Call to all Photographers

Lucie Harwood's winning entry, Sunset, from Samhlaiocht's 2007 Competition

Samhlaiocht is issuing a call for photographs for its upcoming Open Submission Photography Exhibition.

"The photography competition is always a huge success," said Mike Foley, Samhlaiocht competition Coordinator. "In previous years the quality and variety of photographs has been simply astonishing. In fact this year we've decided to have two separate heats because of the number of entries we have had in previous years."

The closing date for the first heat is Friday, May 1st with the theme being Winter Light. The closing date for the second heat will be Friday, August 28th with a theme of Summer Light.

"This year we've put together a fantastic judging panel including Kerry Kennelly of Kerry's Eye, Dan Murphy, who is a fine art and portrait photographer with Red Couch Studios, Michael Diggin of Irish Landscape Photography and Michael O' Meara of Custom Framing Services," added Mike.

When quizzed about the number of judges, Mike said, "Well we figured it was important to get an expert on all different styles of photography. Kerry is an obvious candidate to judge photo journalism, while Michael Diggin is a wonderful Landscape photographer, Dan Murphy, on the other hand, has an eye for fine art photography, which folks can see in his current exhibition running in Siamsa until February 16th, and Michael O' Meara is an all-rounder that prints his own landscapes and the work of other artists."

As part of the prize this year all winning entries will be professionally mounted and framed and will remain the property of the artist after the exhibition. The Framing Prize is kindly sponsored by O' Meara Fast Framing Service in Tralee Shopping Center. Selected photographs will be displayed in the Samhlaiocht gallery in the Old Presbytery on Lower Castle Street in the heart of Tralee as part of Samhlaiocht's ongoing search for emerging talent. The exhibition will take place from the October 1st until October 23rd, 2009.

The photographers are asked to bear the theme in mind when submitting their work. A liberal interpretation of the theme is encouraged, however, and the organisers look forward to receiving a wide diversity of styles and subject matter.

"With themes like Winter Light and Summer Light the sky is really the limit and we're all very excited to see the entries this year," said Mike.

When asked about digital manipulation, Mike had this to say, "With digital cameras in everyone's arsenal and this year's broad theme, we can't rule out digital manipulation, nor would we want to. Digital photography is an exciting medium and we encourage people to play around and to be as creative and artistic as they like!"

Photographs may be black and white or colour and must measure 8" X 6". Contestants must submit a hard copy of the picture to Mike Foley at Samhlaiocht, The Old Presbytery, Lower Castle Street, Tralee. For those submitting photographs taken with a digital camera please also email a a copy to mike@samhlaiocht.com citing 'Samhlaiocht Photography Competition' in the subject line.

Please include your name, address, a contact phone number, email and the title of each photograph submitted with both hard and soft copies of the photographs.

The closing date for entries in the first heat is Friday, May 1st and the closing date for entries to the second heat is Friday, August 28th.

For more information on Samhlaiocht please log on to www.samhlaiocht.com or call 066 712 9934