Hi everyone, Azriel Knight here and as I stated in a recent interview with analog talk, my favourite part about film photography is the darkroom.
I recently gave mine an overhaul right after a creative break and I have fallen in love all over again. I even doubled down and sold my DSLR gear and lenses to The Camera Store (yes that Camera Store) and am using most of the line of credit from that to buy darkroom chems, paper and supplies. There are things I love about digital, but my heart lies in film.
But even though I make prints, the last thing I want is a house filled with only my photos. I want to be able to look at other people’s work and be inspired visually, like the people I have interviewed on my podcast have inspired me audibly.
A few years back I did a series of photo critiques, and it was a fun and interesting exercise. I got to see some of your work and you got a little publicity.
For all the aforementioned reasons I’ve decided I’m going to start a limited series of Mail-In photo contests.
Here’s the idea, anyone can send me a physical print to my PO Box and when I have enough submissions, I’ll make a video, featuring a table top photo critique. It doesn’t have to be a darkroom print, but it should be shot on film.
I want to say I will release a video for every ten submissions but maybe I won’t even get that many, it’s a lot to ask of you, plus I have to wait a little longer for the international prints to start coming in.
All of the photographers will be credited for their work. I’m not out for blood either, I’m not going to squash some amateurs ego. As with my previous critiques, it will be honest but tailored to the photographer’s skill level, so if you’re new, don’t worry.
It will be an expensive submission in shipping alone, and maybe you just want to support content on the channel and that is awesome, but I’ve added a perk to make it interesting.
I recently teamed up with Ethan Moses of Cameradactyl to design a special version of his butter box film holder.
This is the Stay Classic edition, featuring my brand colours. It holds up to five rolls of film and to have someone make something for me like this is just really cool. The winner of each critique will receive one of these.
You may be asking what am I going to do with these prints. I hear that. I think if I submitted my work I wouldn’t want them to end up in a box and while I cannot afford to matte, frame and hang every single piece, many I have received in the past have stayed up for years.
I’ll spread them throughout my house but the focal point will be in my living room, I want a big collage of your photos.
In future photo critiques I’ll show the wall as it progresses, right now it’s blank, so…why bother?
I feel like at some point I may end up with too much, so you should know that ultimately down the road, your work may be auctioned off or sold, with the money going to charity, and I will pick something politically neutral, like Alzheimer’s. I saw another person do this on their channel and it seems to be the best way to handle it.
If you have made it this far in the video, you are wondering by now what is involved in a submission. Pretty simple, along with your print, please include a sheet of paper with the following information, typed out of possible.
Your Name:
The Photo Name:
The Print Info: Information regarding the print like size, paper type, enlarger etc. You can be as detailed as you’d like. If you can’t remember, no big woop.
The Caption Info: subject, date etc. same rules apply.
The Story: Let’s keep it brief, less than 200 words on what makes the image special to you, plus any relevant details.
Mail and email addresses to get in touch. Please don’t rely on the return address on the package, the corners are the first thing to go.
Send your well packaged submission to
Azriel Knight
PO Box 75100
Calgary Alberta
T2K 6J8
Canada
then write somewhere on the box “photo critique”.
I look forward to seeing your work, and until next time, stay classic 🙂