The enigma of life has intrigued human minds for generations. Life weaves an exquisite tapestry of complexity, leaving us astounded by its beauty and perplexed by its elusiveness. Philosophers and scientists have spent centuries grappling with the universe’s mysteries. Artists perceive the mystery of existence as an invitation to delve deeper and marvel at the complexity that surrounds us.
Τhis is an open call to photographers who have cultivated a sense of wonder and curiosity, combining it with a critical position towards art history, environment, and politics. We welcome photographers who depict in their visual investigations many unknown aspects of life, such as subculture, life on the fringe or in luxury, human or natural unseen wonders or worked on the theme of miracles and riddles.
5 – 10images of your work (no signatures, watermarks or writing), attached to your email. Please do not insert the images on the email body. All images must be submitted as JPEGs (size 1500px on the longest side, 72dpi). The file name of your image must begin with the sequence number for the image followed by your full name. For example: 01_John Smith.jpeg.
Two to five lines of text to explain your approach. (Please, no artist statements.)
Inform us if you wish to participate in the printed edition of the magazine. We will contact you with further details if selected.
Your Instagram name so we can tag you.
The deadline to submit your entry is 31 July 2024 at 11.00 pm CEST. Participants names will be announced on 12 August 2024.
“Enigma of Life”
We welcome photographers who depict in their visual investigations many unknown aspects of life, such as subculture – images that makes us conscious of our own human existence, our ways of living and that of nature’s as well, through compelling visual stories. Two to five lines of text to explain your approach
My Submission
Dear Light Readings
Please find my images above for the open call’ The Enigma of Life’, and my text below:
This work, ‘What Lies Beneath’, reflects on community using the landscape of an ancient woodland as a visual model where things coexist and support each other – a contrast to the local community which is often disharmonious and driven by difference, sadly a global issue. Here I point to the inclusive, characteristics of these diverse woodland societies, which would benefit many human communities:
What here lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but sometimes deliberately divisive?
I would love to participate in the printed edition of the magazine if selected.
Ffotogallery is excited to present Ffoto Cymru – Wales International Festival of Photography.
Debuting in venues across the country in October 2024. Building on the successes of five editions of Diffusion Festival, audiences are invited to engage with photography in new and meaningful ways through a programme of exhibitions, commissions, conversations, public installations and events.
Our Open Call invites photographers to submit an existing body of work for consideration to feature as part of this year’s festival responding to the theme What You See is What You Get?
This opportunity is open to all artists inside and outside of Wales, but must respond to the theme of this year’s festival, “What You See Is What You Get?”. Up to four selected artists will receive a £400 artist fee, with all print and production costs covered by Ffotogallery as part of Ffoto Cymru 2024.
Selection:
The initial selection of digital submissions will be made by Ffotogallery. This decision is final.
Key dates: Submission deadline closes at 23:59 BST Tuesday 30th July 2024
Successful Artists will be informed w/c 5th August 2024
Digital print files of selected works to be delivered to Ffotogallery by Friday 16th August 2024
Exhibition Dates run 1st October 2024 – 31st October 2024
How to Enter: Complete the online submission form at the bottom of this page and submit. There is no limit to how many times you submit bodies of work for consideration but we will not display more than one series by any one artist as part of this year’s festival.
This work transforms subconscious thoughts, into the visually concrete. Though humans provoked the work, they are not evident in the images.
‘What Lies Beneath’ expresses my reflections on community using the landscape of an ancient woodland as a visual model where things coexist and support each other.
Conversely my local community is often disharmonious and driven by difference. The inclusive, characteristics of these diverse woodland societies, would benefit human communities where sadly ‘incomers’ like me, are never accepted as local, no matter how long passes, or what they contribute to the neighbourhood – a story common to settings globally.
In this work, combining the world in my head, with the one in front of me, has helped to heal some of the wounds that inspired the story’s beginning.
What here lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive? 150
Please share a brief biography or artist statement (max 150 words) Niki South is a visual artist born in England, now living in Pembrokeshire Wales. Visiting Pembrokeshire she found a hiraeth (deep longing for the place), and after spending years living a ‘dual centre’ life between the two places, is now located there permanently. She is currently finishing her BA (Hons) Photography degree with the Open College of the Arts.
She uses photography as a medium for expressing her reflections, photographing in a metaphorical manner. Her work is shaped by research on ‘affect,’ expressing what is in a photographer’s mind, versus ‘effect,’ realism. Previous works have focused on ‘Layers of Truth,’ whilst others are visual metaphors on issues of the moment.
