Competition Dates for 2023

Note:

• Meetings indicated with an asterisk (*) are Zoom meetings. Only digital images can be submitted for these competitions
  
• Submission deadline is 11.30 pm on the Saturday prior to the Club meeting. This cutoff is enforced by Visual Pursuits and it is not possible to upload or change images after this time

Definition of Themes for 2023

At any of the monthly competitions you may enter an image in the set theme competitions (print or digital competition) or you may enter an image in the open competitions (print or digital). Across all competitions for the month, you may enter up to two images.

The themes are:

January   -  Street Photography   

A photographic practice of shooting people’s involvement in everyday life in everyday environments. Photographers typically aim to capture spontaneous moments in a candid state. Street photography is not directed or staged. Rather, it is unmediated and spontaneous.  

Street photography is observation. It is a way of connecting with the world and bringing back the moments that stand out. 

1. Street photography must include life, or evidence of life. 
2. Street photography must be created using a camera not a computer

Important elements of street photography:

• Spontaneity
• Juxtaposition
• Humour
• Authenticity
  

February - Creative

Creative photography is a technique by which you combine different shapes, colours, and forms of ordinary moments and turn them into creative arts using your photography skills. This type of photography demands a unique way of seeing things, it projects an innovative image, altered from reality. A creative image may contain alteration such as distortion that is intentional and used to show a different aspect from the usual world view.

March - Three of Five

Incorporate any 3 of the following 5 objects into your image to tell a story.  The image may be any style or genre:

1. Piece of toast
2. Pencil
3. Key
4. Two tomatoes
5. Red traffic light

April - Nature - NZ or Overseas

Only scientific names or common names to be used as titles.

We are using the PSNZ definition: Nature photography is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict all branches of natural history, except anthropology and archaeology, in such a fashion that a well-informed person will be able to identify the subject material and certify its honest presentation.

The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality. Human elements shall not be present, except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects – such as barn owls or storks – adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces, such as hurricanes or tidal waves. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are allowed.

Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are NOT eligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement. No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are allowed. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are allowed, including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning.

Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise and film scratches, are allowed.  Stitched images are not allowed. All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Colour images can be converted to grey-scale monochrome.  Infrared images, either direct-captures or derivations, are NOT allowed.

Images entered in Nature sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above may have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena and extant organisms as the primary subject matter.  This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums, and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food.

N.B. Landscapes in Nature need to showcase some natural feature, which is explicit in the title.

May - Reflections

Reflection photography involves photographing any kind of reflections. You can use common reflective surfaces resulting in a perfect reflection or murky reflections using less reflective surfaces thereby creating something new. The reflection may form the whole image or part of it but must be the unmistakable subject.

June - 'Scapes

Capture a sense of “space” and “place” and tell a story of the scene before the camera. Sea, city, sky, or land. Creative enhancement of the image is acceptable provided that the resulting image still reflects the essential story of what is seen in that ‘scape.  Your entry may include people and/or animals but the ‘scape must remain the focus of the image.

July - In the style of Photographer

Choose a known photographer and make an image in that style.  This should be an homage, not a direct copy.  Photographic representations of artworks in any medium are considered an homage if there is an added value by the new photographer. The name of your chosen photographer must feature within the title.

August - Structure

Structure photography is about buildings, monuments, interiors, exteriors and any other type of physical construct. The images can be taken for the purposes of art or to document the aesthetic of a structure.

September - Triptych

A triptych, when applied to photography, is a group of three pictures. It could be three photographs mounted in a frame, closely associated pictures displayed near each other or three parts of one image. Each image must be distinctly separated from the others.

The subject of a triptych is an important defining characteristic. The pictures should have a common theme. This could be a story, similar compositional elements, colours, similar subject matter – anything that draws the pictures together as a group.  The group should be stronger than each part.

October - Black & White

Black and white photography is the art of using different tones of grey, ranging from white to dark, to create compelling images.