CamstrapLast Light Photography competition
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Enter
A single shaft of last light falling through cloud onto layered mountain ridges at dusk.
Photo: Connor Scott McManus / Pexels opens in a new tab

Photography competitionA Camstrap award

Last Light

Enter your photographSee the entries
prizes
12
Entries close
15.10

Free to enter. Open worldwide. Phones count.

Entries are open until 15 October.

The light is not a backdrop.It is the photograph.

Open categoryAny cameraNo purchaseBlind judging
Sunlight piercing through misty woodland with tall trees creating a serene natural scene.Photo: Ivan Petrov / Pexels opens in a new tab
A tranquil forest path illuminated by sunlight filtering through the trees.Photo: Sergio Zhukov / Pexels opens in a new tab

What to enter

One category, and one question. Everything else about the photograph is yours.

The Light

One photograph where the light is the subject, not the thing it fell on. Any camera. A phone counts.

  • Taken between 1 August and 15 October 2026
  • One file, up to 4 MB, longest edge 3000 px
  • Your own work, not AI generated

What you can win

12prizes

Twelve prizes. The one at the top is the one that is hard to buy.

  1. Grand prize
    Walking with a camera carried on a Camstrap harness rather than round the neck

    An hour with Derry Caulfield, one to one

    A private portfolio review over video. Your work, her full attention, and a plan for what to shoot next. Plus the full Camstrap field kit, your photograph published everywhere we publish, and your frame on the product page it belongs to.

    Kit value €183.90

    No purchase, ever. There is nothing you could buy that would improve your odds.

    1 winner
  2. People's choice
    A photographer wearing a Camstrap Trek harness, both hands on the camera

    Voted by everyone

    Chosen from the twelve finalists the judges pick. A Camstrap Trek harness.

    • Camstrap Trek opens in a new tabAn X-back yoke that spreads the weight across both shoulders and your back, for the days the camera goes on at dawn and comes off at dark.
      €34.90
    1 winner
  3. Finalists
    A Camstrap Magclip on a belt, holding a lens cap within reach of the camera

    The other ten finalists

    A Camstrap Magclip, publication in the Last Light gallery, and your name in the newsletter that goes out in seven languages.

    10 winners

Total prize value€358.80of Camstrap kit, across 12 prizes, plus an hour with Derry Caulfield.

Not waiting for October?LASTLIGHT10 opens in a new tabtakes 10% off anything at cam-strap.com until 1 November. It buys you nothing here: entry is free and the judging is blind.

Derry Caulfield outdoors in a wide tan hat and red jacket, smiling

The head judge

Derry Caulfield

Photography without the tech jargon

Learn How To PhotographMornington Peninsula, Australia

Derry has been a professional photographer since 1985, and she came to it sideways. She was working in a camera shop, her boss was double-booked for a wedding, and handed it to her.

In 2024 she left a twenty-three-year career in schools to teach photography full time. She teaches beginners in groups she keeps to six, face to face on the Peninsula and one to one over video to students anywhere, and she runs the school with her partner Caro.

The first thing I learned before anything technical was to see and understand how light can make or break a photo.

She scores every entry, and the grand prize is an hour of her time.

795,000 people follow her teaching on Instagram.

What she teaches

The reach so far

Updated live

Photographers are already out at the end of the day, in places most of us will never stand.

Photographs entered
1
Photographers
1
Countries
1
Every entry, where it was taken.
See the entries

The entries

See the entries
Artistic shadows of a couple holding hands on fallen autumn leaves, evoking nostalgia.Photo: Yan Krukau / Pexels opens in a new tab
Beautiful sunset over a tranquil lake with bare trees and long shadows on a winter afternoon.Photo: Thomas Forsberg / Pexels opens in a new tab
Silhouetted people in a park during sunset surrounded by benches and warm sunlight.Photo: Daria / Pexels opens in a new tab
Silhouetted couple strolls along a beach at sunset, casting long shadows on the sand.Photo: Dominiquemel16 Ramos / Pexels opens in a new tab
Long shadows cast by pier posts on a sandy sea beach during sunset.Photo: Jan van der Wolf / Pexels opens in a new tab
Silhouettes of people against a vibrant orange sunset, capturing a serene outdoor moment.Photo: Pedro Slinger / Pexels opens in a new tab

Every accepted entry, newest first. Nothing here is ranked. Judging is blind and happens after entries close.

For about six weeks each autumn the light is the best it will be all year. Long, low and warm. Then it goes. Photograph it before it does.

Entries close in
  days
  hours
  minutes

Judged by Derry Caulfield of Learn How To Photograph

A private portfolio review with Derry Caulfield, one to one

Every entry is scored without the photographer's name attached

One judge: Derry Caulfield. She scores every entry herself, and her decision is final.

How it runs

  1. Open now to 15 Oct
    Entries

    Upload up to three photographs. It takes about ninety seconds.

  2. 16 to 21 Oct
    Judging

    Derry Caulfield scores every entry blind. No names, no accounts, no follower counts.

  3. 22 Oct
    Twelve finalists

    Published in the gallery. Public voting opens for one week.