Niki’s photography is a personal response to dynamic landscapes both internally and externally. She finds combining the world within her head with the one in front of her cathartic – a way to filter and express her subconscious thoughts. (149)
Please submit up to three images that you are submitting for this application, or that best represent your project. (2MB file size each-verbal Bob 10 mb altogether) check submission detail on return to email
Ts & Cs iv: All works must be clearly labelled with the name of the artist, title of work and its orientation (landscape or portrait).
Community
Harmony
Cooperation
I wasn’t selected for this open call, which was a shame as I felt that my work fitted the brief well. It will be interesting to see what was selected.
Details: The Open Award is open to everyone – both professional and amateur – and are about championing exquisite imagery. There are no categories or restrictions in the Open Award, the image is the star, and exciting and innovative work is encouraged.”
The AOP Open Award is run by the Association of Photographers and is an exciting opportunity for professionals and amateurs to compete on equal terms, with still and moving images created by a person, during what is our prestigious Annual Awards season.
The AOP Open Award aims to bring together professional and amateurs in a high profile way. The Open Award is a popular competition that has been running for 15 years, and each year has attracted approximately 1,500 entries from around the world.
Finalists will be exhibited alongside 38th AOP Photography Award Finalists at the official AOP Awards Showcase in September 2024 with Gold and Silver Winners for the 38th AOP Awards, including the Open Award being announced live at the event.
AOP Open Award Finalists will also feature in the highly collectable 39th AOP Awards Book. Gold and Silver Winners will each receive a complimentary AOP Associate Membership*.
Submission rules:
All images must have been created on or after 1 January 2022.
Can enter a single or series (2-5) of images, created by a person.
Images submitted online should be RGB and in JPEG format. They should be no larger than 3500 pixels on the longest edge. Your final file size must not exceed 10 megabytes
You can enter a piece of moving imagery up to 7 minutes in length, demonstrating your understanding and skills within the medium. All moving image entries must reference whether the work is a collaboration with another artist be it a director, editor, colour grader, musician etc. or whether it’s the independent work of the photographer. You may wish to illustrate the creative use of technologies for example AR, VR, CGI or an other technique, created by a person.
You can enter works of innovation with an example of excellence that illustrates the creative use of technologies and innovations in the production of still images. This can be AR, VR, CGI or any other technique, created by a person.
You can enter commissioned or personal work.
For Full Image Specifications please see points 7 & 8 in the 2024 AOP Open Awards Terms and Conditions
Single Members – £15.00 Non-members – £20.00 Series Members – £25.00 Non-members – £35.00
MY ENTRY
Project title: What Lies Beneath
Project description: 2000 words
Series description:
‘What Lies Beneath’, expresses my reflections on community using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things successfully coexist and support each other. Here I transform abstract ideas in my head into something concrete.
Though humans provoked the concept of the work, they are not evident in the images. Unlike woodland community members, the local human community is often disharmonious and driven by difference. The inclusive, harmonious characteristics of these diverse woodland societies would benefit human societies where sadly, ‘incomers’ like myself, are never accepted as local, no matter how long passes, or what they contribute to the neighbourhood – this a story common to settings across the globe.
In this work, combining the world in my head with the one in front of me, has helped to heal some of the wounds that inspired the story’s beginning.
What lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
Niki South
What lies beneath: Community
1. Community. This is the second in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image is an entry portal to a varied but cohesive community.
What lies here beneath the willing emerald wrapping, accepting their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
2. Harmony. This is the first in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image initially appears chaotic, however on closer sight the community is harmonious and supportive.
What lies here beneath the luminescent selfless sheaths, accepting mutual benefit?
What lies elsewhere beneath community spirit, concealed but festering?
3. Cooperation. This is the fourth in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image showcases cooperation in a complex but sympathetic community.
What lies here beneath the verdant creeping coverlet, collectively enjoying comfort?
What lies elsewhere beneath deceitful welcomes, smiling but spreading spite?
4. Diversity. This is the sixth in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image shows welcoming tolerant behaviour in a diverse society.
What lies here beneath the soothing snaking sleeve, insulated from harm by another?
What lies elsewhere beneath undesired need, acknowledged but resented?
5. Reciprocity. This is the last in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the image, where its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image demonstrates the generous, understanding that is possible in a community.
What lies here beneath the abundant enveloping eiderdown, slumbering peacefully together?
What lies elsewhere beneath acceptable appearances, charming but prejudiced?
SUCCESS chosen with only 250 others world wide. I was especially pleased with this success as it offers good industry exposure, reaching out to people working within the creative industries and those who commissioning photography.
Interesting that when I submit, if 1 image only is chosen it is this always one:
See this chosen image on the centre of the last page on the pdf below, and when on the live site clicking on my name (highlighted on the 2nd page) you to my website. I received an enquiry about my work via my web contact page, stimulated by my image and a visit to my website.
