In a nutshell, what do I get from this service?

By submitting your work to the Project Review: Gallery Focus, you will receive:
- An in-depth, personalized review of your work. Our aim is to help you fine-tune a project from your portfolio and to provide guidance on how you can better present your work to collectors, galleries and the overall marketplace. Feedback is closely tailored to you and your work through an extensive pre-review questionnaire.
- An opportunity to be selected by a panel of curators for an Online Exhibition.
- An opportunity to be selected for a print show at a gallery in New York.
- A free trial account to OpenStudios - our partner platform that helps you to market your work and connect with buyers online.

How does the Project Review work?

Once you submit a project from your portfolio, it will be reviewed by a member of our team of industry professionals. Your reviewer will carefully read through your answers to the questionnaire, your CV, and your project statement in order to provide actionable feedback based on the questions you have about your work. It’s important to offer as much detail as possible in your submission, as this will allow your reviewer to provide accurate feedback on your work and recommendations for your next steps. After you receive your Project Review, you will have the opportunity to let us know how we did, and whether the information you received was helpful to you and your creative process.

I submitted my project, but I still haven’t received my review! Where’s my review?

Remember: a good, thorough written critique takes time! This is a new program, and depending on volume, we expect your review to be completed within about a month of submitting it — we hope sooner! You will receive an email as soon as your review is ready, and a link that says “Review Ready” will appear next to your submitted project. If you don’t receive one of these emails by the end of November, please get in touch with us at support@lensculture.com.

Can I contact my reviewer with a follow-up question?

Unfortunately, based on the volume of projects submitted, you will not be able to follow up with your reviewer.

Can you tell me who reviewed my work?

As part of our contract with your reviewer, all reviewers are anonymous. Why is this? In order to provide the most comprehensive and in-depth commentary about your project, our reviewers remain anonymous so they can give you unvarnished and open feedback about your project.

How can I be selected for The LensCulture Print Show exhibition?

We are thrilled to be partnering with Klompching Galleryin New York to host a gallery exhibition featuring artists and images hand-selected by owners and curators Debra Klomp Ching and Darren Ching. Klompching will review the submitted projects and select twenty (20) images from twenty (20) photographers. The same photographers will be also included in the LensCulture Online Exhibition.

If my work is selected for the LensCulture Print Show, do I need to send you a print of my work?

No! All of the printing will be handled by one of our partners, an international printing company with over 70 years of experience creating fine art prints in New York and Paris. They will ship your work directly to Klompching Gallery in New York for the exhibition.

What if my work is an alternative process?

The Project Review program is not just for artists who produce digital works. We are also excited to see your work that has been crafted by hand. If you have a series that is cyanotype, tintype, collage or mixed media with photographs at its base we still want to see it. We cannot accept physical submissions, but jpegs of the work are accepted. Please follow the guidelines for submitting jpegs of the works. If your work is selected for the Online or New York exhibition, you would be required to price and produce your work for the New York exhibition and in case of sales.

If my work is selected for the LensCulture Print Show, will I get gallery representation?

LensCulture only provides an opportunity to be exhibited at a gallery. We do not secure ongoing gallery representation between photographers and our gallery partners.

How do I know what my work will look like at the show?

If your work is selected, we will request a high-resolution file of your photograph along with a digital mock-up of how you’d like our partner to print your work, so you will be able to control what viewers will see at the exhibition.

How can I be selected for the Online Exhibition?

A panel of curators will review entries for possible inclusion in the online exhibition—they will select twenty (20) images from twenty (20) photographers for the showcase. The online exhibition will also include a link to each photographer’s OpenStudios account, meaning photography-lovers from around the world will be able to purchase prints through our online exhibition!

What is OpenStudios?

OpenStudios is a platform that provides photographers with a beautiful, online space where gallerists, curators, collectors and photography-lovers can visit and connect with their work. By partnering with OpenStudios, LensCulture provides a free trial account to all photographers who submit their work for our Project Review. For more information, check out OpenStudios website.

How can I get my OpenStudios account?

Once you’ll have submitted your work for Project Review, our partner OpenStudios will email you with the details on how to setup your OpenStudios account in a few clicks.

How long does the free trial last? What does it include?

As part of the partnership, all photographers will benefit from a 2-month-free trial to OpenStudios. Further, OpenStudios accounts are free until the first print sale. That means your LensCulture-exclusive 2-month free trial will only begin on the day of your first sale.

