Thank you for your interest in participating in PhotoLounge's spring exhibition Off Topic. This page has all of the information you may need and will regularly be updated.
Off Topic Exhibition
FAQs
Below are a selection of questions and answers about the show. If you have any further questions that you would like to be included on this page please email lauren@myphotolounge.com.
Do the Photos Need to have been taken while working for the News?
No. The pictures can be from any time or any place, not just when you were in Philadelphia working for the paper. The connection here is that everyone participating were all photographers at The Inquirer or Daily News at one time or another and that the pictures in the show were made from the heart.
Do the photos need to be taken on Film?
No, there is no requirement that the photos be taken on film.
What if all of my images have been seen at least on social media? Can i still submit them?
Even if all of your photos have at least been shared on social media that is fine. We just encourage you to submit photos that have never been published in books, magazines, newspapers and have never been exhibited.
When is the deadline to submit?
Please submit your photos to this form by midnight on March 18, 2022. If you cannot meet that deadline please email lauren@myphotolounge.com
How many photos can I submit?
We ask that you submit three photos. Since this will be a large show we cannot guarantee that all three will be included.
How should the photos I submit be named?
Please name the file of each photograph you submit with your last name underscore title of the image underscore date the image was taken. For example: mitchell_untitled_2022.
How large should the files I submit be?
We ask that the files you submit each have a high enough resolution to make an 11x14 print (300dpi at 11x14). Feel free to reach out if you do not have a digital file that is that large.
Will I need to pay to submit?
No. PhotoLounge is committed to offer at no cost to the photographers any services related to mounting, printing and scanning that are necessary to produce this show.
Photo Submissions
Click the button below to submit your photographs via a Google form. Please make sure to follow the instructions at the top of the form on how large the files should be and how they should be named.
Intention of the Show
Given the pandemic and the fight for social justice that defined 2020 and dominated the news and our lives, we became curious about the perspective of seasoned photojournalists who have been covering Philadelphia and the region since the 90s for the Inquirer and the Daily News. We wondered what and how the current news fit the arc of earlier experiences over time captured on film. We started to imagine a show that was literal and defined by “on assignment” photography from then vis a vis today’s events.
We quickly grew to hate that idea. Mostly, it offered no creative latitude and was in itself just another editorial assignment rather than the more creative collective introspective retrospective of individual shots that we thought would tell a broader story. We became more curious about the less defined and less literal photography that was close to the heart of the people who have covered the news in the region for decades. What pictures touched their heart? What pictures have they taken while not working for the news? What wasn’t news worthy per se but yet so important to them? What are the pictures that were off topic?
This drew us to the unpublished and unassigned pictures the world has never seen (if an image just popped into your mind then you know exactly what we mean). The photos that may have been taken while working for the news or photos that were from a different time and place in their lives. We felt strongly that this is the right time to celebrate their artistry, daring, expression, and curiosity. You shot them from the heart without editorial constraints, and this makes them unfiltered statements that inform today’s world.
The show will be on view at PhotoLounge in the spring of 2022. Exact dates will be announced soon.
Contacts
Ravid Butz, owner of PhotoLounge and co-curator/creator: ravid@myphotolounge.com
Lauren Mitchell, PhotoLounge Film Community Manager and co-curator: lauren@myphotolounge.com