Deadline for entering: January 15, 2010

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 15.12.2009. Each year, global optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss holds an annual worldwide photo contest. This year’s competition, which opens on December 15, has the theme “digital culture”. Photographers and photo enthusiasts are invited to explore and capture this broad theme from their own unique perspective. Anyone can participate, provided the pictures are shot with a Carl Zeiss lens. Pictures can be taken with any type of camera, from an SLR reflex camera to the camera of a mobile phone.

Technology is shaping ever more areas of our lives and has become an indelible part of our culture. Computers, internet and mobile devices are part and parcel of daily life and have made many things easier. They have also changed the way people interact with each other, exchange information, work, play, meet friends, enjoy music, and much more. Carl Zeiss invites photographers from around the globe to capture this contemporary yet challenging theme in exciting images.

An international jury consisting of photographers Edith Held and Jürgen Müller among others will assess the images on their creativity and technical execution. Highest points will be given to photographers whose images have been created before and during the shutter release, with as little revising and adapting of the image as possible.

The jury will select 10 winners after January 15. They will receive various types of merchandise.

First prize is a ZEISS SLR-lens, which the winner can select. The second prize is a set of Cinemizer plus video glasses, including an iPod touch 8 GB. Third prize is a Nokia N 86 mobile telephone.

The Carl Zeiss photo contest takes place each year in December. Last year’s theme was “pulse of the city”. The jury was led by Uwe Ommer.

For more information or to sign up for the contest, visit www.zeiss.com/photo