8 Competition Categories

NOTE: All photos must be created after April 1, 2021.

All in a Row: Your subject can be anything -- plants, animals, people, houses, a line of traffic -- even unidentifiable graphic elements! You name it! This is meant as a challenge in composition and “seeing.”

Human Emotion: Humans are emotional beings. Sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust, trust, anticipation, etc. An image in this category must center around a person's obvious emotion (or multiple people's emotions) to the viewer via facial expression and/or body language.

Illustration and Graphic Design: Imagine you’ve been given an assignment to create the most eye-popping image you can think of based on strong elements of graphic design. The image has to be one that draws the viewer in at first sight. It can be purely documentary if the subject itself is compelling, with strong colors, shadows, shapes or lines, or a carefully composed still life or conceptual set piece. Or, it might involve heavy post-processing, including anything from posterization to solarization to actions and effects, compositing, combinations thereof, and more. Creativity and imagination win here!

In Flight: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's superman! Other things can be found “in flight” as well: a dish from an angry spouse, a baseball from a pitcher's hand, a gymnast mid-air, a falling leaf. An image in this category will capture the subject(s) of the image "in flight."

Local Fauna: This category is for images of any animal (or bird, reptile, and fish). This encompasses wildlife, domestic animals or pets – whatever you can find in YOUR home or backyard, in the farmyard or in OUR backyard of New England, excluding zoo specimens or other animals and exotics that we wouldn’t see here naturally.

Performers and Performances: Performers and performances can make for dynamic photos with great characters. We’re seeking performances and performers from the creative arts, which could include musicians, actors, poets, dancers, jugglers -- anyone who might perform on any kind of stage, whether formal or improvised, or to any audience whether one person or thousands. It is not required that the shot is taken during a live performance, but it should not just be a portrait of someone who happens to be a performer. The nature of their performance should be reflected in the photograph.

Through the Window: This is a broad category. The image can be taken from the outside looking in or from the inside looking out. In any case, the image must show the window – a window frame, a reflection or some other indicator. Glass is not required. Your image can tell a story or evoke an emotion. It can be minimal or maximal.

Urban Decay: Gritty, grungy, grimy! This category is for objects in an urban setting that are worn, in states of aging and decay, but not destroyed. Images can include houses, buildings or parts of, cars and other things showing the effect of time, weathering, rusting or general lack of care. People, plants, nature or animals can be in the image but not as the primary subject. Photos can be in black and white or color.