Camera Obscura is a Latin term that simply means "dark room."A camera obscura is therefore nothing more than a dark box or room with a pinhole at one end, and at the other, the projected image, in color, upside down, of the world outside the dark box by virtue of an amazing natural property of light traveling through a small hole. Add a mirror and you can turn the image right side up or direct it, add lenses to magnify the image, warp it, or project it onto paper and trace the image as Vermeer did, as Caravaggio was rumored to have done. We are the dark box. Your work is the pinhole.
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Guidelines for Prose
"Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities [or words] required to explain anything." This statement is attributed to William of Ockham in the fourteenth century, and in saying what he did, he had already said too much. Guidelines should be no exception, but they almost always are.
Tentative schedule:
Feb. 1 - deadline for Spring.
Sept. 1 - deadline for Fall
Some writing and photographic art that appears in the print journal will also be published on the website after it appears in print.
A $1000 featured writer award will be given to the writer of a story selected for publication in each issue as determined by the editors. There is no fee for this award. All stories are eligible.
Contributors receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears and as much exposure as we can tastefully give them.
All others will be thanked profusely for submitting and wished well.
Please note: Some work, if not selected, will be made into paper airplanes or erotic origami (reserved for only the best work.)
We consider unpublished pieces only.
All rights revert back to the author upon publication.
If your work is later republished, we request you note its initial publication in Camera Obscura.
Your perception of reality is your truth, so whether you interpret it or render it completely, be sure to check the alleyways and the spaces between the cushions in your sofa.
250 to 8,000 words. Think of these as guidelines. They are not concrete.
Camera Obscura will also consider an exceptional novella (12K to 30K words). Must query first.
Flash writers are also challenged to bridge the gap, 1000 words or less (published online only) $50 to the best story that takes the reader on an unexpected journey from the first given image to the next.
We have no desire to lug wheelbarrows full of pulp to the recycling bin, neither are we in the business of constructing "green" buildings using paper bricks fashioned from properly formatted manuscript pages. All submissions are therefore handled electronically through our submission system.
Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as the piece is immediately withdrawn using the aforementioned turbo-2010, fuel-injected submission system.
Photography Competition
Winners announced in current competition on March 1, 2010.
Deadline for new competition is September 1, 2010.
All entries are considered anonymously in the following categories.
Professional
Prize - $1,200 and publication. Selected finalists also receive publication.
Professional designation: photographers who earn more than 25% of their income from photography.
Non-professionals may also enter the professional category.
Non-professional
Prize - $300 and publication. Finalists also receive publication.
Entry fee $10.00 per entry.
Finalists in both categories will be selected and assessed by the photography judges who will select the winner.
Camera Obscura accepts for competition any photography-based artwork. The artwork need not consist exclusively of photography. Photography-based mixed media artworks are encouraged for submission, in addition to straight photography. Characteristics considered in judging these photographic artworks include:
