BAKU 2023 is international contest of art photography, organized by Gilavar Photo Club of Azerbaijan from Baku.

The contest is divided into following sections:
OPEN COLOR
OPEN MONOCHROME
PHOTO TRAVEL
PEOPLE

Closing date: 30 November 2023
Judging date: 1 December 2023
Notification date: 20 December 2023
Delivery date: 25 February 2024
Gallery publish date: 25 February 2024

Participation fee is mandatory for all participants:
1 section 13 USD
2 sections 14 USD
3 sections 15 USD
4 sections 16 USD

Group discounts are available:
10 members - 10%
20 members – 20%

Payment can be made on the web site after submitting. The fee can be paid via PayPal through our web site: http://baku.gilavar.net. If for some reason you are not able to make payment - please contact us [email protected].
The works of the authors who did not pay the fee would not be taken into consideration.

IMAGE AND ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
This exhibition is open to anyone; however, an entry may be rejected when the Sponsor or the Exhibition Organizers, in their reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not conform to exhibition rules and these Conditions of Entry. Membership in any photographic organization is not required.

Penalties: Entries will not be accepted from any entrant who has put on the PSA Penalties List for Ethics Violation. Entry fees are not refundable in these circumstances

PSA Star Ratings
To receive proper Star ratings credit from PSA, entrants must provide their names and country exactly the same way in each exhibition. Aliases are not permitted. Please contact PSA in the event of name changes or relocating to another country. Using one’s name differently in different exhibition exposes the entrant to the risk that many of their acceptances may not be recognized by PSA Star Ratings.

Image Creation
Entries must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally.

Certification
By virtue of submitting an image, the entrant certifies the work as his or her own. Images may not incorporate elements produced by anyone else (for example: clip art, images or art by others downloaded from the Internet). Aliases are not allowed.

Reproduction:
The entrant permits the sponsors to reproduce all or part of the entered material free of charge for publication and/or display in media related to the exhibition. This may include low resolution posting on a website. The Photographic Society of America (PSA) may request specific permission from entrants to reproduce entered images in its educational materials. The terms of that permission will be mutually agreed between the entrant and PSA except in the circumstances where the entered image is found to breach the PSA Ethics Policy. In those circumstances the image may be reproduced by PSA, without the entrant’s further permission, for educational purposes to illustrate serious exhibition rule violations. For those reproductions, the entrant’s name will be withheld.
Entries will not be accepted from entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced in materials related to the exhibition.” The exhibition assumes no liability of any misuse of copyright.

Alteration and Computer Generation:
Subject to Divisional restrictions (particularly Nature, Photo Travel, and Photojournalism) images may be altered, either electronically or otherwise, by the entrant; adjustments to enhance images or creatively modify images are allowed providing the underlying photograph is retained in a way that is obvious to the viewer. Images may not be constructed entirely with a computer, and must be the sole work of the entrant.




Re-use of accepted images:
Any image that has been accepted in this exhibition, past or present, may not be entered again in the same Division Star Ratings Class in any future instances of this exhibition. It may, of course, be entered in any other PSA recognised exhibitions but must always have the same title. Re-titling in another language is not allowed.

Photographs must be in JPEG format, with dimensions 1920x1080 pixels at 300, JPEG compression (if Photoshop used for export): 7-12, file size maximum 4 Mb. Each image must have a unique title. Titles must not include file extensions such as .jpg or .jpeg (or any other camera capture filenames), or words such as "untitled" or "no title". Titles may not consist solely of numbers.
Digital images cannot be altered, including resizing in either direction, by the exhibition or by the exhibitions equipment before or during judging.
The photographs of participants with the application are submitted in these ways:
- uploading thought our website
- by e-mail: [email protected]

NOTICE: When an entrant fills in the Entry Form to submit an entry the entrant will see a feature to affirm he or she has read these Conditions of Entry when he or she fills out the entry form. If the entrant does not so affirm the entry will not be submitted.

The Exhibition will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the PSA and FIAP.
An entrant’s images will not be presented to the judges consecutively. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging in that section. Distribution of images will be in the same round order as submitted by the entrant.
An image may be entered in only one section where acceptances of that image in multiple sections would be eligible for the same star path.

To participate in this contest entrants will apply with black & white or color works. The maximum number of photographs per section is 4. No title or identification of the maker shall be written anywhere on the face of an image.
Photographs must be sent in digital form, as a picture file with dimension 1920x1080 pixels at 300 dpi. The maximum file size is 4 Mb.

At the contest there will be 184 international awards from FIAP, PSA, IAAP, Sille Sanat Sarayi and Gilavar Photo Club.

