(Minghui.org) Almost eleven years have passed since the Chinese Communist Party's official campaign to persecute Falun Gong began in 1999. Practitioners have resisted the persecution and validated their beliefs in countless ways throughout this period of time. The Minghui website now wishes to develop a more comprehensive photographic archive of the events of this era of Fa-rectification, for now and for the future. Thus, the website now asks Falun Dafa disciples around the world to submit high-quality photographs that can serve to do one of the following three things: resist the persecution, strengthen righteous thoughts, or clarify the truth to save people.
Minghui will also use the selected works to create the Minghui Weekly and other informational materials about Falun Gong and the persecution. These are meant for practitioners in mainland China for their daily distribution, so that we can better help the main body of Dafa disciples--those in mainland China--to tell people the facts about Falun Gong and to thereby save them.
We hope that practitioners both inside and outside China will participate in providing more and better-quality photographs and will strive to submit them in a timely manner.
Photo Guidelines and Submission Requirements:
1. Focus on the Three Themes
a) Photos that Help to Resist the Persecution
We ask for practitioners to provide high quality photographs that expose the CCP's evil persecution and the lies it spreads about Falun Gong.
b) Photos that Help to Strengthen Righteous Thoughts
We hope to help more people learn of practitioners' great journey, remaining steadfast in their beliefs over the past 11 years while at the same time telling people about the goodness of Falun Gong and the evils of the persecution, tirelessly working to save them. Photos should reflect practitioners' efforts to improve themselves according to their understandings of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance despite the persecution, and seek to illustrate the noble inner world experienced by a cultivator.
c) Photos that Help to Clarify the Truth and Save People
Examples of photographs in this category are those that embody the beauty of the Falun Dafa exercises, those that show how Falun Dafa continues to flourish all around the world, and those that reflect support from people from all walks of life. Such photos should be able to be used to help more and more people come to understand that "Falun Dafa is good."
Other than photos of past events, we require that newly taken photos highlight the chosen theme, make proper use of composition and light, and are, in general, photos of high quality.
2. Means of Expression
Please employ appropriate traditional principles of photo-journalism, especially for scenes depicting Dafa disciples validating the Fa. Attention should be paid to proper composition; scenes should be brightly lit, well-defined, and present a positive image. The work as a whole should strive for perfection, and avoid the use of dark, hazy, incomplete, old and other, "modern" warped notions and tactics.
3. Captions
Be sure to provide a caption for each photo. Captions should be concise and accurate, and can help those who are unfamiliar with the contents learn the facts. The following must be included:
a. Title
b. Author's name, contact information (pseudonyms ok if in mainland China)
c. Time, place, and occasion of the photo taken
d. Brief summary of event background/history
4. Previously Published Photos
Photos that have already been published on Minghui may be submitted again if better quality versions can be provided.
5. Post-production
With the prerequisite of maintaining authenticity of the work, appropriate cropping, brightness adjustments, color cast corrections, and sharpness adjustments are permitted. However, submissions should pay attention to rendering only natural effects. Do not use stitching, button image, overlay, or other post-processing techniques that result in distortion.
6. File Format and Size
Submissions should be sent in JPEG (.jpg) format only, with file sizes not exceeding 2,000 KB to facilitate transmission and reception. Please keep your high-resolution original files. For outstanding work in particular, Minghui may request the contributor's original, high-resolution files.
7. Where and How to Submit
To ensure that submissions will be received in time to participate in the selection process, all submissions must be sent via email to article@minghui.org. Email subject line should include the words "Request for submissions of photographs resisting the persecution and validating the Fa" to avoid being treated as a routine contribution.
In addition, if possible, please also mail a photographic print to the following address: 115 Franklin Turnpike, #125, Mahwah, NJ 07430, USA
8. Submissions Deadline
The deadline for the receipt of electronic submissions is July 29, 2010.
Minghui editors
May 29, 2010