Today’s spotlight from the American Photography Open 2022 competition features images that were all made in low-light conditions. Among the entries from July that impressed our judges was Diana Ivanova’s blustery photography of a storm off of a beach in Northern Ireland last year. We also feature professional photographer Stefan Falke’s nighttime shot of New York City’s Hudson Yards district and Hugo Carayol’s photo of a late-night phone call. Now is definitely the  time for you to enter your work: The deadline is August 31, so don’t delay.

The contest is open to photographers at any level using any device. There are a number of ways to win. In addition to the Open prizes, our partner SanDisk’s ”Share Your World” competition is open for entries. To enter the SanDisk competition, select the “Share Your World” category and follow the instructions there. The SanDisk entries will also be eligible for the Open prizes so you only have to submit an image once. You can enter both competitions as many times as you wish.

The Open Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000 and prizes from our partner sponsors. Our finalists will also receive prizes from our sponsors, including a Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD (Model F053) for Sony mirrorless $249 value or $150 credit towards any Tamron lens purchase (Note: credit for USA residents only), a SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro SD card and a PhotoShelter 1 year standard account.

Go here for more information on the prizes, judges, and information on how to enter. Meanwhile, check out the highlighted entries from July:
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Stefan Falke: “Hudson Yards”

Professional photographer Stefan Falke is known for a range of work, including his ongoing effort to document artists living along the U.S.-Mexico border. Originally from Germany, he has been a longtime resident of New York City, which he paid tribute to in a series titled “Keep Going New York !!” The work, which he has self-published as a book, is an ode the city’s spirit, as captured during the pandemic.

Falke and his wife live in an apartment building in Manhattan’s Chelsea district that provides them with a view of the Hudson Yards neighborhood—a large-scale development meant to revitalize and expand the Midtown business district to the Hudson River. “I take pictures of it on most days, usually with my iPhone and through the window, which sometimes plays a role in the photo, because it creates interesting reflections. On occasion I use one of my work cameras, a Nikon D850, which was the case with the photo above,” he says. He shot the photo last May, on a morning when “the rising sun hit the main building while some fog came up from the Hudson River.”

“I underexposed it so the side where the sun hits the glass front would not burn out, and it looks very cool this way and brings out the sun rays created by the fog. I wanted it to look a little mysterious,” Falke says.

See more of Stefan Falke’s work at his website.
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Hugo Carayol: “The Phone Call”

Based in Montpellier, in the south of France, Hugo Carayol discovered photography at age 15. “I used to make photos with my father’s camera as a teenager, and since then I've fallen in love with photography and never stopped it,” he says. Though he considers himself a serious enthusiast, his dream, he says, is to become a photographer.

He made the photograph above, a self-portrait, at his great-grandparents’ house—“a very old house,” he says, “that inspires me a lot when it comes to photography.” His aim, he says, was to create an image “in an old style, something reminding the 1970s or 1980s spirit.”

“I had to fix my camera on a tripod and set the camera timer,” Carayol says. “That meant moving some furniture around. I also had to position the lamp so that it creates sidelight on my face." He shot with a Sony a7S II and a 24-70mm Zeiss lens.

See more of Hugo Carayol’s work at Instagram.
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Diana Ivanova: “Ocean View”

Originally from Bulgaria, Diana Ivanova now lives in Northern Ireland, and she has a passion for her adopted home’s landscapes and its seascapes. “The beaches of the north are quite beautiful,” she says.

Ivanova is also passionate about photography. “It has been a dream of me for a long time—four years ago photography became a part of my life and I am happy,” she notes. She says her specialty is diversity—she does not focus on any particular genre, though she confesses that she loves the natural world in its many forms.

She made the photograph above on a Northern Ireland beach during the summer of 2021, on a blustery night with a storm on the horizon. She shot with a Nikon D3300 and a Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD lens.

See more of Diana Ivanova’s work at Instagram.
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