YEARBOOK is their annual awards for photographers, open to all, whatever stage they are at in their career. The Awards and exhibition are promoted to people working within the creative industries and to those who commission photography. They reach out to editors and publishers to share work with them and introduce them to photographers they may not yet know about. With prizes from major industry organisations Alamy, Metro Imaging, Newspaper Club, and Shutter Hub Editions, accompanied by an online exhibition.
YEARBOOK has no theme, it’s all about sharing your best work, and promoting the future of photography. Asking for entries from all photographers, no matter your background or education. Enter images that stand alone to represent your style, skills and the work you’d like to do more of.
They’ll promote your work on our website, to their contacts, through newsletter, and on social media, reaching tens of thousands of people who are interested in photography. Awards judges are looking for a wide variety of photographic work to support, giving opportunities for different genres and approaches.
There are no set entry fees for YEARBOOK, asked to ‘pay what you can’.
Deadline for entries: 11 July 2024 (5pm UK time)
RULES: Each photographer can enter up to 6 images. Images can be from a series or individual images.
SPECIFICATIONS FOR ENTRIES: All submitted files must be named with photographer’s name and title of work. Files that are not labelled correctly may not be accepted. Correct file naming looks like this: lastname_firstname_title_of_image.jpg
Images can be landscape or portrait format.
Submitted images must be jpegs, 2000 pixels wide, 300ppi and no more than 5MB in size. Please submit images in sRGB colour profile.
I supplied from ‘What Lies Beneath’: Cooperation, Harmony, Cooperation, Diversity, Nourishment, Reciprocity.
Photographers retain copyright and ownership, as always.
I was asked to provide a paragraph about my image/project (if your work is accepted for the exhibition, this information may also be used for publicity materials).
I supplied:
‘What Lies Beneath’ expresses my reflections on community using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist and support each other. Though humans provoked the work, they are not evident in the images, my local community is often disharmonious and driven by difference. The inclusive, characteristics of these diverse woodland societies, would benefit human communities where sadly ‘incomers’ like myself, are never accepted as local, no matter how long passes – a story common to settings globally. Combining the world in my head with the one in front of me, has helped to heal some of the wounds that inspired the story’s beginning.
What lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
SUCCESS
22.7.24
Hello! I am really pleased to be able to confirm that your work has been selected for Shutter Hub’s YEARBOOK Awards 2024 exhibition!
Do feel free to tell people you are in the exhibition and spread the word but please don’t screenshot this email to share. The exhibition, including the full list of selected images and exhibitors will be launching on 08 August 2024, so please hold off on sharing any news until that date.
We’ll be promoting the exhibition far and wide to make sure it is seen by as many people as possible, and please tag us on Twitter and Instagram @shutter_hub and use the hashtag #SHYEARBOOK so we can share your posts too and spread the word further!
If you’d like to get involved in other Shutter Hub projects make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list to get our latest news, and follow us on social media to stay up to date with our daily news.
Thank you again for taking part, and congratulations! We’re really excited to share such a strong selection of images by so many wonderful photographers.
Best wishes,
Charlotte Charlotte Shears Community & Projects / SHUTTER HUB
I did receive some contact via my website directly from this exposure eg:
Call for Online Exhibition / Paper Exhibition Catalog Release
FREE ENTRY
The call is aimed to artists, photographers, video makers and visual digital designers, open to any style, genre and subject. invited to submit 1 up to 3 works addressing the theme.
SUBMIT 1 TO 3 WORKS 5mb each max
The theme of our online exhibition – and for which it sees the paper release of its catalog – refers to those indefinite places and contexts, fantastic places in which to get lost, places of escape from reality where freedom is experienced by rediscovering that sense of union and harmonious cohesion with the environment. Places that reveal the personal perception of the world and the authentic emotional experience, where the “self” is transported by osmosis into a timeless and “placeless” space.
Statement Max 80 words: No statement will be published if exceeded
The image is from my series ‘What Lies Beneath’, which expresses my thoughts on community. Here the ancient woodland landscape provides a visual model of an environment where diverse beings coexist supportively; the perfect antidote to my own often disharmonious local community. This photograph is a portal to a cohesive peaceful community.
What lies here beneath the willing emerald wrapping, accepting their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
TITLE WORK#2 What Lies Beneath: Harmony
Media: Photograph
Year of realization: 2024
This is the second image in my series ‘What Lies Beneath’, expressing my thoughts on community. Here the landscape of an ancient woodland creates a visual model of living harmoniously, a contrast to my local human community. Though the environment may initially appear chaotic, on closer sight it shows that freedom of individual parts can also bring strong unity.
What lies here beneath the luminescent selfless sheaths, accepting mutual benefit?
