framer's website and spread across its social media
• Feedback from the guest judge

8 further shortlisted entrants:

• Your image exhibited on Life Framer's website and spread across its social media
• The potential to be included in Life Framer's end-of-year exhibition

Eligibility: Worldwide

Judge: Olivia Bee

Usage rights: Each entrant retains full and exclusive rights to their submitted work

Deadline: 30th of April 2013

Website: http://www.life-framer.com/

Check out all our current photo contests here.

April 3, 2013 /Photography News/ Josef Breitenbach was born 117 years ago, on 3 April 1896, in Munich, Germany into a middle-class family of Jewish descent. 

Breitenbach began taking photographs while working in the family wine merchant business. Proving less than successful at the latter, he opened his first photographic studio in 1932 which was closed one year later, after Hitler took power. 

Breitenbach was forced to flee to Paris in 1933 where he opened a new studio. He became friends with Andre Breton, yet never truly joined the Surrealist group of his peers. However, he did show his photographs alongside such luminaries as Man Ray, Cartier-Bresson, and Brassaï. During the six years he lived in Paris, he experimented with many newer photographic techniques, mainly superimpression. Most notably, he was one of the first photographers to produce work in color. 

After World War II broke out, he worked  in the civilian corps until he could find passage to America in 1941, where he worked for the American press and taught at several schools. Through the 50s and 60s he did reportage in Asia for the United Nations and other varied businesses. He exhibited extensively in Europe in the 1930s and in the United States from the 40s to the mid-60s, including the Musuem of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Josef Breitenbach died October 7, 1984 in New York.

April 3, 2013 /Photography News/ Since 1998, the China Folklore Photographic Association (CFPA) has started the international competition Humanity Photo Awards (HPA), the aim of which is to call upon photographers all over the world to record and preserve the heritage of folk culture.  HPA is supported greatly by the UNESCO.

HPA calls upon responsible photographers who respect life and love to take their cameras, in the form of special photo series： 

• To explore and rescue the endangered folk cultures of worldwide nationalities by means of photography; 
• To profoundly record the changes and evolution of various folk cultures in a genuine and vivid form; 
• To record, spread and share the multicultural achievements of the world to enhance mutual understanding and exchanges of human beings and to promote the world peace and development;
• To contribute to the World Folklore Photo Museum with world culture records.

Eligibility:

The contest is open to everyone, with no restrictions on entrants in terms of profession, gender, age, nationality, country and region.

No entry fee for this contest. 

Categories:

• Portrait & Costume
• Architecture
• Living and Production Custom
• Festivities
• Education, Recreation, Sports & Technology
• Traditional Rites

Judging criteria: 

The final prized photos will be selected according to a comprehensive evaluation of their photographic technique, documentary value and the difficulty in photographing and can best reveal the mission of the HPA contest.

Prizes:

• Humanity Photo Grand Awards: 6 prizes (one for each category) of: of US$2000; award certificates; book/CD-photo collections of the HPA 2013; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”; transportation fee and a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.
• Humanity Photo Documentary Awards: 60 award certificates; book/CD-photo collections of the HPA 2013; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”; transportation fee and a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition. In addition, photographs of Humanity Photo Documentary Awards will have the opportunities to win Jury’s Special Awards according to the photographer’s story-telling, interview and editing techniques.Each winner will receive photographic equipment or product which is equivalent to US$500.
• Humanity Photo Nomination Awards: 100 award certificates; book/CD-photo collections of the HPA 2013; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”; a 3-9 days hotel accommodation; to put prized photos on the premiere exhibition.
• Humanity Photo Performance Awards: 500 electronic award certificates; name of winners and their works listed in the book/CD; invitations to attend the award ceremony and the opening ceremony of the premiere exhibition of “Memories of Mankind VIII”. Winners arrange their own travel and accommodation expenses and visa formalities for participating the Award Ceremony. The organizer will help them accordingly, but will not be responsible for any problems related to visa.
• Every participant except the winners for the aforementioned awards will: Get the electronic copy of a Commemoration Certificate of the HPA 2013 officially stamped by the two organizers — the CFPA and the UNESCO; Get a discount price to purchase the photo album of HPA 2013; Be invited to attend the Awards Ceremony and the Premiere Exhibition. Those who attend the ceremony could get the hard copy of the Commemoration Certificate together with the photo album of HPA 2013. All the travel expenses should be born by the participants.

Schedule:

Deadline: April 15th, 2013 (Beijing Time)

Selection: By mid-August, 2013, the photos granted with the Performance Awards, the Nomination Awards and the Documentary Awards will be announced after two rounds of evaluation. On September 14th and 15th, 2013, the final evaluation unveils the Grand Awards of the six categories. 

Award Ceremony: September 16th, 2013. Humanity Photo Grand Awards and Jury’s Special Awards will be announced on the Award Ceremony.

Premiere Exhibition: The premiere exhibition of the HPA 2013 – Memories of Mankind VIII, which consists all the wining works with the Nomination Awards and the higher ones, will be held in the same period with the final selection and the award ceremony in the same city.

For more information visit http://www.hpa.org.cn/en/Constitution.aspx 

Check out all our current photo contests here.