Istanbul Photo Contest
Just like last year, the Turkish artists’ organization, Les Arts Turcs is sponsoring a second Istanbul Photo Contest online. This contest is a chance to show your photographs of Istanbul, enter the contest and the best one wins another chance to visit Istanbul. And who doesn’t want to go back to the city of Istanbul?
Entitled “Istanbul in the eyes of Foreigners. – Yabanci Seyyahlar Gozuyle Istanbul 2009”, this year’s first place winner will win one week (seven days, six nights in Istanbul, including your accommodation, welcome dinner, a city tour or whirling Dervish ceremony and a collection of small souvenirs.
It is the goal of Les Arts Turcs to give photographers who visit Istanbul the chance to show their perspectives of Istanbul, to enter their “vision” of Istanbul.by submitting the images they have captured, all in celebration of and run up to the Istanbul: 2010 European Capital of Culture event. Istanbul was designated by the European Union as the capital of culture for 2010 as the center for art and culture.
The photography contest rules and application form can be found at the website for the contest at http://www.istanbulphotocontest.com/. The judges consist of a group of nine writers, journalists, photographers and photo journalists, including the following people:
Ersin Kalkan – (Writer, Journalist, Hürriyet Newspaper)
Sebati Karakurt – (Photojournalist Hürriyet)
Mustafa Ozer – ( AFP – Agence France Press – Photographer )
David Katzenstein – (Photographer – Freelance – USA)
Arthur Thevenart – (Photojournalist – Freelance – FRANCE)
Patrizia Beninca – ( Photographer – Fashion – ITALY ) www.patriziabeninca.com
Selahattin Sevi – ( Photography – Zaman Newspaper )
Sertac Gures – ( 1001 Cistern Director )
Tulin Ersoz – ( Advisor of Istanbul Municipality Mayor – Istanbul Tourism Atelier Coordinator)
The second place winner of the Istanbul photography competition will win a four days Istanbul travel package including accommodation, a welcome dinner, a city tour or whirling Dervish ceremony and some Istanbul souvenirs.
The third place winner of the photo contest will win the same, but a three day Istanbul tour. There will be five honorable mentions for the Istanbul photography competition, the prize includes a weekend in Istanbul.
The gala evening, with the participation of the Ministery of Culture & Tourism of Turkey will be held at the 1001 Cisterns, Tarihi Binbirdirek Sarnici, on Divanyolu Street in Sultanahmet, Istanbul.
Last year’s photography contest received a total of 950 photos from 195 photographers from 37 countries with and I’m willing to bet that there will be even more entries this year. I don’t know, but I sense the success of last year’s contest will multiply this year. Everybody loves Istanbul and in my personal opinion, it’s pretty difficult to even take a bad photograph while in Istanbul. What is the subject of your photograph to be? It can be of modern or historic Istanbul, street scenes, museums, bridges, mosques, churches, synagogoes, cisterns, people, palaces, the cats of Istanbul, fountains, baths, food, markets, artists, whatever fascinates you, whatever you see in Istanbul and is worth capturing the image.
Hurry up and enter this photography contest, entries have been flowing in since August 1, 2009. The deadline for entries to this photo contest is November 1, 2009. Les Arts Turcs is also looking for volunteers to help with the contest and participate in the project.
Les Arts Turcs is an artists’ organization in Istanbul run by Nurdogan Senguler, The organization has been serving Turkish artists and artisans for the last 11 years. It’s cultural mission is to promote art and culture in Istanbul. I first met Nurdogan when I went to Istanbul in 2003. I met him the next year at Les Arts Turcs where we shared tea and delightful conversations in the afternoon. Anyone visiting Istanbul, especially if you are an artist or writer, should stop by. He welcomes you and can help you with any Istanbul questions you may have. If you are looking for a city tour of Istanbul, a chance to learn a particular arts, music cds, books, Istanbul hotel accommodation or perhaps an apartment in Istanbul or anything else for that matter, he’s knowledgeable about everything Istanbulian.
If you would like to see the winning photographs and honorable mentions from last year’s photography contest, visit their website. They also have a blog about the contest which you will find at their website.
I have written previously about Nurdogan Sengular and his artists’ organization and the photography contest which took place in 2008. If you would like to read my previous postings on Les Arts Turcs and photo contest and the update to the photography contest, please do have a look. You will also find last years winning photographs on Imagine Istanbul.