What lies elsewhere beneath undesired need, acknowledged but resented?
TITLE WORK#3 What Lies Beneath: Reciprocity
Media: Photograph
Year of realization: 2024
This is the last in my series of images ‘What Lies Beneath’, expressing my thoughts on community. Here the landscape of an ancient woodland creates a visual model where things adapt empathetically, in contrast to the local human community. This photograph offers an escape to a welcoming environment delighting in the reciprocity that is possible in a community.
What lies here beneath the softest downy dress, sharing nourishment contentedly?
What lies elsewhere beneath community spirit, concealed but festering? 79
Confirmation email 9.6.24
Dear Artist
This is a communication from LoosenArt to confirm that your submission has been received.
We remind you that the selected works list and the online exhibition will be published during August 2024. The selected artist will be informed via email by LoosenArt about the online exhibition post and paper catalog release.
This was my first successful Magazine submission and success was based not just on the images I submitted but the Bio, artist/project statements submitted. I had learnt to adapt my artist statement and bio for specific audiences and specifications (this entry was my 7th adaptation). It seems I’m getting better at matching pitches to audiences.
It was also the 1st time that I had to approve a proof copy of my work.
I share the news and promoted my work on instagram:
What? Get your work published in our beautifully designed & carefully curated July and August 2024 print issues!
Features are in between 2 and 4 pages long and include in between 1 and 6 of your works, accompanied by your artist bio & statement, website & social media handles
Interviews are in between 4 and 12 pages long and give you the chance to speak about your path towards becoming an artist, your practice & specific projects you’d like to highlight, your creative process, upcoming projects, and more.
Q&As are in between 4 and 6 pages long and are a shorter version of our interviews that allow artists to speak about their work, inspiration, projects, and themselves.
All artists will receive photos of their physical pages that they are free to use on their social media accounts & website
All artists will be featured on our Instagram account
Print issues will be available for purchase internationally through print on demand
How to submit? Fill out the form below and – send a maximum of 6 works to submissions@suboartmagazine.com, subject: JULY 2024. Pictures can be sent through WeTransfer (preferred), Google Drive, Dropbox, attached to email
Pictures requirements
JPG or PNG (no .heic or tiff)
named: First Name_Last Name_Title_Year_Technique_Size
high resolution (preferably 300 dpi & 31 cm on the longer side, but other resolutions/ sizes are okay, too)
Information requirements
Biography (150 words max. Please do not just copy your CV or exhibition list)
Artist or Project Statement (150 max. 1st or 3rd person)
After submitting, please don’t forget to send up to 6 pictures to submissions@suboartmagazine.com, Subject: JULY 2024. All submitted pictures must be high resolution, ideally 300 dpi.
Fees: To be as inclusive as possible, there is no submission fee to apply to this open call. Upon selection, there is a non-refundable participation fee of 30€ (33$ USD) that allows us to keep on doing what we’re doing. The fee includes a free digital copy of the magazine (PDF) and photos of the physical pages that artists are free to use on their media channels and website. The publication fee doesn’t include a free printed copy of the magazine.
What else?
Print issues will be available for purchase internationally* via print on demand through a link on our website (printed by our partner Peecho), and digital copies of the magazine will be for sale on http://www.suboart.com/shop
All artists will get photos of their physical pages and will be featured on our Instagram account
It’s not a problem for us if the works have been published in other publications before.
Deadline: Wednesday May 29, 2024 11:59 p.m. EST
All artists will receive feedback until June 12. In case you don’t hear from us by mid June, please do reach out to us.
The publication fee includes a picture of the physical pages that the artist is featured on. Artists have permission to use these photographs on their websites, newsletter and social media channels, always crediting Suboart Magazine as the copyright owner of the images.
The Print Issues will be available for purchase through our website via print on demand.
Digital issues will be available for purchase on our websites (www.suboartmagazine.com & http://www.suboart.com).
The July 2024 print issue is scheduled to be released in July 2024 and the August 2024 print issue is scheduled to be released in August 2024.
MY SUBMISSION
Artist Bio
Niki South is a visual artist born in England, now living in Pembrokeshire Wales. Visiting Pembrokeshire she found a hiraeth (deep longing for the place) and spent many years living a a ‘dual centre’ life, between the two places, until relocating there permanently. She is currently completing her BA (Hons) Photography degree with the Open University.
Niki uses landscape photography as a medium for expressing her particualar reflections, photographing in a metaphorical manner. Her work is shaped by research on ‘affect’, expressing what is in a photographer’s mind, versus ‘effect’, realism. Her previous work ‘Brexit’ expressed her reflections on an issue of that moment.