  4. 29 Oct
    Winners

    Announced here, then in the newsletter.

The tool behind the award

Know the light before you drive to it

Tell Lumière where you are going and when. It works out the hour the light is worth photographing, the places worth standing in, and how to work the light once you are there. Free, and it needs no account.

Where are you going?
Dates

Add a place and the plan is one tap away.

Or start from one of these

What comes back

  • A Lumière plan for the Lofoten Islands showing that day's cloud cover with its golden hour and blue hour times

    The hour, not the day

    Golden hour and blue hour for your exact coordinates, with the cloud cover that decides whether either of them shows up.

  • A location card for the Reinebringen viewpoint, with a photograph of it, what it is for, and the trailhead to reach it

    Where to stand

    Specific viewpoints, each with what it is for and how to reach it, rather than the ones a brochure lists.

  • Technique notes for the Reinebringen viewpoint: the best hour to be there, how steep the ascent is, and the lens that compresses the view

    What to do when you get there

    The best hour at that spot, what the walk in is like, and the lens that makes the picture work.

Open Lumière

Who runs this

Last Light is run by Lumière, and Lumière is free

Lumière is Camstrap's photography planning tool. Tell it where you are going and when, and it works out the light you will actually get, so you arrive at the right place at the right hour instead of finding out afterwards.

  • Golden hour, blue hour and shadow direction for your exact coordinates
  • Locations photographers rate, rather than the ones brochures do
  • Gear suggestions for the terrain and the subject you are shooting
Plan a shoot with Lumière

Free for the photographer community.

Who pays for this

Camstrap makes the straps that keep a camera on you

The prizes and the running of this award are paid for by Camstrap, which makes hands-free camera straps and harnesses. If a photograph in this award exists because the camera was already on the photographer rather than packed in a bag, that is the whole idea.

  • Harnesses that carry a camera on your body, both hands free
  • The Voyager and the Trek, plus the clips and packs around them
  • Ships worldwide from France
See the straps at cam-strap.com opens in a new tab

Buying nothing is not a disadvantage here. Entry is free and the judging is blind.

What Camstrap makes

The same things the winners receive. Every one of them is a way of not having the camera in a bag when the light arrives.

For everyone who enters

LASTLIGHT10

10% off anything at cam-strap.com until 1 November. The link puts the code in your basket for you.

Shop with 10% off opens in a new tab

The rules

Free. No purchase, ever. Open worldwide to anyone aged 18 or over. Three photographs maximum per person. Once a photograph is submitted it cannot be edited; if you need one taken down, write to benjamin@cam-strap.com and we will remove it.

Questions

The things people ask before they hand over a photograph. Everything else is in the rules.

Read the full rules
What is Last Light?

A photography competition run by Camstrap, judged blind, with twelve prizes. It runs across the six weeks each autumn when the light is at its best, and it closes on 15 October 2026.

Does it cost anything?

No. Entering is free, there is nothing to buy at any point, and no purchase of any kind can improve your odds.

Who can enter?

Anyone aged 18 or over, anywhere in the world. You do not need to be a professional and you do not need to have entered anything before.

How is it judged?

Blind, by one judge. Derry Caulfield sees the photograph, its title, and the one line about where and when. She does not see your name, your email address or your follower count. She does read that line, so a country written into it is a country she sees. The light counts double; then the moment; then the technique. Her decision is final.

Do I need a Camstrap harness, or any particular camera?

No. There is one category and it is open to any camera, including a phone. Camstrap pays for the award; owning something they make does not buy anyone a place in it.

Can I enter a photograph taken on a phone?

Yes. The judges never see what took the picture. Phones have won this kind of thing before and the criteria do not reward a bigger sensor.

How many photographs can I enter?

Three. Choose them carefully: once a photograph is submitted it cannot be changed or taken back, so enter when you are happy with it.

When was the photograph allowed to be taken?

Between 1 August and 15 October 2026. It has to be from this season. That is the whole point of the award.

Do I keep the copyright?

Always. You give Camstrap permission to show your entry in the gallery and when results are announced, credited to you. If you finish in the top twelve that permission extends to Camstrap's marketing for two years. Nothing else.

Is AI allowed?

No. Not generated, not extended, not filled in. Normal development (exposure, contrast, colour, dust, straightening, cropping) is fine, and is what everyone does.

Can I change my mind?

An entry cannot be edited once it is in. If you want one taken down, write to benjamin@cam-strap.com from the address you entered with and we will remove it, before or after the closing date.

When do I hear?

Twelve finalists are published on 22 October. Public voting runs until 28 October, and the winners are announced on 29 October.

Is this run by Instagram?

No. This award is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram or Meta.

Something not answered here? Ask us directly

Ask us anything

A real person reads this. Expect an answer within a working day.

Or write straight to benjamin@cam-strap.com

Enter before

15.10

Enter your photograph

Free to enter. Open worldwide. Phones count.

Stunning twilight sky with vibrant hues and city lights below, capturing the serene transition from day to night.Photo: Swapnil Sharma / Pexels opens in a new tab