Hasselblad 2010 Masters Awards competition

Hasselblad today announced that it is accepting submissions for the 2010 Hasselblad Masters Awards competition. Each year Hasselblad awards the title of Master photographers in a range of specially defined categories. Awards are granted in recognition of the photographer’s contribution to the art of photography and photographic ability in the areas of creativity, composition, conceptual strength, and technical skill.

Photographers are invited to submit up to 5 images in each of the following eleven categories: architecture, editorial, fashion/beauty, fine art, general photography, nature/landscape, portrait, product, up-and-coming, wedding/social and, for the first time, wildlife. One Master will be chosen for each of the eleven categories.

Christian Norgaard, Hasselblad’s Photographer Relations Manager, explains the addition of the new category: “In the past few years we have been overwhelmed with submissions for the Masters competition. We have also seen strong interest in wildlife photography from many applicants and have received numerous requests to add this type of photography as a dedicated category. We are pleased to acknowledge this important photographic form and the wishes of photographers by adding this new category to the Masters competition.“

“Broadening the categories to include wildlife,” continues Norgaard, “also shows the versatility of the Hasselblad medium format DSLRs. Hasselblad medium format DSLRs are just as fantastic in the field photographing wildlife as they are shooting portraits in the studio.”

Given the quantity and quality of entries received for the 2009 Masters Awards competition, Norgaard anticipates an even more successful program for 2010. “Last year, the quality of submissions was so exceptional that it was quite difficult to select only 10 winners from the applicants we received. We anticipate that this year’s entries will again exceed our expectations. Between now and the submission deadline at the end of December, we look forward to seeing a great range of exciting and creative work from talented photographers around the world.”

Each of the 2010 winners – one photographer from each of the 11 categories – will receive a framed diploma certifying their Masters‘ status and a presentation of their work on the Hasselblad website. Winners will also be given the use of an H4D camera, the flagship of the Hasselblad system, with which to capture images for a unique, commemorative photography book, with each winner rendering a personal interpretation of a given theme.

The Hasselblad Masters program is again created in collaboration with HP, Hahnemuehle, SanDisk, and Broncolor. HP printed last year the 100 finalist images with their Designjet Z3200 Photo Printer on the TIPA award-winning Photo Rag Baryta paper from Hahnemuehle. TIPA-winning Broncolor – for Best Studio Flash Generator: Broncolor Scoro A4S – was providing high-end lighting equipment for the exhibition, and SanDisk is supplying CompactFlash memory cards to the winners, as they did last year.

Submission Guidelines
With the exception of the up-and-coming category, submitting photographers must have been active* professionals for more than three years and submitted images must be captured with a medium or large format system. The up-and-coming category is open to all active professional photographers, regardless of length of time in the business, and submitted images may be captured with any large format, medium format, or 35mm digital system.

All images must be submitted digitally, regardless of capture format. This years entry deadline is December 31, 2010.

For full details and instructions on how to submit images, please go to: http://www.hasselblad.com/masters-2010-is-open.aspx

*active means earning 51% or more of income from photography

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Center of Service GmbH
Maxi Schumacher
Hammerbrookstrasse 93
20097 Hamburg
Germany
T: +49. 40. 25 40 48-28
F: +49. 40. 25 40 48-40
E: press@centerofservice.com
W: www.centerofservice.com