Photography started as a chemical experiment.   However, the acknowledged inventor of the process, Thomas Wedgwood, was the son and grandson of famous English potters.  His entire life he was surrounded by artists, creators.  Wedgwoods pals were William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  So, it is not unusual or unexpected that creative folks have taken his work and run with it.  For many photographers it’s about the camera, for others it’s about what can be birthed once it leaves the thing and for others it is the possibility of making images that are miraculous orphans.

Any unique handmade prints are eligible. Eligible prints include but are not limited to cyanotype, lumens, Van Dyke, salt, chemigram, tintype, bromoil, gum bichromate, platinum/palladium, photogravure, albumen, liquid emulsion, ziatype, image transfers, kallitypes, lith prints, silver gelatin prints, encaustic and mordoncage.  Unique prints made from digital negatives are eligible.   The camera used for capture is immaterial.  Creativity is encouraged….

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ASG has partnered with Creek Road Homestead in Dripping Springs, Texas to exhibit the “unique: alternative process” exhibition. The exhibition will be hanging at Creek Road Homestead from May 1 to May 31, 2026. There will be an in person reception at a time to be announced during the physical exhibition. The exhibition will also be in an online exhibition from April 1 to May 31, 2026 with an online GalleyTalk on April 25, 2026.

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JUROR | Melanie Walker will be the juror for “unique: alternative processes”. Melanie is a third generation photographic artist. Her expertise is in the area of alternative photographic processes, immersive photographic installations and public art. She has received a number of awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship, Polaroid Materials Grants and the Aaron Siskind Award. Her work is housed in numerous collections including the CCP Tucson, LACMA, and the Musee National d’art in Luxembourg. She recently stepped away from teaching at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She taught historic photographic process and alternative ideas for presenting photographs throughout her teaching career of 48 years. She uses her work as a vehicle to understand the world.-oOOOo—

SUBMISSION | Guidelines: Digital images should be up to 1800 pixels on the longest side saved in JPEG format at 72 ppi. Each image should be labeled with consecutive numbers followed by your name, i.e. 1FirstName_LastName.jpg. The number should correspond with the number on the application form.  Please do not watermark your images.  If you need help sizing your images, please follow this link https://convert.town/image-dpi

SUBMISSION | Online:  Fill out our online application to apply, send images, and make payment with Paypal. You will receive an email confirmation upon receiving the submission and payment. You can also fill and submit the online application, print out your confirmation email, and mail it with a check for your fees to the address below.  Please note that gallery emails often end up in spam folders.  Please check your spam if you did not receive a confirmation email.

SUBMISSION | Entry Fee: $40 for the first 5 images, $5 per each additional image.  There is no limit to the number of images you may submit. Submission fees are not refundable.

SUBMISSION | Entry Reviews:  Photographers submitting 13 or more images are entitled to receive a complimentary review by the gallery directors. Photographers that enter less than 13 images, can receive a review for an additional $20. All reviews will be 30 minutes and typically scheduled a week after the exhibition results are announced.

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ELIGIBILITY | The competition is open to all photographers both professional and amateur working in all photographic mediums and styles. International entries are welcomed. Work that has been previously exhibited in an A Smith Gallery competition is not eligible.  We prefer not to accept images created with Artificial Intelligence at the present time due to the lack of clarity concerning copyright issues and the ongoing litigation associated with them.

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ONLINE EXHIBITION and CATALOGUE | Jurors will be selecting up to 47 images in total. All artist included in the final selection of images will receive the following:

1. The gallery will be featuring each of the final selection of images on both Facebook and Instagram over the span of the exhibition.
2. Gallery Directors will be hosting a GalleryTalk and will discuss all selected images.  The GalleryTalk will be posted in the blog section of the website.
3. The gallery online store will include all selected images listed for sale.
4. An exhibition catalogue including all selected images will be published and available for purchase.
5. The online exhibition as well as the GalleryTalk will be permanently archived after the end of the exhibition period.

“THE 27” HARDBOUND EXHIBITION BOOK | 27 images from the total selected images will be selected for “The 27”, a hardbound fine art book of the exhibition.  “The 27” will be available for purchase. Both the Juror and Director Award recipients will receive the hardbound exhibition book.

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NOTIFICATIONS | All photographers who have submitted an entry will receive an email notification of the juror’s selection as well as confirmation of your entry being received.  Confirmation emails are sent directly from the gallery directors and may take a few hours to be sent.  Please note that gallery emails often end up in spam folders.  Please check your spam if you did not receive a confirmation email.  If concerned, please email amanda@asmithgallery.com.

AWARDS | The awards are as follows:

Jurors Award – an online solo exhibition, “The 27” exhibition book and GalleryTalk on the gallery blog
Directors Award – “The 27” exhibition book and a GalleryTalk on the gallery blog
Visitors Award (most Instagram likes) – $100

The solo exhibition awarded as the Juror and Director Awards will be scheduled at a mutually agreed time for the duration of a month.

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SALES | The gallery has an online store and will include all images from the exhibition. The gallery will retain 30% of the sales price.  When a print sells, there are two options.  First, the artist may ship a signed print directly to the buyer.  Or the gallery will print the image for the artist.  Please see Printing Services for details.

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JURYING PROCESS | Our jurying process is blind, meaning the jurors do not see your name on the images you have submitted. All images submitted are renamed and assigned an entry/image number. The juror sees each entry together as a group in the order the images were submitted.

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USE RIGHTS | Photographers retain full rights to their own images. The gallery will use the photographer’s images for publicity purposes as well as on line gallery, online store, exhibition catalogue and “The 27” exhibition book.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION | amanda@asmithgallery.com