The working group for Art and Nature from the Society for Conservation and the Study of Caribbean Birds, and the Provincial Art Center in Holguín announces the celebration of the 1st PHOTONATURE CONTEST, Holguín 2009 next April 10, to take place during the Community Festival “Protecting the Birds”, Gibara 2009 and the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival.
The Caribbean islands, Cuba included, are considered as an important place in the conservation of wildlife, and are defined as an area of the planet where life and land hold a great amount of values in its bio-diversity. The best way to preserve them is to know them. Photography is an excellent means to achieve it!
Bases:
The contest is open to all photographers and visual artists living in the province.
The subject matter will be the Cuban and Caribbean nature, its wildlife: flora, fauna as well as other elements of nature from the most conservative point of view to the most modern.
The smallest photo size will be 8x10 inches (it can be included 5x7 formats in case of installations or other works that require it).
Each participant will be able to present till six independent works or a series of six pieces.
In the case of installations, the author will have to draw a sketch of it and will have 1.5 square meters for each artistic proposal.
The following data must be provided with the contest works:
- Name and last names
- Work's title
- Technique
- Dimensions
- Price
- Address
- Telephone and e-mail
The works must have been done among years 2005-2009.
The works presented will be assessed by an admission-jury whose outcome will have no question.
The awarding-jury will be made up of photographers and bio-diversity specialists in charge of choosing three places: first prize, 1500 Cuban pesos; second, 1000 Cuban pesos and third prize, 500. The jury will grant as many mentions as relevant. The jury's verdict has no appeal.
Works will be admitted in the Provincial Art Center, at Maceo and Martí streets, in the city of Holguín, Telephone: 422392; from March 2 till March 31, 2009.
The admitted works will have to be picked up before May 31, 2009; otherwise the Art Center is not responsible for the conservation of the works.
The works must be previously mounted and framed by the author; otherwise the authors will have to rely on the availability of frames in the gallery.
The participation in the 1st Photonature Contest takes for granted the acceptance of these bases.
For more information contact Nils Navarro, SCSCB proyect coordinator for Art and Nature at nilsarts@yahoo.com
By Amauris Betancourt.
The series Life in the Birama Wet Lowland, by JotaCruz, depicts –in excellent compositions, from different angles and in the right moment- different places and species from Birama Wet Lowland at the province of Granma. 
Biodiversity, the second rewarded piece by the same creator, approaches, in portraits, endemic birds from the area of Cupeycillo, located at the municipality of Gibara. The photographer feasts on the beauty and charisma of these endemic birds turning the area into a meeting place for scientists, photographers, painters, naturalists and birders.
The jury board, presided by Nils Navarro and made up besides of photographers Amaurys González and Juan Pablo Carreras, awarded too four Mentions: Carlos Alberto Ferrá for A day after, and to Luis Catalá Gurri, William Lucas Rodríguez and Alexander Sánchez Rivas for their works Hope Nets, The alert spectator and First Steps, respectively.
It will be open to the public for a month and will be shown next in Gibara during The Community Festival “Protecting Birds” from May 18 to 24 sponsored by several national and international institutions.