Grand prize
Before the hailMannix Foster · Australia“Complex light exposed beautifully and beautiful composition”
An hour with Derry Caulfield, one to one
Last Light Photography competitionResults
The winners
Chosen blind by Derry Caulfield, and by 844 public votes.
Thank you to everyone who entered, and to everyone who voted.
Before the hailMannix Foster · AustraliaPeople's choice
Sun SaluteMartin Byrne, amateur photographer · IrelandA Camstrap Trek harness, voted by everyone.
175 votes
Honorary winner*
Seule dans la brumeÉlie Zerbib · IsraëlA Camstrap Trek harness, from Camstrap.
Honorary title given by Camstrap. This photograph was approved in spite of a date outside the rules' window (1 August to 15 October 2026). The error was ours, so Camstrap names it an honorary winner, alongside the People's Choice.
The finalists
Each receives a Camstrap Magclip.
Rowlett SunsetDale Richter · USA
夕暮れのバオバブ街道Yasuo Sakane · 日本
Morning light is onNorway
I can't sleep at dawn today...Israel
lumière minéraleStéphane Laurent · France
Rain at the fallCanada
Un peu de douceurSalomé Skala · Belgique
Sunrise flightAbagail Bernard · USA
Sea FlareTracey Shorter Davies · Australia
Photography competitionA Camstrap award
Last Light
Free to enter. Open worldwide. Phones count.
The winners are announced.
The light is not a backdrop.It is the photograph.
Open categoryAny cameraNo purchaseBlind judging
Photo: Ivan Petrov / Pexels opens in a new tab
Photo: Sergio Zhukov / Pexels opens in a new tabWhat 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.
- Grand prize
1 winnerAn 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.
Camstrap Nomad opens in a new tabA photography pack that carries the camera on your chest and everything else on your back. This one arrives with a Voyager harness in it.€135
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
Camstrap Magclip opens in a new tabA magnet that parks your lens cap on your strap, so it is never in a pocket when the light changes.€14
Kit value €183.90
No purchase, ever. There is nothing you could buy that would improve your odds.
- People's choice
1 winnerVoted 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
- Finalists
10 winnersThe other ten finalists
A Camstrap Magclip, publication in the Last Light gallery, and your name in the newsletter that goes out in seven languages.
- Camstrap Magclip opens in a new tabA magnet that parks your lens cap on your strap, so it is never in a pocket when the light changes.€14
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.
The head judge
Derry Caulfield
Photography without the tech jargon
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 teachesThe 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
- 277
- Photographers
- 162
- Countries
- 60
The entries
See the entries
by Agnieszka Boratyńska
by Agnieszka Boratyńska
by Sapir Rozenboim
by Lindie Hogg
by Lindie Hogg
by Msphotos79
by @msphotos79
by Grete MisdroyEvery 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.
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
- Open now to 15 OctEntries
Upload up to three photographs. It takes about ninety seconds.
- 16 to 21 OctJudging
Derry Caulfield scores every entry blind. No names, no accounts, no follower counts.
- 22 OctTwelve finalists
Published in the gallery. Public voting opens for one week.
- 29 OctWinners
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.
What comes back
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.
Where to stand
Specific viewpoints, each with what it is for and how to reach it, rather than the ones a brochure lists.
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.
Headline sponsor
Learn How To Photograph
Derry's school, and where she teaches when she is not judging. She teaches the people a camera manual leaves behind: absolute beginners, visual learners, and anyone who picked up a camera full of hope and put it back down full of confusion. No jargon, no judgement, and never more than six in a group.
How you learn is just as important as what you learn.
Learn How To Photograph is the award's headline sponsor, and Derry judges it. Every entry reaches her without a name attached, and no purchase can change where one places.
Light Guide
FreeLight is what this award is about, and she wrote the guide to it. How it changes by the second, the hour and the season.
See it opens in a new tabPhotography Formula Guide
Twenty-six pages of repeatable settings for seven kinds of photograph, so you stop guessing while the light goes.
See it opens in a new tabBeginner Mentorship
Six live one-to-one sessions with Derry, built around your camera and your own photographs.
See it opens in a new tabWorkshops
A few hours in the field with her: the zoo, a full moon, the city at golden hour, or a walk spent only looking for light. Never more than six people.
See it opens in a new tab
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
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
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.
Camstrap Voyager
The original hands-free harness. It carries the camera on your body instead of your neck, and lets it come up to your eye in one movement.
See it opens in a new tab
Camstrap Trek
An 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.
See it opens in a new tab
Camstrap Magclip
A magnet that parks your lens cap on your strap, so it is never in a pocket when the light changes.
See it opens in a new tab
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.
Questions
The things people ask before they hand over a photograph. Everything else is in the rules.
Read the full rulesWhat 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