Do I need to create an OpenStudios account?

You don’t need to create an OpenStudios account to receive your written Project Review or to be selected for the New York exhibition or the online exhibition. However, you do need to create an OpenStudios account if you would like to have your print available for sale and be promoted by LensCulture and Klompching Gallery. This guarantees a level of consistency, print quality and a clean fulfillment process for delivering the print orders.

Will my work be available for sale?

Work that is selected for either the New York exhibition or the online exhibition will be available for purchase on your OpenStudios account. This image becomes a limited LensCulture edition. These prints will be specific in size and in number. All of the chosen prints will be featured online on OpenStudios for a limited time of ninety days.

Will LensCulture or Klompching sell my work?

LensCulture helps you market your work and sell it directly via our partner platform OpenStudios. We partnered with a platform that offers a fully set-up sales system to help you get started in selling your prints online. LensCulture will help to promote your limited-edition print by featuring it in the Online Exhibition hosted on LensCulture, but LensCulture will not sell your work directly. Klompching gallery will host the print show in New York to help promote your work but will not be in charge of the sales.

Does LensCulture or Klompching Gallery make a profit from the sale of my work during the exhibition?

LensCulture or Klompching do not make any profit from the sale of your work. 100% of the profits will go to you.

When are the Curators’ Selections announced, and when will they be featured in the online exhibition on LensCulture?

The panel of curators will start reviewing the projects after the deadline. The 20 selected photographers will be announced shortly after. You will be notified via email during the review process if you have been selected for the online exhibition or for the New York exhibition.

Why can’t I upload my photos to your platform?

Please make sure you are using an updated version of Safari or Chrome

How do I submit my project?

First, you’ll be prompted to join LensCulture for a free account to upload your files (or you can just sign in if you have an existing LensCulture account). Then follow the simple instructions to upload your images and to provide all the proper information for each.

What are the photo specifications for uploading?

For best results, upload the highest-quality JPEGs, sized a minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side (2000 pixels is even better). Maximum size is 10MB. The file name should be under 50 characters.

How do I add photo captions or titles?

Click the area designated photo title and add the title there. It will be auto-saved when you finish typing.

Aside from the images, what else do I need to submit for the review?

Our Reviewers want to know who you are as an artist. We ask you to complete a brief but thorough questionnaire to understand your objectives for your work. The more information you provide, the better our reviewers can assess the project’s strengths and weaknesses in order to suggest opportunities for growth and direction to further your goals. In addition, we ask you to provide your biography, website, and resume (cv). These additional materials are optional, but they will help our reviewers accurately assess your project, so we recommend that you include them in your submission.

I have a hard time writing an artist statement. What should I do?

If you are having a hard time writing an artist statement, ask yourself the following questions: - How did you start working on this project? What drew you to it initially? - What were your influences as you started shooting your series? - What do you hope your audience gains from looking at your images? - Did you encounter anything that surprised you throughout the course shooting the project? - If your photographs include people, how do you choose your subjects? Do you speak with them before you photograph them? - How has the series changed over time? Has its drive—its intention—evolved?

I can’t log in to my account.

Go to https://www.lensculture.com/forgot_password and enter the email address you think you signed up with. We’ll send you a password reset link.

What forms of payment do you accept? Do you accept PayPal?

You can pay for your entry with PayPal, Visa, MasterCard or American Express. We’re sorry, but we cannot accept bank transfers or payments by check at this time.

But I only recently began focusing on my photography—can I still apply?

The LensCulture Project Reviews aim to provide in-depth, critical feedback on a cohesive body of work. We welcome applications from all photographers who are seeking advice on exposure, gallery representation, marketing, and editing their project. You do not need to be a professional photographer to benefit from our Project Review. If you are new to photography but are looking for feedback on your concept or advice on presenting your work to a gallery, this service is for you.

Can I replace or re-arrange my photos after I’ve submitted them?

No, you cannot re-arrange or edit your photos after you’ve submitted them for a Project Review. The reviewers work on providing feedback as the submissions are sent and will not be able to see the edited version of your project. Once you submit your images and fill out the questionnaire, please review your answers carefully—once you click send, you will not be able to edit them again. They become final and unchangeable.

Should I submit diptychs as one image or two?

You should submit diptychs as one image. But keep in mind the maximum pixel length of 2000.

I would like to submit two projects. Can I upload both series as one submission or do I need to make two submissions?

