Between dusk and dawn is a photography contest in which we want to challenge amateur and professional photographers to submit photographs of portraits and landscapes under non-daylight conditions, and to make people reflect on the role of the sky as a backdrop (or, at times, a protagonist) of the scenes in which we move.
The contest has been created by pibinko.org and is promoted by the Toscana Foto Festival.
The idea for the contest spawns from a project which has been running now for over two years, called BuioMetria Partecipativa (i.e. participatory dark sky quality monitoring). This project is aimed at raising awareness across Italy on light pollution, and at the creation of a map of dark sky quality by means of participatory processes.
During the course of the project, its creators, Andrea Giacomelli and Francesco Giubbilini, are having the opportunity of observing various types of "non-daylight" landscapes...starry skies, moonlit ridges, and nuances and shadow plays of sunsets and dawns.
The contest wants to be an opportunity to see how others see the beauty of scenes "between dusk and dawn", and to reward the most original visions.
In addition to the participation of professional and amateur photographers, we encourage a diversity of contributions: from the idle tourist lingering on a beach beyond late afternoon, from the city dweller contemplating an alpine landscape on the distant horizon after a long day's work, from the young and care-free taking in the sunrise after a night of partying, ... Stargazers are also welcome to participate, with splendid images of starry skies that evade the lenses of amateur photographers. Furthermore, photos identifying in a creative way outstanding cases of light pollution will be highlighted.
Last but not least, we encourage the participation of stargazers, who may propose images of starry skies which cannot typically be obtained with cameras used by amateur photographers.
The jury will be composed of experts in different aspects of land and sky landscapes and scenery.
The contest will take place between June 21 and September 20, 2010. Updates will be provided during the Toscana Foto Festival. The closing event, with announcement of the winners, will be held in Massa Marittima in October.
To inspire and guide aspiring participants, an exhibition will be prepared, with some images by landscape photography masters and specialists in dark sky scenes.
Scenes from the exhibition will be available on line, and may also be visited directly during the Toscana Foto Festival, at the Le Logge cafe, in Massa Marittima.
The contest web site and the rules for participation are published in multiple languages: we wish to foster participation from photographers who may be visiting Italy over the coming months, as well as from anyone who would like to share images from their home country with the Toscana Foto Festival.
NOTE: The deadline for submittal of photos (20 Sep, 11:59PM Rome time). Beyond this date, we have accepted only material from a few candidates who contacted us reporting website problems with the submittal procedure and who, for time zone issues, may not have read our reply immediately.