L.A. PHOTO CURATOR CALL FOR ENTRY
THEME: PERSONAL NARRATIVE
THEME: PERSONAL NARRATIVE
JURORS: Peter Bennett & Elizabeth Bailey
DEADLINE: November 1, 2025
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THEME: PERSONAL NARRATIVE:
Personal narratives are stories or accounts that individuals share about their own experiences, often reflecting their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. These narratives can serve as a means of self-exploration and expression, allowing artists to convey deeply personal themes and emotions or insights through their work.
We invite you to share with us your work that recounts or references a meaningful personal experience, event, or insight - whether through metaphor, realism, abstraction, documentation, or another creative approach.
Personal narratives are stories or accounts that individuals share about their own experiences, often reflecting their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. These narratives can serve as a means of self-exploration and expression, allowing artists to convey deeply personal themes and emotions or insights through their work.
We invite you to share with us your work that recounts or references a meaningful personal experience, event, or insight - whether through metaphor, realism, abstraction, documentation, or another creative approach.
Image © Moonlight in Vermont by Peter Bennett
"I took this photo around 1979, it was an eight minute exposure taken in Vermont illuminated only by Moonlight. I remember looking at that Kodachrome slide as I took it from its box, and I was instantly hit with the realization that the camera was capable of capturing so much more than what I could see with my eyes. It opened up a new world for me, and my camera would become a tool to explore not only what was unseen, but to test the limits of my imagination."
Image © Secrets by Elizabeth Bailey
"My photo "Secrets" is part of a series I created about the emotional turbulence of my childhood. The uneasy narrative here is both specific (my story) and universal (the challenges of growing up). This is conveyed through moody lighting, props, and an image that tells part of the story, but also raises questions about what lies outside the frame."
5% of artist entry fees goes to the charity of the jurors. Peter Bennett & Elizabeth Bailey chose StoryCorps (StoryCorps is committed to the idea that everyone has an important story to tell and that everyone’s story matters. Our mission: to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time. Since their founding in 2003, they've helped nearly 700,000 people across the country have meaningful conversations about their lives. These recordings are collected in the U.S. Library of Congress and in our online archive which is now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.)
Another 5% will go to the first place winner's choice of charity.
Juror Peter Bennett:
Born and raised in New York City, Peter picked up his first camera and took his first darkroom class at the age of twelve. Peter spent many years working as a travel photographer, and in 2000 started his own photo agency, Ambient Images.
In 2015 he formed Citizen of the Planet, LLC, devoted exclusively to the distribution of his stories and photographs that focus on a variety of environmental subjects.
Peter’s editorial work has appeared in many publications including the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, Sunset Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, and New York Magazine.
His prints hang in the California State Capitol, California Science Center’s permanent Ecosystem exhibit, and many other museums, private institutions, and collector’s homes.
He has also worked with a numerous local environmental organizations over the years including FoLAR (Friends of the LA River), The Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Heal the Bay, 5 Gyres Institute, Algalita Marine Research Foundation, Communities for a Better Environment, and the LA Conservation Corps.
Peter has been an instructor for over fifteen years at the Los Angeles Center of Photography, and for years led their Los Angeles River Photo Adventure tour.
www.citizenoftheplanet.com
www.instagram.com/peterbphoto
Juror Elizabeth Bailey:
Elizabeth Bailey is a Los Angeles based artist who uses photography to create evocative imagery that explores the themes of self, identity, memory, and longing. She uses staged scenes, portraiture, and self-portraiture with implied narratives to consider what we conceal and reveal about ourselves, to others.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Bailey moved to Los Angeles at 18 to attend Occidental College. After receiving a BA in Philosophy, she studied photography and graphic design, finding that each informed the other. She currently works as a graphic designer and fine art photographer.
Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including Light Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon; The Brand Library in Glendale, CA; and PH21 in Budapest, Hungary. She is a member of the female photography collective Memory is a Verb.
Her photographs have been published in books and magazines including Lenscratch, Float, and SHOTS Magazine, and are held in private collections.
www.elizabethbaileyphoto.com
www.instagram.com/elizabeth_bailey01
All images submitted to L.A. and N.Y. Photo Curator are eligible to be considered for the Top 40 images of the year chosen by the years jurors. One photographer of the year will be chosen from those picks by Laurie Freitag.
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Juror Peter Bennett:
Born and raised in New York City, Peter picked up his first camera and took his first darkroom class at the age of twelve. Peter spent many years working as a travel photographer, and in 2000 started his own photo agency, Ambient Images.
In 2015 he formed Citizen of the Planet, LLC, devoted exclusively to the distribution of his stories and photographs that focus on a variety of environmental subjects.
Peter’s editorial work has appeared in many publications including the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, Sunset Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, and New York Magazine.
His prints hang in the California State Capitol, California Science Center’s permanent Ecosystem exhibit, and many other museums, private institutions, and collector’s homes.
He has also worked with a numerous local environmental organizations over the years including FoLAR (Friends of the LA River), The Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Heal the Bay, 5 Gyres Institute, Algalita Marine Research Foundation, Communities for a Better Environment, and the LA Conservation Corps.
