|
The Internation Photography Contest “LIGHT AND COLOUR” is held for Russian and foreign photographers for the third time. Applications for the Contest can be submitted free online on the Project website: https://svet-tsvet.ru/: from 27 January to 7 April 2026 The overall theme of the International Photography Contest in 2026 - ‘New reality: through the present into the future’ - concerns the topical issues of our days and aims to demonstrate how positive change in social environment, culture and ecology impacts future life of people and paves the road to tomorrow. The theme sets broad direction of visual conceptualization of passage to a new reality and enables to demonstrate how today’s trends, technologies and practices shape the face of future. It is not just a snapshot of the moment, but artistic forecast, where photography becomes a tool for the exploration of possible world evolution scenarios, a dialogue between the present and the nascent. Organizers: City Administration of Yelets district, Interregional Social Charity Foundation “Quality of Life” with the support of the JTI Russia company. Contest aims and objectives: to exhibit all the currents of modern photography, to accumulate in a single online space best works of Russian and international authors made in the period: January 2025 - April 2026, contribute to the professional growth of photographers, development of cultural connections between Russia and other countries, and promote photography to general public as one of the most democratic forms of art. Contest participation is open to all Russian and international professional photographers, photo artists, photo amateurs, artists, AI visual creators, art students, bloggers, designers, and travelers over 18 at the time of Contest, interested in being part of the art of photography and showcasing their works. Rules of participation: after registration and filling the application form a Contest participant can upload up to 15 photographs total. Those can be separate works or series unified by common theme, plot, style, visual solution and made not earlier than January 2025. |
The Contest accepts documentary and conceptual photos of all streams, full colour, and black and white, analogue and digital, photographs made with the use of alternative ways of shooting and printing as well as new technologies. The photographs submitted for the competition should be meaningful and visually attractive. Contest nominations: the participants can submit their works to any of 9 nominations (8 main ones and 1 special), each containing two categories: “Single photo” and “Photo series”, made in the period from 1 January 2025 to the date of sumbission for the Contest. Submission evaluation: the works submitted for the contest will be moderated in order to check their adherence to the rules of the Contest, nomination, RF laws and technical requirements. Selection of the finalists and their works to be presented at the Exhibition, as well as the selection of prize winners are handled by the International Panel of Judges. The Panel works in closed and anonymous mode: panel members won’t see participant names before the publication of the list of finalists. Panel of judges: the International Panel of Judges includes renowned specialists in the field of photography: acclaimed photographers, photo editors, curators, art experts, historians and professors of photography, representatives of cultural institutes from Russia and abroad. The list of judges on the Panel is given in EXPERTS section.. Awards to finalists and Contest winners: in each of the 9 nominations there will be one main prize winner in “Single photo” and one in “Photo series” categories. The names of prize and diploma winners will be announced at the official opening ceremony of the International Festival “LIGHT AND COLOUR” on 13 August 2026 in the town of Yelets. The panel of judges can designate 1-3 more authors in each nomination to be awarded the diploma of “Honorable mention by the panel of judges”. The authors, whose works have been selected for the Contest finale and the Exhibition will be awarded memorable diplomas of contest finalists and exhibition catalogues. The organizers will carry out the printing and framing of works for the final exhibition, creating the exposition and will publish the exhibition catalogue. Further information on the Contest: |
You are here
Contest
Experts
«Dear friends!I congratulate us all on the start of the Photographic Contest and
Festival in the old Russian city of Yelets! This more than just a festival, it’s a
symbolic event for the city as well as for the photographer community, photography
enthusiasts and amateurs. It was not a random choice to choose Yelets as the site of
the new festival. This is the city where one of the first postal stamps in Russia was
printed, there is a crystal cross on one of the domes of the Great Duke’s Mikhail
and Alexander Church, which is very unusual both in Russia and abroad, it’s the
city where first grain elevator and the first Railway Professional School were
established… I wish you, dear participants, to strive to become number one! I also
wish everybody success and new creative achievements!»
Konstantin Leyfer (
Russia
)«Dear contest participants! Having been on panels of judges in a lot of
photographic contest, I can list a number of qualities that you need to win: 1 Love
for photography; 2 Belief in yourself and certainty that what you do is right. These
are key qualities, but they are not enough by themselves. You also need to define
your creative goals. This is why point 3 is also important – find your theme, your
grand purpose. You need to understand for yourself why you make photos. What is
it that you want to communicate to the rest of the world. Such things should
be formulated in a very concrete and concise way. Lisette Model expressed it
very well saying: «Don’t try to make just a “beautiful photo", they to make a
photo of something».Good luck to you!»
Irina Tolkacheva (
Russia
)
