News

The SANParks forums host hundreds of images that forum members have taken in our parks, and then chosen to share in the online environment. As the quality and the quantity of images submitted has grown, so too has our forum community, which now boasts several keen amateur photographers among its ranks.

To recognise, encourage and celebrate the visual feast the forum community creates through their photographs, the SANParks volunteer moderators, with the support of SANParks, are launching what we hope will become an annual forum amateur photography competition! All forum members are welcome to participate! If you want to participate and are not a forum member, you can find out how to join the forum here.

How to enter

You must e-mail the moderators your entry before March 31 2008. Only e-mailed submissions will be accepted.

Along with your entry, which should have the subject line read – Forum Amateur Photo Competition 2008, please remember to:

– Specify which category you are entering. You may enter the competition for Digital Compact cameras or the competition for Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras (DSLR). If you are not sure of the difference, pm a mod and we will help you out.
– Your full name and forum name
– Your e-mail address
– A contact phone number
– A postal address
– Information on where and when your entry/entries was/were taken

The five (5) categories in both the Digital Compact cameras and the competition for Digital Single Lens Reflex are as follows:

1) Portraits: All animals and insects-including reptiles and birds

2) Landscapes

3) Animals and insects: All animals and insects

4) Human activity in any South African National Park: This must be legal activity and it must be artistically interpreted. It can include things like being stuck at ellie roadblocks, traffic jams with lions, doors, windows, palm trees, lonely benches with the river in the background etc.

5) Plants: flowers and trees

6) Black & white: all subjects.

Rules

As always there are rules involved.

1) Size of pictures for display on the forum: Maximum 800 pixels wide, or 600 pixels high.

2) Entries must be sharp and the right colour. For example: A lion is brownish and not greenish.

3) Composition: At least have the horizon level.

4) The number of entries per member is limited to two (2) pictures in each section, per entrant.

5) SANParks and the moderators have the right to refuse any entries which they deem unfit for display as part of the competition.

6) SANPark employees and moderators are not allowed to enter the competiton.

7) All pictures must be taken in a SANParks Park

8) All pictures must be originals and must have been taken by the person submitting the picture/s.

9) Images must be taken between 01 January 2006 and 31 December 2007

Limited editing with software like Photoshop is allowed. Normal sharpening, adjusting levels and colour and a maximum 20% crop are no problem. Adding animals or other objects, or removing disturbing objects is not allowed!

Digital photos should contain the full exif information. Photoshop normally saves all the exif information.

If you use a program other than photoshop, the moderators may be able to help you. Like wise, you can e-mail the moderators with any other queries.

We may ask possible winners to send a copy of their original RAW or jpg file to check what edits have been made. This process will of course be handled discretely.

Selecting the winners:

The forum moderators, in consultation, will select 5 pictures from each category and present them to SANParks. SANParks will then select 2 from each category and these images will be displayed on the forum from the 18 April 2008 for the forum members to vote for the winning pictures in each category. The winners will be announced on 15 May 2008. The pictures with the most votes win.

The winners will be announced on the forum and each winner will receive a prize from SANParks. The judges decision is final, both in the preliminary and final selection stages.

By entering the competition, you are giving SANParks the right to display the winning images on our website or use it for publicity purposes. Copyright of the image however stays with the photographer.