Her photography is a personal response to dynamic landscapes both internally and externally. She finds combining the world within her head with the one in front of her cathartic. (133 words)
Artist Statement
These images from my series ‘What Lies Beneath’, express my reflections on community using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist and support each other. Here I transform abstract ideas in my head into something concrete.
My experience of local community provokes the work, where conversely humans are often disharmonious and driven by difference. The harmonious, inclusive characteristics of primeval woodland societies, such as cooperation, support, and adaptation, would benefit human communities where sadly ‘incomers’ like myself, are never accepted as local, no matter how long passes – a story common to settings across the globe.
Combining the world in my head with the one in front of me, has helped to heal some of the wounds that inspired the story’s beginning.
What lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive? (150 words)
I had an exciting email 13.6.24
Dear Niki,
Thank you for submitting toSuboart Magazineand congratulations! We’re excited to let you know that your work has been selected to be part of our August 2024 print issue.
What you’ll get from us
A beautifully designed two-page feature that will showcase in between one and 4 of your photos and will include your biography, artist statement, website and social media account
A photograph of the pages that you’ll be free to use on your website, socials & newsletter
A digital PDF copy of the magazine & promotion on our Instagram page through posts or reels or stories
Time to proofread your feature before publication to make sure everything turns out perfectly
As mentioned during our open call, there is a non-refundable participation fee of 30€ ($33 USD) that allows us to keep on doing what we’re doing. The fee doesn’t include a free printed copy, these will be available for purchase via print on demand through a link on our website.
To confirm your participation in Suboart Magazine August 2024, please pay the fee until TuesdayJune 18. We’ll send you a confirmation once we receive the payment.
Please let us know if you have any questions, we look forward to hearing from you!
Entry information. Start date: 2 April 2024 Deadline: 24 May 2024 now 29th
The AOP Student Awards were established in the early 1980s, to recognise and highlight emerging photographic talent which existed in further education institutions across the UK. Many of the AOP Student Awards winners go on to become discovery winners as assisting photographers and then as professional photographers for our AOP Photography Awards, as we pride ourselves on nurturing talented photographers throughout their career.
Details and Terms
Entry to the AOP Student Awards 2024 is open to all students (including those from overseas) studying photography in the UK at FE level or higher.
Best in Show plus Gold and Silver winners, along with selected finalists, will have the chance to be showcased and appear in the official 39th AOP Photography Awards Book which is published in time for AOP Awards Showcase in late September 2024.
Entries are welcomed as: Stills, A single image, or series of up to 4 images can be entered, created by a person. Moving image
Entry Procedure, Technical Specification and Format – Stills
Stills Images or Series submitted online should be:
RGB and in JPEG format.
3500 pixels along the longest edge.
With a resolution of 300 dpi.
Your final file size must not exceed 10 megabytes.
Please make sure you read the Terms and Conditions in full to ensure your entry is within the competition guidelines and can be accepted. Finalists’ entries will be displayed indefinitely on the AOP Awards website. No copyright is transferred to the AOP in respect of any works entered or accepted.
This submission was the most time consuming that I had done.
There were specific parts of the Parts of T&Cs that I was alert to:
1.3 Any membership subscription fees (if payable, i.e., you are not on a free membership) must be fully up to date. If your membership is terminated or resigned prior to the presentation of the AOP Student Awards 2024 the Entrant will be disqualified and any successful entry/ies removed. I had to update my student membership which had lapsed and this gave me a discounted entry.
7.3 Entrants may caption or title images, however, please note that they will be re- named within the AOP entry system, for unique and anonymous identification purposes.
7.4 Filenames must only contain letters (upper or lower case, and/or numbers (0 to 9), and/or underscore character “_” plus the suffix “.jpg”. Any other characters including further dots, hyphens or spaces could result in your file being rejected during the upload process.
7.5 Images submitted online should be: • RGB and in JPEG format. • Optimised for sRGB colour space (see 7.6, below). • 3500 pixels along the longest edge. • Your final file size must not exceed 10 megabytes.
7.6 You are responsible for preparing your images for viewing on a monitor, so we suggest that images are targeted/optimized for, and tagged with, the sRGB or sRGB IEC61966-2.1 colour profile (and not Adobe RGB or any other working- or output-space profile).
7.7 All images must contain metadata embedded in the image, and include your name, caption and description of the image. Any image without metadata with be returned to you to complete in a timely manner. An image may be disqualified if metadata is not completed.
——-
MY SUBMISSION
I entered 4 images as places:
Project title: What Lies Beneath
Project description: 2000 words
My preparation: Keep it simple and factual. Clear and thoughtful. most essential information. The statement should support the image in the best way possible.
1. What is the work? ground the viewer in what those images are and their context.
2. How did I make it? who you are and what drew you to that project, what was the thing that first got you excited about that project, point of attraction, point of curiosity, point of excitement, subject matter, and that form of expression.
