SINGAPORE — If you’re checking out the Singapore Night Festival and snapping the night away on your HP, you might consider dropping by the National Museum of Singapore to check out works by folks who’re actually doing so on real cameras.

The nominees for this year’s Icon de Martell Cordon Bleu photography awards will be showcasing their photographs at the museum’s Stamford Gallery from Aug 20 to Sept 5.

It’s yet another interesting mix on this fifth edition. Arts folks will recognise some familiar names in the gallery/museum circuit: Jeannie Ho, Ang Song Nian, Lavender Chang and Eugene Soh. The last two both have works up at the ongoing Sensorium 360° exhibition at SAM, while Ang was part of the museum’s previous Unearthed show. Also in the list of seven are Wilfred Lim, photojournalist Neo Xiaobin and Ken Cheong (another familiar face for journos who do media previews of exhibitions).

Up for grabs is the top prize of S$30,000 and the overall winner will be announced on Aug 28.

There will also be an exhibition of works by past winners Sherman Ong, Sean Lee and Edwin Koo (taken during their trips to Cognac to check out how Martell makes their, erm, cognac). Last year’s winner Sarah Choo will also have one interactive work up.

And finally, there’s The Iconographer. It’s an online photography competition for the public where you’re invited to upload on Martell’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Martell.sg) photos depicting the theme “discernment is in the details”. You win if you get the most number of “likes” and receive a bottle of Martell Cordon Bleu and S$1,000 in cash.

In the meantime, check out some samples of the nominees’ works above.

For more information, visit http://www.icon-martellcordonbleu.com