Fast Forward: Analog Photography as a Third Space – Open Call

Open Call

This open call invites submissions for images produced with analog cameras, toy cameras, snaps developed in the darkroom and/or images that were created by using analog printing methods.

Life with social media is exhausting. AI floods the world with machine generated images. The more connected we are, the more isolated we feel. In response, emerging voices and veteran visual storytellers turn to the tactility of the photographic object, the intentionality of the development process, and the uniqueness of a composition captured on a roll of film. They seek connection and community through photography. The future, so it seems, is analog.

Fast Forward considers how photography creates a space for camaraderie and interaction, and how analog processes play a pivotal role in such conversations.

We invite submissions of single images or series, collages and photomontages, Lomo explorations, experimental printing, or disposable magic that consider the emergence of analog aesthetics in the second quarter of the twenty-first century.

Show us how photography becomes a third space for you, how it captures and articulates intimate and familiar moments as well as communal belonging. We want to see how your community is shaped through cameras, and what communication and human interactions means for you today.

And then we want to celebrate all of it! Selected images will be featured in an exhibition at LACP’s Second Floor gallery and online.

Jurors

Aline Smithson is a visual artist, educator, and editor based in Los Angeles, California. Best known for her conceptual portraiture and a practice that uses humor and pathos to explore the performative potential of photography. Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, her work is influenced by the elevated unreal. She received a BA in art from the University of California at Santa Barbara and was accepted into the College of Creative Studies, studying under artists such as William Wegman, Allen Ruppersburg, and Charles Garabian. After a decade-long career as a New York Fashion Editor, Aline returned to Los Angeles and to her own artistic practice.

She has exhibited widely including over 40 solo shows at institutions such as the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, the San Jose Art Museum, the Shanghai, Lishui, and Pingyqo Festivals in China, The Rayko Photo Center in San Francisco, the Center of Fine Art Photography in Colorado, the Tagomago Gallery in Barcelona and Paris, and the Verve Gallery in Santa Fe. In addition, her work is held in a number of public collections and her photographs have been featured in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, PDN, and Communication Arts, among others.

Rotem Rozental, Ph.D, is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Center of Photography. Between 2016-2022, she served as Chief Curator at American Jewish University, where she was also Assistant Dean of the Whizin Center for Continuing Education and Senior Director of Arts and Creative Programming. Her upcoming book, Pre-State Photographic Archives and the Zionist Movement will be released by Routledge Publishers in March 2023, and was named recipient of the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Award by the Association for Jewish Studies.

Rotem is a lecturer at USC Roski School of Art and Design Critical Studies Department. She mentors artists worldwide and contributes regularly to magazines, journals and exhibition catalogues. Her writings about contemporary art and image-based media, as well as Jewish and Israeli art, were published in Artforum.com, Photographies, Jewish Currents, Tablet and Forward, among other outlets.

Eligibility and Guidelines

The exhibition is open internationally to all levels. The jurors will select works based on creativity, originality, and quality. LACP invites submissions for images produced with analog cameras, toy cameras, snaps developed in the darkroom and/or images that were created by using analog printing methods. This is an In-Person exhibition that will require works to hang, they can be unframed or framed prints. LACP can help print works at our digital print lab for out-of-state participants.

We do not accept images and texts created by AI for this open call.

The deadline to submit digital files through Submittable for consideration in this call is: Tuesday, March 24th, 2026 at Midnight PST. No exceptions.

Acceptance Notice

The selection process will be blind. Once the jurors have made selections, all entrants will be notified. Those selected will receive an email from LACP with the image selected for the show. The selected image and artists’ names will be posted on LACP’s website.

LACP reserves the right not to use a particular selected image(s) for promotional purposes if the image(s) is deemed inappropriate for use on LACP’s social media, newsletter feed, and/or on in any other marketing material.

Entry Fee

$25 for 1 image ($12.50 for LACP Members)
$50 for 2-5 images ($25.00 for LACP Members)
$75 for 6-10 images ($37.50 for LACP Members)
$100 for 11-15 images ($50.00 for LACP Members)
$125 for 16-20 images ($62.50 for LACP Members)
$150 for 21-25 images ($75.00 for LACP Members)
$175 for 26-30 images ($87.50 for LACP Members)
$200 for 31-35 images ($100.00 for LACP Members)

Click HERE to enter. You will be taken to Submittable to create your free account and submission.

NOTE: Size each image 1200 pixels on the long side at 72 dpi DO NOT HAVE YOUR FIRST OR LAST NAME IN THE FILENAME. Please put your image title on your .jpg. ( Example: The title of my image is Bright Sunny Day. Before uploading I re-title my .jpg to: Bright_Sunny_Day.jpg ) NOTE: Please DO NOT watermark your images when submitting. Thank you.

Not an LACP Member? To become a Member, click HERE

We are accepting prints and framed works. If you send in a print, it will hung with magnets in each corner, holding it to the wall. There is a possibility your print will have some wear marks from the magnets. Artists must expect this possibility. Further, there are no size restrictions (but keep shipping in mind). Artists will be required to submit an artist statement, materials/techniques used, and size/dimensions of each artwork when entering. There are three options for getting your work to us. 1. You can ship your work. Be sure to include a return shipping label if you would like to have it sent back. We take no responsibility for damage during shipping, so we suggest that your insure the work with the shipper. 2. You can drop off your work at LACP during our open hours Thur. – Sat. 10-4pm. 3. You can have LACP print your work: You can read more HERE.

However you choose to get your work to LACP, it must be to us by April 4th at the latest. No Exceptions.

Each photographer retains all copyrights to their images & works. Photographers whose submissions are chosen for the exhibition grant the Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP) the right to use their images for display on LACP’s website and for the purpose of promoting exhibitions, promoting LACP’s programs, and promoting the artist. Promotions and images may also be placed on social networks for LACP with artist credit. Artists grant the use of their image(s) as stated without further contact from LACP. The artist understands that LACP will not be held responsible for loss, theft or other damage, whether caused by the negligence of its officers, members, or others. Photographers are welcome to sell their photos during the online exhibit, with 50 percent commission to LACP. Submission of application will constitute an agreement to all these terms and conditions.

For questions please email info@lacphoto.org