1 x FIAP blue pin
3 x The Best Photo Club diplomas
4 x FIAP Gold Medal, 24 x FIAP Blue Ribbon,
4 x PSA Gold Medal, 24 x PSA Honorable Mention,
4 x IAAP Gold Medal, 4 x IAAP Silver Medal, 4 x IAAP Bronze Medal, 24 x IAAP Diploma,
4 x SSS Gold Medal, 4 x SSS Silver Medal, 4 x SSS Bronze Medal,
4 x GILAVAR Gold Medal, 4 x GILAVAR Silver Medal, 4 x GILAVAR Bronze Medal, 24 x GILAVAR Ribbon, 40 x GILAVAR Diploma,

Statement on Subject Matter applicable to all sections
The fundamental rule that must be observed at all times and applies to all sections offered in exhibitions with PSA recognition is that the welfare of living creatures is more important than any photograph. This means that practices such as baiting of subjects with a living creature and removal of birds from nests, for the purpose of obtaining a photograph, are highly unethical, and such photographs are not allowed in any exhibition with PSA recognition. Under no circumstances may a living creature be placed in a situation where it will be killed, injured or stressed for the purpose of obtaining a photograph. Images that show live creatures being fed to captive animals, birds or reptiles are not permitted under any circumstances.

There are also concerns about the use of aerial photography, drones, helicopters, low flying aircraft. These should not cause any interference with other individuals or animals which causes a disturbance in their normal activity or disrupt the way any individuals or animals interact with their environment. Entrants in PSA recognized exhibitions should comply with all relevant laws and regulations, associated with aerial photography, in the country in which the image was taken.

Entry into PSA recognized exhibitions is conditional on accepting these policies. The content of images must comply with the General Conditions and with the Division and Section definitions listed in these conditions. Images that - in the sole opinion of the judges or the Exhibition Organizers - do not comply, will be disqualified so the entrant may be aware of the problem when considering entry into other exhibitions with PSA recognition.

Editing Guidelines
Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.

Allowed editing techniques:
• Cropping, straightening and perspective correction.
• Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion.
• Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene.
• Complete conversion of color images to grayscale monochrome.
• Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blending or focus stacking);
• Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panoramas);

Editing techniques that are not allowed:
• Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and straightening.
• Adding a vignette during processing.
• Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome.
• Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color

PSA Monochrome Definition
An image is considered to be Monochrome only if it gives the impression of having no color (i.e. contains only shades of grey which can include pure black and pure white) OR it gives the impression of being a greyscale image that has been toned in one color across the entire image. (For example by Sepia, red, gold, etc.) A greyscale or multi-colored image modified or giving the impression of having been modified by partial toning, multi-toning or by the inclusion of spot coloring does not meet the definition of monochrome and shall be classified as a Color Work.

FIAP Definition of Monochrome
A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a monochrome work with the various shades of grey. A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black and white category; such a work can be reproduced in black and white in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage. On the other hand a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category; such a work requires colour reproduction in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage.

For the purpose of this exhibition, only greyscale images are allowed in monochrome sections. Toned images are not allowed.

Photo Travel
A Photo Travel image is a portrayal of the real world we live in, as it is found naturally. There are no geographic limitations.

Content guidance:

1. If the image is predominantly or exclusively a land-, sea- or cityscape, these “scapes” must include characteristic, distinctive and recognizable physical features, although it is not necessary that the image identify the exact location;
2. Images that predominantly or exclusively depict people and their activities must illustrate a distinctive culture of a country, region, or continent;
3. Images that predominately or exclusively depict animal populations are allowed, if the animals are in their native environment and are characteristic of that country, region, or continent;
4. Portraits or other close-ups of people or objects, in addition to meeting the above paragraphs as applicable, must include elements depicting some of the surrounding environment to make it obvious that the image was not taken in a studio setting;
5. Images from events or activities arranged for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are NOT allowed.
6. Time exposures are allowed, if they do not dominate the image as a special effect (star trails, for example, are a dominating effect).
Highly distorted images such as those produced by fish eye lenses are NOT allowed.

People Definition
People in all situations, such as daily life, street photography, traditions, portrait, people at work, social events, human relations and etc. The main subject in the photo must be one or more human. PIDC only colour images are allowed in this seciton.

Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections and to the Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel

Notification cards will be sent by email.
The results and PDF Exhibition catalog will be publishing on website baku.gilavar.net and it will be possible to download. All entrants of the contest (participants which submitted works and paid entry fee) will receive on-line PDF catalog of the photo contest.

Mr. Rashad Mehdiyev, EFIAP
email: [email protected]