The Art Association of the Hanseatic City of Korbach is taking a unique approach to its annual art competition in 2025, moving away from traditional brushes, paints, and canvases to focus on classic analog photography. This year's competition, titled "My World – New Perspectives – Analog Photography with a Disposable Camera," aims to challenge participants to rediscover the art of photography in its purest form.
In today's digital age, smartphones have become ubiquitous in daily life, with their original telephone function largely overshadowed by digital photography capabilities. Statistics indicate that approximately 10 billion smartphone photos have been taken worldwide over the past decade, a trend that has almost completely displaced traditional photography. This shift has led to a certain casualness in photographic craftsmanship, which the 2025 art competition seeks to deliberately counteract.
The competition deliberately keeps the tools minimalist: participants will use only a disposable camera. The challenge is to create photographs on the theme "My World" while completely shifting perspective from everyday smartphone photography, potentially discovering one's own world in an entirely new way. The analog disposable camera produces a negative that must be developed and is equipped only with a shutter release button.
Participants must work without perfect technical equipment, digital manipulation, or the ability to take 50 or 100 pictures and then select the best ones. Instead, they must first sharpen their vision, think carefully about the desired subject, and imagine how the finished image will look on photo paper without display control – all while discovering new perspectives. The competition is designed as a playful, comprehensive cognitive-creative task that challenges perception, thinking, and recognition.
The art competition receives support from Sparkasse Waldeck-Frankenberg and the Rotary Club Korbach-Bad Arolsen. Thanks to this backing, disposable cameras can be provided free of charge, and the costs for film development and photo prints will be covered. Prize money totaling 1,000 euros awaits the winners.
Rotary Club President Jörg Fingerhut emphasized his organization's commitment to supporting local culture and associations, stating that the art competition focuses on finding new perspectives, which is something they must always strive for. Sonja Klein, deputy board member of Sparkasse Waldeck-Frankenberg, explained that the bank wants to give back to the region, calling the use of disposable cameras for the competition an innovative approach that appeals to all age groups.
The competition organizers include several key figures supporting the initiative: Second Chairman Markus Heßler, Rotary President Jörg Fingerhut, Sonja Klein from the Sparkasse Waldeck-Frankenberg board, Chairman Michael Preuße-Song, and Secretary Manuela Radtke all play important roles in making this unique photography competition possible.
Cameras will be distributed during the gallery opening hours at the Art Association's space in the Korbach Civic Center starting Tuesday, September 9th. The competition results will be showcased in a major exhibition running from October 3rd through November 2nd, providing the community with an opportunity to see how participants have captured and interpreted their world through the lens of analog photography.
