Submissions Schedule: Camera Obscura Journal of Literature & Photography
Prose - Open
Photography Competition - Open
See complete guidelines for both detailed below.
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.
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 publication schedule:
Dec. 1 - Winter Issue.
June 1 - Summer issue
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We consider unpublished pieces only.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 Journal of Literature & Photography.
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 Journal will also consider an exceptional novella (12K to 30K words). Select Novella as submission type and please include a short description along with your cover.
Bridge the Gap - Please study the gallery. $50 to the best story that takes the reader on an unexpected journey from the first image to the next. Published online in the bridge the gap gallery.
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 welcome as long as the piece is immediately withdrawn using the aforementioned turbo-2010, fuel-injected submission system.
Deadline for current photography competition has been extended until April, 1 2013. (Winners announced shortly after)
View the complete results of the previous contests
Camera Obscura Journal Runs two competitions each year according to the following schedule:
Entries received through April 1, 2013 are entered in the Winter Competition
Entries received between April. 2 and Oct. 31 are entered in the Fall Competition
*Administrative cost and prizes for each are the same.
Camera Obscura Journal accepts for its photography contest any photographic-based artwork. The artwork need not consist exclusively of photography. Photography-based mixed media artworks are encouraged for submission, in addition to straight photography as long as it can be submitted electronically.
*Criteria considered in judging these photographic artworks include:
artistic merit
technical proficiency
theme: Open (We're looking for the best, most visually
intriguing photography we can find)
Professional
Prize - $1,200 cash award and publication in the Camera Obscura Journal of Literature & Photography. Selected finalists also receive publication.