3. Why did I make it? Tell us a little bit about your process.
4.Why did you choose to represent these images as you did.
I researched the places judge and concluded that I should angle my statements towards diversity and inclusion – perfect for my work.
Judge for Places: Sachini Imbuldeniya, CEO House of Oddities. ‘difference makes a difference’, she has dedicated her career to making the creative industry a more equitable and inclusive space both in front of and behind the camera.
My AOP Student Awards Submission
What Lies Beneath – Image 1: community 2: Harmony 3: cooperation 4: reciprocity
About the work up to 2000 characters:
What Lies Beneath
The images are taken from my body of work ‘What Lies Beneath’, a series of images taken in an ancient woodland. Here I use the landscape as a medium to express my observations and reflections on community. The photography transforms abstract ideas in my head into something concrete, positioning the ancient woodland as a visual metaphor and model for community. It is work is a personal response to a dynamic landscape, both internally and externally.
My experience of my local community provokes the project’s concept, and though humans provoke the concept of the work, they are not evident in the images. The local neighbourhood, often disharmonious and driven by difference, is a stark contrast with the harmonious and accepting characteristics of the woodland society, which I hold up as a model for diversity and inclusion. As an ‘incomer’ living alongside and accepted by most for many years, I find in common with other incomers that we are never adopted as locals, no matter how long passes or our contribution to the community. This story is common to settings across the world.
Inherent qualities like cooperation, support, diversity, resilience, inclusion, networking, mutual exchange, and adaptation, could be beneficially adopted in many human communities, and in my body of work I include closer images of woodland components to represent and signpost these characteristics.
Combining the world in my head with the one in front of me, through an internal and external passage through the landscape, has helped to heal some of the wounds that inspired the story’s beginning.
What lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
Niki South (279 words 1938 characters with spaces)
Images with Titles and up to 100 characters
1. Community. This is the second in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image is an entry portal to a diverse community.
What lies here beneath the willing emerald wrapping, accepting their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
2. Harmony. This is the first in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image initially appears chaotic, however on closer sight the community is harmonious and supportive.
What lies here beneath the luminescent selfless sheaths, accepting mutual benefit?
What lies elsewhere beneath community spirit, concealed but festering?
3. Cooperation. This is the fourth in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the work, as its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image showcases cooperation in a complex and diverse community.
What lies here beneath the verdant creeping coverlet, collectively enjoying comfort?
What lies elsewhere beneath deceitful welcomes, smiling but spreading spite?
4. Reciprocity. This is the last in a series of images for my body of Work ‘What Lies Beneath’. The series expresses my thoughts on community, using the landscape of an ancient woodland to create a visual model where things coexist, are inclusive and support each other. My experience of local community provokes the concept of the image, where its characteristics are in stark contrast to the woodland, often disharmonious, discriminating and driven by difference. This image demonstrates the inclusive reciprocity that is possible in a community.
What lies here beneath the abundant enveloping eiderdown, slumbering peacefully together?
What lies elsewhere beneath acceptable appearances, charming but prejudiced?
The technical requirement led to some learning, particularly about metadata.
The submission requirements for the word elements were revealed only at each part of the online submission. For instance, having written my 2000 character statement I hadn’t known that I would then be required to give a 1000 character statement for each image – this entailed some redrafting of earlier statements.
It was interesting angling the submission towards the ‘places judge’ – a good test.
Though it was time consuming I enjoyed the challenge of this submission.
Selected to participate in the exhibition 3rd-30th October physical and online exhibition
This was my first competition/physical exhibition success. I’d submitted the maximum of 8 images and had one chosen. The call was for emerging and established photographers, UK and international.
Unlike other submissions they asked for little information on the work simply: Niki South, British, living in Wales. The work is from my series ‘What lies Within’ found on my website: https://nikisouth.myportfolio.com .
From this I gather the image chosen was strength of the image.
A screenshot from the physical gallery (my image top right)
A screenshot from the online gallery (my image top left)
I was not able to get to the exhibition and they don’t post all exhibited photographs on their website, but I did receive a certificate of my participation in the exhibition.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
The Glasgow Gallery of Photography’s Green exhibition. Deadline: 24th May 2024
SUBMISSION INFORMATION: The Glasgow Gallery of Photography is running a month long exhibition in October called Green, the first part of their secondary colour series, in which they ask photographers to submit images that focus on one of the secondary colours. For this exhibition the focus will be on the colour Green. They want to see images that really showcase the colour green in your photography, whether that is in nature or an urban setting, in a portrait or still life, any style/genre of photography is welcome as long as it fits the theme of Green.
