43 International Speleological Photography Contest

Welcome to a new edition of the Clay Speleologist awards for speleological photography.

It is our wish that this 2020, when our association reaches 50 years of existence, we can also celebrate the beginning of a new stage in the trajectory of this photographic competition which, for the first time in its four decades of history, we are presenting through a digital platform.

It has certainly taken some time of debate to make the decision to definitively adapt the competition to the digital reality. We do not want to give up on the idea that a photographer should exercise as much control as possible over his work, from the moment he decides to obtain the photograph to the moment it is developed for exhibition, because we all know how much a magnificent photograph can be distorted when, far from its author, it is mistreated by a poor screen or print when it is exposed to a jury or the photo-loving public. We are aware of this and we will work so that this last step, this final touch, is worthy of the great quality of so many works as those that have participated during these years.

We do not intend to admire the power that current tools have to illuminate a large space, or the difficulty of accessing certain environments more or less remote or dangerous, but the ability of the photographer to compose a suggestive image, alive, beautiful, which can transmit some of the infinite sensations that cause these underground worlds and that we feel those who have the fortune to know them.

It will be an honour to receive your photographs and to be able to share them with all those who wish to enjoy them; we encourage you to participate in the competition and in the exhibition.