Close-Up is a nationwide fine art photo competition run by the New York chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and open to all ASMP members. The 2008 deadline for entry submissions was August 20, and the contest is now closed.
What is Close-Up
Close-Up considers the question of how we become subjects and how that process might be revealed in photography by drawing from Emmanuel Levinas' book, Existents and Existence.
Does photography's fracturing of time, space and narrative provide some of the basic principles of this particular set of thoughts? Does Photography create its own philosophy through its format?
According to Levinas, art allows us to step back and see things in a different context. Referring to photography, film and in particular to close-ups:
'Their interest does not only lie in that they can show details; they stop the action in which a particular is bound up with a whole, and let it exist apart. They let it manifest its particular and absurd nature which the camera discovers in a normally unexpected perspective — in a shoulder line to which the close-up gives the hallucinatory dimensions, laying bare what the visible universe and the play of its normal proportions tone down and conceal.'
By hinting at unexpected perspectives and cinematic characteristics, the photographer's work may yield far more complicated questions than they answer. The exhibition becomes a voyage through the contested spaces: philosophy, photography, genre and method.
The Juror
Nina Trivedi is a London based performance artist and curator. Currently pursuing an MFA in Curating at Goldsmiths College. Previous projects include Photo 50 for the London Art Fair, Bad Year Blimp at Alma Enterprises and Parallel Lines with the Glasgow School of Art.
Entry fees
Each eligible ASMP member may submit one image for free. You may submit unlimited additional entries at a fee of $10 per image.
What do winners get?
The winning images will be exhibited in Calumet's gallery space.
Create an account and submit your image today!