Green is an open call for photographers to submit up to 8 images for an exhibition with the theme of the colour Green.
Photographers who are selected will have their work displayed in a month long exhibition in the gallery, with their work also appearing online in an online gallery on the website.
All participants that are selected to take part in the exhibition will receive a digital certificate of participation and will also be put forward for a chance to be named Photographer of the Month.
We want to see work from both emerging and established photographers. You do not need to be a professional photographer to participate they believe that photography is for everyone.
Both Scottish and International photographers are welcome.
How to participate: Submission are FREE. If your work is selected there will be a participation fee of £48.00. This fee covers the cost of everything, printing, installation and un-installing the work the gallery space. * the frames used belong to the gallery*. Unless otherwise stated images will either be printed 18″x12, 16″x12″, or 12″x12″ in size depending on the image.
Submission rules:
1. Choose up to 8 images that are 300ppi and 3000 Pixels minimum on the shortest side.
Work will be displayed various sizes depending on the image selected. (You will be asked to resubmit if you do not follow these guidelines)
2. Name your image files with your name e,g Firstname-Surname1, Firstname-Surname2, etc. If you do not name your files correctly, it could result in your files getting lost or misplaced. Please only use your name, do not include image titles or any other information, this can be added elsewhere in you submission.
3. Make sure your images are JPEG files. We can only accept jpegs as this is what the printing company that we use requires.
4. Send your 1 – 8 files using either Wetransfer or Dropbox (which are free to use) to our submission email address submissions@glasgowgalleryofphotography.com. Please do not send image via email as this tends to compress your files. Also please send all your images at the same time, and not one image at a time.
5. Please remember to tell us your name, nationality and/or where you reside (these will be displayed along with your selected images) which exhibition you are submitting to e.g Green.
If you are selected to participate or on the reserve list, you will be notified by email. Those not selected will not be notified. If you have been selected and you wish to participate, this is when you can supply us with addition information such as titles of works, or the series it comes from, website links and social media handles. This information will be added to the online gallery for this exhibition.
Thank you for your submission to the Green Exhibition (3rd – 30th October 2024).
I am pleased to confirm that you have been selected to participate in this exhibition.
We now ask that you pay the participation fee of £48, so that your work will be part of this exhibition. Your work will not be printed for exhibition until the participation fee is paid.
I have attached a screenshot of the work selected to be part of the exhibition, please do not share which image has been selected before the exhibition starts.
Fees need to be paid by 5pm (UK Time) 12th June 2024. If the fee is not paid by this date your work will not be part of this exhibition and the opportunity will be given to someone on the reserve list.
If you no longer wish to participate in the exhibition please let us know at the earliest opportunity so that we can offer the space to someone else.
If you would like us to share your social media link or website please let us know before the start of the exhibition.
For more information about taking part, selling (including a pricing guideline) or collecting your work please read our website’s Information for Participants page here: https://www.glasgowgalleryofphotography.com/q-a
If you wish to do any of the above please let us know at least one week before the start of the exhibition.
Also please make sure that you are signed up to our mailing list on our website as this will be the best way to keep up to date with what is happening at the gallery.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
I obviously duly paid my participation fee and sent them further details they requested see below and their reply:
On Sat, 8 Jun 2024 at 16:30, Nicola South <niki.south@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hello Elaine
Thank you for letting me know that I have an image in the exhibition. I have made the £48 payment via the link that you sent, my card holder name for the payment is Nicola South, see email conformation of payment attached.
Details you have requested:
• The image is titled: What Lies Beneath: Community. At the time of originally submitting to you I named it ‘What Lies Within’. If the change of name to ‘What lies Beneath’ is a problem, then do stick with the name that I labelled the work with at the time of submission.
• The title of the series that the image that has been chosen comes from is: ‘What Lies Beneath’,
At the end of the exhibition, I would like my print to be available for sale and promotion for 3 months, however I am happy to donate my print to the gallery to sell and use the proceeds towards the running of the gallery. I trust that works as an option, if not please let me know.
Many thanks
Niki South
9.6.24
Hi,
That’s great, thanks for letting me know. I have made a note of all your details and the title change is fine. If you have any other questions please let me know.
All the best,
Elaine Springall
Exhibition Coordinator
I will post the good news on Instagram soon and wait to see the online exhibition in October.
It was good to be part of a collaborative entry with:
A permanent platform for the work, stays after the degree shows
Targeted industry exposure: established professional readership (editors, curators & publishers)
My Learning:
Again to adapt to different technical requirements, no trailing statements and special characters were new to me. I again adapted my statement and info to fit a different word count and to take into account their criteria, especially researching the background of the landscape judge.
