Forest Park’s sprawling 5,200 acres just a few miles northwest of downtown Portland feel like stepping into a different world entirely. It’s quite easy to forget the sound of streetcars and buskers, honking horns and buzzing construction sites among its many trails, which take you deep into a fairy-tale-esque landscape. It’s worth exploring and protecting.

Enter: the Forest Park Conservancy Photography Contest, an annual photo contest in collaboration with the Forest Park Conservancy and Pro Photo Supply. Started in 2020, the contest asks amateur and professional photographers to share their best photos of Forest Park in an effort to spread awareness of the Forest Park Conservancy’s efforts to maintain and protect the park.

"We are so happy to sponsor the Forest Park Conservancy Photo Contest again this year,” says Tommy Spencer, who works in sales and marketing at Pro Photo Supply. "We've sponsored [the conservancy] for the last few years and love their mission to help conserve what we at Pro Photo like to think of as our own backyard.”

For more than 30 years, the Forest Park Conservancy has helped maintain the park’s ecological habitat with a slew of supporters and volunteers, as well as annual events such as the photo contest—the last installment of its recent three-part Summer Adventure Series. Where words can sometimes fail to express the value and beauty of something, a photograph can capture something deeper.

"The contest was created to engage community members and artists in the work of caring for Forest Park,” says Kady Davis, director of communications at the Forest Park Conservancy. “Compelling images are amazing tools to inspire appreciation and action to care for Portland's 5,200-acre urban forest, and so we are grateful to the photographers who are participating this year.”

Photos submitted will be divided into five categories: trails, wildlife, habitat, forest park stewards, and member’s choice. Of the photos submitted, 12 will be selected by a committee, and one will be selected by the Forest Park Conservancy as the Member’s Choice winner. All winning photogs will appear in the 2022 Forest Park Calendar, will receive a Forest Park poster map, will have their photos printed and showcased at a gallery showing at Urbanite PDX, and will be entered to win a $500 prize package from Peak Design and Pro Photo Supply.

Cool, right? Here’s the catch. You only have until September 3 to submit your photos. Better get snapping!

The Forest Park Photography Contest is free. Visit the Pro Photo Supply to learn more about how to enter the contest.