The medium of photography has many histories. It’s as personal as a shoebox of Polaroids stuffed beneath the bed, as practical as a Xerox, as historical as war footage and as scientific as an X-ray. But it’s time for Metro Times’ 23rd annual photo contest, and all we’re interested in is artistry. The only requirement to enter is that you’re an amateur — meaning, in this case, that photography counts for less than 50 percent of your annual income.
Consider this a call for entries. First-, second- and third-place winners and honorable mentions will be chosen in each category and published in our special contest edition May 18.
All entrants will be exhibited at at CPop Gallery in Detroit, so that everybody can appreciate the energy, diversity and inventiveness of your photographic vision.
Unclaimed photos remain with Metro Times and are often used in editorial layouts. Of course, the photographers get full credit, and whatever goes into print also goes up on our Web site, www.metrotimes.com, to be appreciated by readers around the world.
Bring on the exposure.
There will be a separate category for photos that are experimental or highly altered for artistic effect using digital technology. The idea is to distinguish these works from more traditional photos that are altered with computers only as much as they could be manipulated in a darkroom.
This year, in honor of the great Henri Cartier-Bresson, who died last August, Metro Times is soliciting works for a special category of candid photography that pays homage to the photographer’s "decisive moment." Whether you capture a young cousin mid-cartwheel or a shooting star, we want to see snapshots that are unposed, unpoised and unplanned. So immerse yourself in life and click away.
The contest is judged by photo experts from the Detroit area — teachers, curators, photographers — making it the most popular and challenging of its kind in Michigan.
Rules: Deadline for entries is
Wednesday, April 27, 4 p.m.
1. Eligibility: All persons are eligible except professional photographers and employees of Metro Times and their immediate families. A professional photographer is someone who earns half or more of his or her annual income from the profession.
2. Entries: Prints must be 8" by 10" and mounted on white mat board no larger than 11" x 14" (no framed prints). Photos should not be dry mounted to board, since they may need to be removed for publication. The front of the mat board should be free of identifying marks.
3. There is no limit to the number of photographs an individual may submit. An entry fee of $5 per photo must accompany each submission.
4. Fill out the entry form for each entry and attach it with strong tape to the back of the mat board. Submissions will be available for return after the show. Contact [email protected].
5. Judging decisions are final.
6. Ethics: Entrants to the traditional photography categories may only alter their photos as much as could be done in a darkroom; in other words, to change lightness or darkness, but not to add color or to change the composition of the photograph. Photos with additional manipulation now have a special category for experimental and artistically altered photography, such as works that are colored-in or are heavily Photoshopped. Metro Times takes the word of its entrants, but negatives may be requested for examination if questions arise.
7. Awards: Prizes will be awarded to first-, second- and third-place winners in each category. Honorable mentions and judges’ picks will also be named.
8. Winners will be honored at the Metro Times Photo Contest awards presentation and party at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 18. A selection of winning photos will be published in the May 18 issue of Metro Times.
9. Entrants grant permission for their photographs to be published in Metro Times and used on our Web site. Photographers retain the rights to original negatives. Metro Times and the exhibition gallery are not responsible for damage to or theft of photographs.
Categories: Black and white • Color •
Experimental/artistically altered • Candid
To fill out and print an entry form, please click here. (Adobe Reader is required to view.)
