Collected Item: “Solar Eclipse”
Your Name
Celeste Burns
Your Pronouns
she/they
Instagram handle, if any
@celesteburnsphotography
Work Title
Solar Eclipse
Work Year (We are not accepting images older than 5 years)
2025
[Image Rights] Do you confirm that you hold the rights to this image?
Yes
[Eligibility] The Curve Photo Contest proudly centers and uplifts people who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer women and nonbinary people. Please share how you self-identify, using language that feels most accurate to you. Feel free to include all intersections of your identity. (Examples: lesbian, trans person of color, Latinx queer woman, radical faery, butch, etc.)
lesbian, queer, gender nonconforming
[Artist Statement] Tell us more about your photo by sharing a brief artist statement OR answering this prompt: "This is what being ______ means to me..." (Max. 100 words)
This work documents queer intimacy in Florida, where queer love is vibrant yet often underrepresented. I am interested in the quiet, charged space just before touch. The warmth and cool light hold softness and intensity in the same frame, reflecting the duality of existing openly in a place that can feel both alive and politicized.
Their closeness is intentional, not performative. I focus on breath, proximity, and trust rather than spectacle. By photographing these moments, I aim to create an honest record of queer presence here. Not as protest. Not as fantasy. Simply as real, lived connection.
Their closeness is intentional, not performative. I focus on breath, proximity, and trust rather than spectacle. By photographing these moments, I aim to create an honest record of queer presence here. Not as protest. Not as fantasy. Simply as real, lived connection.
[Visual Description] Describe your photo so we can provide alt-text. Example: "Two women holding hands and smiling as they walk in a pride parade, surrounded by rainbow flags."
Two people are shown in an intimate close-up, their faces nearly touching as they lean in for a kiss. Blue and amber lighting casts dramatic highlights and shadows across their skin, emphasizing closeness, tenderness, and emotional connection. One person’s hand rests gently at the other’s neck, and the background fades into darkness, keeping the focus on the moment between them.
[Agreement] In the event that you win the 2026 Curve Photo Contest, do you consent to having your photograph printed for the sole purpose of displaying at The Curve Foundation's one-day event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA) during Lesbian Visibility Week? The Curve Foundation will cover printing costs, but will not cover costs for mailing the print after the event ends.
Yes
[Agreement] Do you consent to The Curve Foundation storing, sharing, and using this image and its description as we deem appropriate, including disseminating on our social media, website, and Curve Archive and Curve Quarterly?
Yes
[Agreement] By checking 'I understand' below, I acknowledge that this contest upholds values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I confirm that my submission does not contain anti-LGBTQ+ or other discriminatory, hateful, or exclusionary content.
I understand