Photography News Issue 29

Photography News Issue 29 absolutephoto.com

15 Competition

What role do you have in the competition? I am responsible for managing the competition; from launching and promoting the competition through the press, via social media and to Survival’s supporters; to handling all the entries; judging the entries alongside other judges; and finally producing and promoting the resulting Survival International calendar. What are the aims of the competition? We aim to celebrate photography as a powerful medium for raising awareness of tribal peoples, their unique ways of life and the threats to their existence. Images play an emotive role in telling important stories, and ultimately they help to change the lives and futures of some of the most vulnerable peoples on earth. The resulting published Survival International calendar is also an important fundraising tool for the charity, helping to raise the much-needed funds to help threatened tribal peoples. What is Survival International all about and what are the charity’s goals? Survival International is the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights. It is the only organisation that champions tribal peoples around the world, helping them defend their lives, protect their lands and determine their own futures. Survival’s work is preventing the annihilation of tribal peoples. It gives them a platform to speak to the world; it investigates atrocities and presents evidence to the United Nations and other international forums; it supports legal representation; it funds medical and self-help projects; and it educates, researchs, campaigns, lobbys and protests. It won’t give up until we all have a world where tribal peoples are respected and their human rights protected. The competition is a collaboration between The Little Black gallery and Survival International, how did this come about? It’s not so much a collaboration, but rather

that The Little Black Gallery supports the competition. I have been involved with Survival International for almost 30years and so am happy to help as much as I can. This is my small way of helping their vital work. What are you looking for in a winning image?What will make an image stand out? The winning images and overall winner will be selected not only for their originality and the strength of composition, but also for their demonstration of sensitivity to, and understanding of, tribal peoples, their ways of life and the issues that jeopardize their futures. The subject is quite specific relating to people, in terms of experience is the competition aimed more at amateurs or professionals? The competition is open to both amateurs and professionals. We are always impressed by the number of entries we get from both. Because so many people travel now and have cameras it is much easier for people to take pictures of tribal peoples. Some of the best entries have come from amateurs. What are the requirements for the competition and how do people enter? The images have to be of tribal peoples photographed in the past ten years. There are three categories: Guardians – images showing tribal peoples as guardians of the natural world; Community – portraits of relationships between individuals, families or tribes; and Survival – images showing tribal peoples’ extraordinary diverse ways of life. We only accept digital submissions of no more than 1MB and a maximum of three images submitted per entrant. If the entrants photograph is chosen we will contact them to submit the original high res file. How will the judging process work? Who will be judging the competition? The closing date for entries is 30 April 2016. The judges will then choose their favourite 12 images for Survival International’s 2017

Calendar, with the winning entry chosen for the cover. The judges are Francesca Casella (coordinator, Survival International Italy), Stephen Corry (director, Survival International), Max Houghton (senior lecturer in photography, London College of Communication) and myself. How are the winners awarded? The winners will be notified in the autumn, with their images published in Survival International’s 2017 Calendar. Obviously each winner receives a free calendar! We do not offer any other prizes, as we don’t feel we need to, as in previous years we have had such an amazing response with impressive entries. People seem to want to help the charity, while being satisfied with having their images published in such a stunning calendar. Can you tell us more about the calendar, how are they sold? Survival International’s calendar is produced and sold by the charity at the online shop. Thousands of calendars are sold every year helping to raise the much needed funds to help threatened tribal peoples. Is there anything specific you are looking forward to seeing in the competition? It is always nice to see a wide range of images from every corner of the globe. It doesn’t matter whether the image is colour or black & white – we just want amazing images. How successful have the previous years’ competitions been? How many entries were received? For the last two years we have been amazed at the response and the quality of the entries. We receive over 1000 entries from all over the world, from both amateur and professional photographers. The final calendars have been stunning and last year’s sold even more than the year before, so we are extremely happy. With this being the third year do you feel that a standard has been set? We don’t want to scare people from entering,

Main Marubo, Brazil, 2014. Marubo children play together in the village, decorating their bodies with paints, beads and colourful clothes. Left Huichol, Mexico, 2004. Huichol children in Mexico gather to paint their feet using chalk and powder paints. The Huichol’s sacred land, a site called the Wirikuta, is currently under threat from a Canadian mining company. Below Hamar, Ethiopia, 2010. The wife of the village chief prepares breakfast, including a gourd of steaming, freshly picked coffee in the background. Bottom Suri, Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia. The vibrant blue of the young Suri men’s robes stands out against a cracked earthen wall in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia. We have been amazed at the response and quality of the entries

Get your entries in

With the chance to have your image featured in the Survival International calendar, as well as helping to contribute to the charity, if you have images of tribal peoples then this competition is well worth entering. There are three categories to submit to and you can enter up to three images, plus, it’s free to enter. The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2016, so be sure to get your entries submitted in time! but yes the bar has been set high! The past two winners Giordano Cipriani and Soh Yew Kiat have been incredible. You can view all the previous winners on the Survival International website. Looking back at last year’s competition what advice would you give to anyone looking to submit this year? Don’t be afraid to enter! If you have visited tribal peoples anywhere in the world from the Amazon, to the Arctic, to Africa andAustralia, then please send in your photographs! You never know you might win?! What are your future ambitions for the competition? We would like to continue to grow the competition, sell even more calendars and raise as much money as possible for Survival International. survivalinternational.org/photography

survivalinternational.org/photography