The Orms x Canon Promenade exhibition is returning to the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town for its seventh edition. This provides South African photographers with an opportunity to showcase their work in one of the city's most iconic public spaces.
Over the past six years, the exhibition has successfully brought photography beyond galleries and screens, allowing thousands of local residents and international visitors to view the exhibition along the promenade. Previous shows have covered themes such as wildlife, birds and movement, landscapes, macro photography, and black and white photography.
This year's theme, 'Art of Photography,' poses a central question: at what point does photography become art? The competition seeks photographers who demonstrate a clear creative stance; works will be judged on criteria such as composition, light, color, perspective, subject, moment of capture, and post-processing. Photographers can submit work in various genres, including portrait, landscape, still life, architectural, abstract, and conceptual photography.
How it works
Twenty photographs will be selected as finalists and presented as large-scale works of art along the Sea Point Promenade, creating an open exhibition that showcases diverse perspectives on South African photography. The competition includes a prize fund of 100,000 Rand.
The first prize, valued at 65,000 Rand, includes a Canon EOS R8 body with an RF 28–70mm f/2.8 lens and a 10,000 Rand voucher at ORMS Print Room. The second prize, valued at 20,000 Rand, includes a Canon EOS R50 Creator Kit and a 5,000 Rand voucher at ORMS Print Room, while the third prize, valued at 15,000 Rand, includes a Canon PowerShot V1 and a 5,000 Rand voucher at ORMS Print Room.
According to the organizers, the previous six editions of the exhibition featured 120 photographers, received tens of thousands of applications, and awarded over 500,000 Rand in prizes.
How to participate
Photographers can submit up to five images simultaneously, with no limit to the number of applications. Images must be submitted in landscape format as JPEG files, each no larger than 5 MB. Finalists will need to provide high-resolution TIFF files for A0 size printing. Watermarks on final prints will not be accepted.
The competition is positioned as an opportunity for photographers to take their work beyond the screen and gallery walls, presenting it in the public landscape. The submission deadline is September 16.
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