The "Capture the Spirit of Ramadan" International Photography Competition™ is a unique and unprecedented 30-day visual celebration that aims to educate and enlighten thousands of viewers around the world about Ramadan and Eid. The competition allows the viewer to travel to different countries every night during the month of Ramadan to experience cultures, traditions and daily rituals in the photographs that are submitted daily from around the world.
The IRPC aims to eradicate misconceptions about the Muslim faith through the art of photography and by doing so it has attracted over 40,000 photographers and photography fans and over 3,000 unique photos from 50 countries. The top photos from the debut competition have been featured in the first ever photography book solely dedicated to Ramadan around the world!
The second volume will be released in November and will include over 300 of the best photos from Ramadan 2012. The competition has gained interest from UNESCO and several international museums and galleries that are interested in hosting an exhibition of the top photos.
As a non-profit, non-partisan social responsibility initiative by StudioBasel for Creative Solutions, an Arab-American creative arts firm, this initiative aims to serve as a platform for talented photographers to share their creativity with the world while delivering a cross-cultural and inter-faith message that captures the spirit of Ramadan through their own lenses. The competition has 3 Viewers Choice Awards and 3 jury awards which will be announced on September 5th and October 1st respectively.
This year's jury includes Dr. Basel Almisshal, the founder of StudioBasel and the IRPC; Mrs. Elvira Bojadžić, Co-Founder and Art Director at the Islamic Arts Magazine in Sarajevo; Mr. Ahmed Krausen, a German-born Danish photographer that has studied Islam through photography in Africa and Asia; and Professor Dr Mustafa Azahari from Malaysia who has been studying photography since the 1980s and is the Dean of the Art & Design Faculty at the University of Technology MARA.
To know more about the competition and how to order the photography book, visit www.capturethespiritoframadan.org
– Images: StudioBasel, IRPC, 2012