Each series should be in a separate submission so that you can write a detailed description for each one. It is necessary for our project reviewers to view a single body of work in each project. We understand this is twice the submission cost, but if you try to combine two series into one project, our reviewers will not be able to offer you accurate advice. If cost is an issue, please submit only your strongest single body of work.

We are two photographers working as a team. Can we enter one project?

Yes, but please provide background info on both of you in the bio so we know you are a team.

How many times can I submit a project?

You can submit as many times as you like — assuming you have lots of great images and you can afford to pay the submission fees for all of them. We suggest, however, that you edit your photos wisely and send us only your very best.

If I live outside the United States, can I still submit a project?

Definitely! Our project reviewers come from all over the world—their advice is applicable to photographers working in every corner of the globe.

What is the best way to submit my entries, digital or print?

Digital. The reviewers will view each of the photos on screen only. We cannot accept photos as prints or CDs in the mail.

How do I know my work will look good on the reviewer’s computer screen?

Our reviewers are accustomed to evaluating photography via computer monitors. This is quickly becoming standard practice for project reviews and competitions. If your scans are good quality, we will easily be able to imagine the actual work from the image on the computer screen.

Are there restrictions on when a photo was taken?

No, there are no time-based restrictions concerning when a photo was taken.

Do I need to submit a model release with my portraits?

Good question. You need to check with the local laws of where you are shooting regarding portrait/street/candid photography—some places are very strict and explicitly require model releases while others are more lenient. As long as your photos fall within the laws of where you made the work, you can submit them to our Project Reviews. If you still have any doubts, please send a sample photo from your entry to our editorial team (editor@lensculture.com) and we’ll let you know if it’s appropriate to submit your work for review.

Are there other ethical guidelines which should be followed?

Images that purport to be “news” photographs, reporting, photojournalism, or documentary photography, should comply with the ethical guidelines of the National Press Photographers Association (https://nppa.org/code-ethics) in general, as well as those proposed by UNICEF for ethical reporting on children (https://www.unicef.org/eca/media_1482.html). No people or objects may be added, rearranged, reversed, distorted or removed from such photographs. If images are staged, this should be made clear in the written statements and captions. It is important, always, to take into account the ethical considerations of photography, and to protect vulnerable people from potential harm that could be inflicted as a result of publishing images that expose or identify individuals or groups who may be or may become vulnerable as a result of the publication of the photographs.

Can you explain the usage rights if I submit a project?

By submitting to our Project Reviews, you are authorizing LensCulture to display, print, and distribute in any manner any photographs that you entered for this specific Project Review to conduct and promote LensCulture initiatives. Each photographer retains copyright of his or her images, and proper credit lines will always be attributed to each photographer when used in promotions by LensCulture.

Can I have an extension on the deadline to be considered for the Print Show and the Online Exhibition?

At this time, we are not offering any extensions. The deadline is FINAL.

Can I get a refund?

No, entry fees are non-refundable.

Can I get an invoice for my competition entry fees?

Once your entry is submitted, we automatically email you a confirmation invoice indicating payment details, including the event you entered, the category, the amount you paid and how you paid it (credit card or Paypal). This is the invoice and is consistent with how other online purchases send order confirmations.

This all sounds too easy. Where’s the fine print?

It really is that easy! You can find the Project Review rules link next to this FAQ link. Here are some, but not all, of the basic rules that you agree to:

• By submitting these photographs to LensCulture, I authorize that these are original works of art that I personally created.

• I am releasing LensCulture and its agents, principals, employees or contractors from any liability regarding the display of work that I have submitted to them, including any liability for redisplay by individuals making copies of the display made by LensCulture.

• By agreeing to this release, I authorize that I am 18 years of age or older.

• I hereby authorize LensCulture to display and distribute in any manner any photographs that I have entered in this review to conduct and promote LensCulture’s Project Reviews. Each photographer retains copyright of his or her images, and proper credit lines will be attributed to each photographer when used in any publicity of LensCulture.

If I have more questions, how do I contact you?

For technical questions related to uploading your photos, sizes, entry forms and credit card payments, use the support button on the upper right corner of the Project Review page. If you can’t find the answers to your other questions here or at the upload site, you can email us at support@lensculture.com. We will do our best to get back to you as soon as possible. Please recognize that a support request sent right before the deadline might not get immediate attention due to the volume of messages we receive. Do your best to submit your work before the last minute to avoid any anxiety. We wish you the best in your creative endeavors!