WINDMILL OF COLORS
BY MAYANK TIWARI
“Every rainbow fills me with urgency, knowing it’s fleeting. On a trip from Stockholm to Gothenburg, I captured a windmill framed by a fading rainbow—an unforgettable, fleeting gift from nature.”
Dear SeeingHappy Community,
Some moments, like a rainbow stretched over a windmill, remind us how quickly beauty can appear, and just as quickly, vanish. They invite us to pause, notice, and perhaps, to create.
Today, we are thrilled to introduce Visions of Renewal, a global photography contest that invites people of all ages and backgrounds to explore the quiet but powerful theme of renewal. What does it look like to begin again, to rebuild, to recover, to regenerate: within ourselves, our communities, and our world?
We believe that renewal isn’t always loud. Sometimes, it’s subtle: a seed cracking open, a heart slowly healing, a city coming back to life, a new idea forming after a long period of doubt. Yet this force is vital, it’s what makes life continue, and hope endure.
🌱 Why Now?
This season is brimming with reminders of renewal.
🌸 Trees are blossoming.
🌍 Earth Day calls us to reflect on planetary care.
🕊️ Across faiths and cultures, sacred holidays mark cycles of rebirth and restoration.
This is a moment to notice how life regenerates, even after hardship.
In a world that often emphasizes what is broken, this contest is a celebration of what is becoming whole again. It’s an invitation to step into the role of witness, and artist.
📸 The Prompt:
Can you capture a photograph that evokes the spirit of “Renewal” in
our world or in your own life?
We’re looking for images that reflect the many faces of renewal:
🌟 Personal growth – quiet acts of self-compassion, courage, transformation
🌿 Nature reclaiming its space – whether it’s the first leaves of spring, a bird’s nest in a forgotten corner, or the sea smoothing out what was jagged
🏘️ Communities rebuilding – mutual aid, resilience, people showing up for one another
💡 Innovative responses to challenge – reimagining the future, designing new solutions
Your photograph might be poetic or practical, personal or global. Whatever your lens captures, we invite you to share a perspective that shows how renewal lives among us: often unseen, but always unfolding.
📣 Contest Details:
📷 Open to anyone age 13 and up—no prior experience required
📱 Smartphone or DSLR photographers welcome
🌍 Global submissions encouraged
🗓️ Deadline: June 6, 2025
🏆 Prizes include Amazon gift cards, IPPA memberships, and featured exhibition opportunities
This contest is held in celebration of the launch of IPPA’s Positive Arts & Culture Division, an initiative dedicated to exploring how creativity and culture help fuel human flourishing.
Winning photographs will be exhibited at the 2025 World Congress on Positive Psychology, held July 2–5 in Brisbane, Australia: a gathering of global change-makers, researchers, and artists.
🖼️ Why It Matters: The Role of Images in Times of Change
At SeeingHappy, we believe that photographs aren’t just visual: they’re emotional, social, and psychological tools. A single image can shift a perspective, stir empathy, spark new thought.
In times of crisis and change, we need images that help us remember what’s possible. We need stories of renewal– not to ignore pain, but to remind us that growth and healing are also real, and just as present.
Your photo might be the one that reminds someone: it’s not over. We’re still becoming.
🌿 Renewal, Captured by You
To close, we share with you six archival images from the SeeingHappy community. Photographs that have moved us, and that beautifully embody the spirit of renewal in action. We hope they spark your own creative reflections, and perhaps even your next photo.
TOGETHERNESS
BY PRAVAN PRASAD
“Shot was taken at Melukote, Karnataka, India.“
GETTING READY TO TREE PLANTATION
BY RAYHAN AHMED
“little childrens are collecting tree from nursery to plant and make a new green world.”
RE-CONNECTING WITH NATURE
BY ALESSIO URSO
“It is possible to identify in the current ecological crisis a disturbing inadequacy of the affective disposition towards nature, considered trivially as an external container at our disposal. In order to try to reverse the dramatic scenario, of which we are not yet properly aware, it is necessary to promote a new cultural horizon and in this sense a refounding of ontology and epistemic ways is essential to trace and pursue alternative cognitive paths and establish new relational dispositions towards the world around us. In order to embark on new ways of accessing knowledge, it is necessary to to enter into an empathic relationship with the world, with organic and inorganic life, not only with humans but also with non-humans.”
FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
BY CHRISTOPHER CHUNG
“As the sun dips below the horizon, she sits quietly, embracing the stillness of the sea and the boundless thoughts that drift with the waves. On the open water, with the wind in her hair and nothing but the sky ahead, she feels the true meaning of freedom—untethered, at peace, and fully in the moment.“
CHILDHOOD IN BLUE PLANET
BY SK RAHAMAN HOSSAIN
I have tried to catch the reflection of golden moment of childhood on the Water of pond in the golden hour of the day. Some Village’s Childs ware playing at the pond side. I throw a stone into the pond wafer to make the frame interesting & creative
EYE TO THE SKY
BY JAMES HALDORS
“On a beautiful day, tourists – finally – came back. I don’t know what it was about the sunny day and the awe of seeing Wall Street but many people seem to be looking up in awe, almost like praying, hoping that the virus is gone and peace on earth is near.”
Thank you for being part of this global moment. We can’t wait to see what you’ll share.
With renewal,
The Team at SeeingHappy
