A photo competition for December

For December's competition we're going back to basics, something simple to round-off the year. We'd like black and white images, please.

Your image can be a portrait, a landscape, a macro... whatever takes your fancy. But it must be in black and white.

The competition is open from today (Friday 7 December) until Friday 28 December 2012. You can submit one entry to the Small Aperture Flickr pool. And the winning image will bag its photographer a 12" Fracture.

I've reproduced the rules for your reference, and here's a wish of good luck:

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

November's photo competition is here!

There's a lot of wood in Kew Gardens

We'll keep this simple. The theme for November's photo contest is wood, from trees coming into bud in the southern hemisphere, to bonfires piled high in the UK, or log cabins in mountainous retreats.

Yes, I might've been inspired by the terrible threat of ash dieback to UK woodlands, especially in East Anglia where my family home is.

You have from today (Friday 2 November) to Friday 30 November to submit your entries to the Small Aperture Flickr pool. It's one submission per person, and the picture that we like the most will win a 12" Fracture.

I've reproduced The Rules for you, and if you're in the UK, I'm adding a small reminder to be careful and avoid spreading the horrible fungus.

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

Going round: October's photo competition

For no reason other than I think it's a good idea, this month's competition theme is round. So anything that is circular, spherical, or your take on that shape, is fair game.

There's a 12" Fracture up for grabs if your entry is the one that catches our eye.

You have from today (Friday 5 October) until Friday 26 October 2012 to submit your entry. Yes, entry in the singular because it's one submission per person, please.

Here are The Rules, for your elucidation. Otherwise, good luck and we're looking forward to judging!

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

A photo competition for January!

Seeing as it's a new year, which is traditionally a time for optimism, hope, and positivity (despite the current economic climate), we thought that we'd go for a theme that reflects this. So how about some light, bright, and airy high-key photographs for the month of January?

The lovely people at Fracture are continuing to provide the prize, entitling the winner to have a photograph of her or his choice made into a gorgeous 12" Fracture.

Entries can be submitted from today (Thursday 5 January) until Thursday 26 January. They need to go in the Small Aperture Flickr pool, and please remember - it's one entry per person.

So that's about that. The Rules are below for your reference, but otherwise, good luck!

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

A photo competition for December!

It's a blackberry-studded chocolate meringue layer cake. (Made by me.)

So how about a bit of a photo competition? With a theme? And a prize? Yeah? Great!

Seeing as it's December, and December is my birthday month, we'll go for one of my favourite things as the theme. Food. From cake to carrots to crab. It doesn't matter if you're preparing it, eating it, or admiring it. We want something that's beautiful and clever and, well, looks good enough to eat! The winning entry receives a photo of the photographer's choice made into a gorgeous 12" Fracture.

The details are easy: one submission per person to the Small Aperture Flickr pool; the competition opens today (Wednesday 7 December) and closes on Wednesday 28 December 2011.

There are a few rules. Nothing complicated, we just have to have them. So:

The Rules

• If you decide to enter, you agree to The Rules.
• You can’t be related to either me or Haje to enter.
• One entry per person – so choose your best!
• Entries need to be submitted to the right place, which is the Small Aperture Flickr group.
• There’s a closing date for entries, so make sure you’ve submitted before then.
• You have to own the copyright to your entry and be at liberty to submit it to a competition. Using other people’s photos is most uncool.
• It probably goes without saying, but entries do need to be photographs. It’d be a bit of strange photo competition otherwise.
• Don’t do anything icky – you know, be obscene or defame someone or sell your granny to get the photo.
• We (that being me and Haje) get to choose the winner and we’ll do our best to do so within a week of the competition closing.
• You get to keep all the rights to your images. We just want to be able to show off the winners (and maybe some honourable mentions) here on Pixiq.
• Entry is at your own risk. I can’t see us eating you or anything, but we can’t be responsible for anything that happens to you because you submit a photo to our competition.
• We are allowed to change The Rules, or even suspend or end the competition, if we want or need to. Obviously we’ll try not to, but just so that you know.

If you've any questions, please just ask!

April photo competition winner!

We’re sorry that it has taken us longer than usual to announce the winner of April’s photo competition. Haje was struggling for connection to the intergoogles whilst idling on a boat somewhere off of Thailand (hard life, isn’t it?) and then we had our customary email avalanche to decide on a winner. But we’ve got there! We found a picture featuring a part of the human body that made us go ‘Oooh!’ So, Ladies and Gentlemen, please raise your glasses to April’s winner…

The Rickshaw Puller, by Sakshi Kumar

Many congratulations to Sakshi Kumar for his photo The Rickshaw Puller! Drop me a note, Sakshi, and I’ll arrange for you to collect your prize from the amazing Fracture.

Also, this month, we’d like to give an honourable mention. It’s the first time that we’ve done this, but it’s our competition, so why not? Well done to Kevin Thornhill for his photo Entwined in Love:

It’s a compliment to all of you who entered that we took so long to find a winner.

May’s competition is up and running. The theme’s insects. All the details are here, though. Fracture are providing a fabulous prize again, so please do submit an entry!