I captured my images and the OCA the online presence below:
DETAILS: SOURCE GRADUATE ONLINE GROUP SUBMISSION: DEADLINE 12.5.24
Excellent Value: Only £33 per student for UK based courses / €38 per student for courses based in Republic of Ireland. Includes a free 1-year digital subscription to Source (worth £26.99) with access to our extensive back issue archive and our monthly e-bulletin which will ensure you stay informed with all the latest news and opportunities from the photography sector.
Miriam one of my OCA peers offered to coordinate our group submission and sent us the details below:
Sun, 28 Apr, 17:03
Hi all
The time has come to submit our images to Source. This is the website, but I’ve pasted the format for submission below. I’ve made a folder to collect your submissions. Please make your own folder within this and let me know if you’ve uploaded or are having any problems.
Source have also asked if we’d like to send them any pictures of Install-in-progress or promotional material. That’s a separate ask, so you can email direct to the email provided.
Miriam
Here’s what you need to know: BA Submission Deadline: 12th May 2024
Submission format
1. (Required) Eight images saved as jpegs, 72 DPI and 1024 pixels along their longest edge. All jpegs should be saved in sRGB colour profile. We cannot accept moving image files. Note: the Student may submit less than eight images if they wish. If the Student’s work is made to be shown in a gallery we would recommend that one of the eight images be an installation shot. This is to show the scale of the work and how it is presented.
2. (Required) A 120 word statement about their work.
3. (Required) Each student must specify which one of the following six categories best describes the work they are submitting – only one category may be selected per student:
• Documentary/Photojournalism
• Commercial/Fashion
• Landscape
• Portraiture
• Staged/Constructed
• Urban/Suburban Landscape
4. (Required) Personal email address. This email address needs to remain valid after the Student has graduated.
5. (Optional) Personal website address.
6.(Required) Payment of £33 per student for UK based courses / €38 per student for courses based in Republic of Ireland. Note: the Lead Student will gather all the individual payments and then make a one-off payment to Source on behalf of their class. (MC: I’ll let you know how to send the money).
Share your Install-In-Progress images and/or Promotional Poster Image
Each year, we offer additional help for students promoting final year work, using our social media platforms to promote your class’s degree show (physical or digital). In previous years, we have posted images of installations in progress and exhibition posters (see attached examples). You are very welcome to email 3 – 4 install photos and/or a poster image to my colleague Susanna Galbraith at research@source.ie. Please ensure:
1) To include the name of your course
2) To include details of the location and the dates of your show (if there are two shows, please include the two addresses)
3) To include an appropriate credit for any photographic work shown in the image(s)
4) To include the relevant Instagram handle for your course/university/college, as appropriate
5) The images attached are square (ideally 1080 x 1080 pixels)
(They share these images from May to July, so that’s the time frame. I’ve asked if it’s 3-4 per person or in total and will let you know.)
Their technical requirements for images were again different:
1. Image filenames should not contain any spaces, apostrophes, quotation marks, or any other unusual characters. I’ve asked about the actual names and will let you know and also underscores.
2. Saved as jpegs. All jpegs should be saved in sRGB colour profile. 3 Scaled so that they are 1024 pixels on their longest edge. (A jpeg scaled in this way will never exceed the 2 Mb file size limit.)
Text
The system clearly can’t cope with any formatting so….
1. Each student’s introductory text should be formatted as a single block of text with no carriage returns. 2. Web addresses and email addresses MUST NOT include any trailing spaces! If they have they’re not read as links. 3. If in doubt, the safest way to deal with problematic special characters is to substitute them with safe alternatives. Replace curly quotation marks with straight quotation marks, replace ’em dashes’ with short dashes or hyphens, replace ellipses with three periods and replace ampersands with the word ‘and’.
I PREPARED THE FOLLOWING FOR OUR SHARED FOLDER and was able to take into account the suggestions given by the lens Culture Reviewer:
‘What Lies Beneath’ uses the landscape of an ancient woodland to express my thoughts on community, creating a visual model where things coexist and support each other. Footnote images signpost its inherent qualities like, diversity and cooperation.
Humans and my experience of community provoke the project’s concept, where locals are often disharmonious and driven by difference. Sadly, incomers are never accepted as local, no matter how long passes or what they contribute to their neighbourhood – a story common to settings across the globe. The work has helped to heal some of the wounds that inspired the story’s beginning.
What lies beneath the emerald wrapping, embracing their collective realm?
What lies elsewhere beneath man’s disguised demeanour, civil but deliberately divisive?
Niki South
I submitted the same 8 images as for Lens culture
3.6.24
Hi,
I’m the web editor at Source Magazine. You recently submitted your work to our ‘Graduate Photography Online 2024’ project. I’m delighted to inform you that the project is now live on our website and can be viewed at:
NIKI SOUTH 