Disability Inclusive Photo Contest


Young-wheelchair-user
Photo courtesy of PhotoAbility.net

What could be more perfect than New Mobility and PhotoAbility.net co-sponsoring a photo contest to discover the best contemporary inclusive images of people with disabilities?

New Mobility magazine has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was injured at 18 and the magazine was there pre-Internet and the source of information and ideas and comfort to me,” says Deborah Davis, founder and owner of PhotoAbility.net and also a C6-7 quad. “Now as a business owner, being able to work together to bring this contest to my fellow readers who are discovering our photo library is exciting and fulfilling to me. Of course, I am looking forward to seeing a fresh stock of photos, awarding the winners and paying royalties on sales. This contest is a win-win for all of us, including the end users who will now have access to the photos and utilize them in their advertising or media.”

“I hope people will get excited about the opportunity to change portrayals of people with disabilities,” says Jean Dobbs, New Mobility’s editorial director. “I truly believe that acceptance and understanding happen one image at a time.”

Dobbs has advice for those who’d like to submit. “Think like a marketing person or an editor,” she says. “What I mean by that is, send images that you would like to see as a full page in a magazine. While an extreme angle or distorted lens might make sense on occasion, I would go easy on the ‘artsy’ stuff. We do have a category for ‘creative,’ but what we want to see most are human emotions front and center, real people living life to the fullest. Also, people should be interacting with other people, animals, hobbies, food, places, etc., when possible, as opposed to posing alone.”

Submitted images should depict real people with all types of disabilities and of all ages in the following categories:

  • Lifestyle activities such as dinner with friends, gardening, working, parenting, or enjoying a hobby
  • Travel
  • Creative, which could include unusual places, stylized, creative use of wheelchair parts, reflections, shadows, etc.
  • Sports
  • Business/education
  • Portraits

The contest will run for four months, from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31, 2015. Winners will be announced online monthly and the Grand Prize Award winner will appear in the February 2016 issue of New Mobility.

  • Monthly winners will each receive a $100 cash prize
  • Finalists and winners will be published on PhotoAbility.net, and also receive royalties for images sold.
  • Finalists and winners will be featured in a special gallery on PhotoAbility.net
  • Winning images will be published in New Mobility
  • Grand Prize winner will receive a $500 cash prize and a write-up in New Mobility that includes the Grand Prize image

Photos must be taken with a camera that is at least 8 megapixels and may include iPhones and other mobile. All people featured in the images must be willing participants in the competition and sign a model release. You may enter as many photos as you wish.

 


Support New Mobility

Wait! Before you wander off to other parts of the internet, please consider supporting New Mobility. For more than three decades, New Mobility has published groundbreaking content for active wheelchair users. We share practical advice from wheelchair users across the country, review life-changing technology and demand equity in healthcare, travel and all facets of life. But none of this is cheap, easy or profitable. Your support helps us give wheelchair users the resources to build a fulfilling life.

donate today

Comments are closed.