Win a day in the life of a SMH photographer

Jaroslaw Gasiorek’s shot of a passerby investigating a boarded up building in Sydney’s city centre claimed overall winner of the Sydney Morning Herald’s 1440 Photo Challenge for readers. The contest encouraged readers to capture a single moment in a day’s 1440 minutes

THE ANNUAL The Sydney Morning Herald Photos1440 challenge offers entrants a slice of life as a photographer on a modern daily newspaper.

Photos1440 is open to both amateurs and professionals – photos can even be taken on smartphones.

Each entrant is given three assignment briefs when they register.

“We’ve modelled it off assignments we are given,” said managing editor of photography at The SMH, Sandra Harrison.

“It’s very true to being a photo-journalist.”

Entrants will have six weeks to complete their assignments, with the competition closing on June 28.

“We usually give our guys a day – if they’re lucky. Half an hour sometimes,” said Ms Harrison.

Entrants can submit only one photo for each brief, with photo selection often the hardest thing for a photographer.

The winning photos will be displayed in the third annual Photos1440 exhibition of published and unpublished work from SMH photographers taken during the 1440 minutes of the day.

Prizes include A$5500 worth of Canon equipment for the overall winner and runner-up, and week-long internships with SMH photographers for two student winners.

Ms Harrison says photography is all about light and composition.

“It doesn’t matter what you shoot it on, as long as the end product’s there.

“You see photographers who have got lots of assistants and lots of lights.

“Photo-journalists are much more pure than that. They have very basic gear and they can walk into a situation and find a lovely little moment within the chaos.”

Photos1440 will run alongside the World Press Photo exhibition in Sydney from June 30 to July 22.

Entry is now open here.