February Theme: 

VISUAL METAPHOR

Welcome to our Photography Contest, themed "Visual Metaphors." This contest invites photographers of all levels at Light Stalking, to capture unique photographs that people would not otherwise notice. It can be of natural landscapes, still life, portraits or other things around the world including, birds, animals and flora.

Your challenge is to capture breath taking visuals that show visual metaphor, in natural landscapes, architecture, living and manmade things or use light and compositions to highlight elements in a unique way. We are looking for images that tell a story, and that are shot differently from a unique angle or perspective, or through clever use of light, compositional guidelines.

Obvious examples include, using visual metaphors to represent the concept of time in a single image, capture images that use everyday objects or scenes to convey deeper meanings or social commentary, capture abstract photographs that evoke emotions or concepts through shapes, colors, and patterns or photograph scenes or objects that visually represent opposing forces or ideas, using juxtaposition and selective color to enhance the metaphor. The classic shot in this context would ideally capture or document the photographer's take on seeing things differently and creating a compelling visual dialogue. Or perhaps just your interpretation of that theme. 

We encourage entries that demonstrate originality, technical skill, and an appreciation for the scenes or subjects that we come across in nature and in our day to day lives.

The contest is open for submissions all of February, and on March 1st we will start looking for the winners by assessing all of the photos. So let's make sure you're aware of all of the contest rules so that your submission counts and you have a chance of winning the grand prize.

A Few Rules...

This photo contest is open to photos taken at any time so if you have an archive full of great shots, this is an opportunity for you to give them some love.

Any photos that we feel have been unethically, taken or altered will be removed from consideration. Do not endanger yourself or others (including fauna) when taking a photograph. Do not cause harm to the environment when taking a photograph. These are the general guidelines, but we reserve the right to make the judgement ourselves on whether you have followed the spirit of these guidelines.

Any member can enter the competition, but if you're under 18 then make sure you have parental consent. If you submit an image to this competition, we don't claim any copyright over it other than that which would allow us to use the image to promote this photo contest on this site, our social media and other online media.

Is this a rights grab for your photos?

Hell no!

We are here to help and promote you, not to steal your images or rights.

How will we use your photo?

Well, we need to be able to display it on the site for the competition to work. We will possibly blog about it on www.lightstalking.com and in the forum at www.lightstalking.us. We may also post about you (with full attribution and tagging) on social media in the context of "Hey, look at this amazing shot that @joephoto just submitted to the competition. You should join in too!"

But here's the kicker. You don't want us to do that? Just drop us a note and we won't!

Submitting a Photo...

For best results, you will want to upload an image with the longest side being 1200 pixels and a resolution of 72 DPI.

The Grand Prize is $250 for the overall winner via PayPal, and $100 of store credit on Light Stalking for the People's Choice Winner. Of course, all of the great shots from the winners to the runners-up will be shared far and wide on our website and social media and make it in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

So get started straight away by choosing your level below.

The Judging...

Each month, we invite a special guest photographer to judge the contest.