What is it?

A Photomarathon is a photograph competition with a twist: You receive a 12 picture film. Over 12 hours you have to take pictures on 12 given topics. It’s not your physical condition, but your sense of improvisation, fun and creativity that is stressed throughout the Photomarathon.

Photomarathons have proved popular across Europe, with regular events in Denmark, Germany and Russia as well as the Global Photomarthon. The first UK Photomarathon was held in Cardiff in the summer of 2004. One June 16th 2007, the fourth UK Photomarathon saw over 350 entrants taking part in Cardiff and another 120 in at the first ever Glasgow Photomarathon.

2008 sees the fifth anniversary of Photomarathon UK, and we are looking welcoming back some old faces, alongside a whole load on new Photomarathoners.

At 10am on the day of the Photomarthon, each entrant receives their film and the first set of 4 topics. They have the next four hours to shoot one image per topic, in the same order as the topics are listed. Four hours later at 2pm the next set of topics are released. Each entrant must personally collect the set of topics from the HQ, and have their entry card stamped to prove attendance. This process is repeated again at 6pm. The HQ will then receive the completed entries from 7pm until 10pm.

The topics are kept secret until revealed every four hours. They will offer plenty of room for interpretation and creativity. Hence, more important than the technical perfection of the pictures is the creativity and imagination in interpreting the topics.