Peter has been an instructor for over fifteen years at the Los Angeles Center of Photography, and for years led their Los Angeles River Photo Adventure tour.
www.citizenoftheplanet.com
www.instagram.com/peterbphoto
Juror Elizabeth Bailey:
Elizabeth Bailey is a Los Angeles based artist who uses photography to create evocative imagery that explores the themes of self, identity, memory, and longing. She uses staged scenes, portraiture, and self-portraiture with implied narratives to consider what we conceal and reveal about ourselves, to others.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Bailey moved to Los Angeles at 18 to attend Occidental College. After receiving a BA in Philosophy, she studied photography and graphic design, finding that each informed the other. She currently works as a graphic designer and fine art photographer.
Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including Light Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon; The Brand Library in Glendale, CA; and PH21 in Budapest, Hungary. She is a member of the female photography collective Memory is a Verb.
Her photographs have been published in books and magazines including Lenscratch, Float, and SHOTS Magazine, and are held in private collections.
www.elizabethbaileyphoto.com
www.instagram.com/elizabeth_bailey01
All images submitted to L.A. and N.Y. Photo Curator are eligible to be considered for the Top 40 images of the year chosen by the years jurors. One photographer of the year will be chosen from those picks by Laurie Freitag.
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First Place winner receives Q&A with the jurors. Jurors review first place winner. The Q&A is all done online and the results are included in a piece about the artist in L.A. Photo Curator's themed exhibition. One or more past jurors may contribute reviews as well. 5% of artist fees goes to the first place winner's charity. The first place image shows on our splash page for a month.
We will waive the fee for 2 entrants per competition. Just contact us at laphotocurator@yahoo.com and make the request.
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Hit BUY NOW button to check out using paypal as well as credit cards. Cost of submission is $25 for 3 OR 6 images.
Send your paypal transaction ID # with your images to laphotocurator@yahoo.com
(You won't get an acknowledgement email from us until you send all your work. It is imperative that you include the name of the person paying on the paypal account when you submit your work. We have had many problems trying to figure out who paid for what.)
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Enter in the email Subject box: Your name + Personal Narrative
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Enter in the body of the email:
1- The title of the competition and your name
Write it like this:
Personal Narrative & Your Name
2- Artist Statement & Bio only (you can insert your career highlights in your bio. CV's are no longer accepted.
(No word docs or pdfs accepted)
ADD YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA AT THE END OF YOUR SUBMISSION AFTER 'IMAGES FOR SALE' (if for sale).
Make sure to write out your website like this-
www.lauriefreitag.com
(Links you send don't translate across all media)
Make sure to write out your instagram like this -
www.instagram.com/lauriefreitagphotography
(Writing instagram like this @lauriefreitagphotography doesn't translate across all media)
If you don't have a website just add your email address so viewers will know how to contact you.
---------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO SET UP FILES:
1- Titling images-
Write it out like this example. Don't use all lower or all upper caps.
Your First Name_Your Last Name_Name _of_Image.jpg
2- Size your images-
Jpg files, 1024 pixels on the longest side at 72 DPI, not to exceed 1 MB.
3- Send your images in a zip file.
4- BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR IMAGES PLEASE CHECK THAT YOU HAVE EITHER 3 OR 6 IMAGES, NOT 4 OR 5. ALSO PLEASE CHECK THE SPELLING ON YOUR IMAGES, THE FONT AND MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS ON THE JPG. THANKS!
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IMAGES FOR SALE. This is up to you. If you don't want to list images for sale just say so. All proceeds go to the artist. Make sure to list contact info so viewers can contact you.
List your images like this.
IMAGES FOR SALE-
Boy in Boat- 11"H x 14" W
Archival paper
$350 unframed
Limited edition of 15
Signed on back
Contact: Your Name and email address
Please only list your contact info once- at the end of the last image.
Please check and recheck how many images you are sending in. It should be EITHER 3 OR 6 IMAGES. I'm receiving many submissions with 5 images.
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All information requested must be sent before the contest deadline to be eligible for contest. Non-payment disqualifies an entrant unless they have made arrangements for the entry fee waiver.
Eligibility: The exhibition is open to all photographers world wide, both amateur and professional.
Please do not contact the curator under any circumstances. If you want to get a message to them email us at laphotocurator@yahoo.com and we will get a message to them. Thanks.
By submitting your work to our competitions, you agree to the Terms and Conditions below.
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Terms and Conditions for L.A. Photo Curator (LA Photo Curator)
All sales are conducted solely between the artist and the buyer.
L.A. Photo Curator does not handle any part of sales or commissions.
By entering, entrants automatically accept the conditions of the competition; they grant L.A. Photo Curator nonexclusive rights to use and reproduce submitted photographs for promotional (e.g.: website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and competition advertising purposes. No royalties or compensation will be paid for these purposes. We also use your image and info to promote your work at random times on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
All copyright rights to the photographs remain with the photographer.
Work and entry fee must be submitted by the prospectus deadline date or otherwise not be eligible to participate in competition. There are no refunds.
L.A. Photo Curator reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify and remove any photograph that does not comply with the following requirements, even after the photograph appears on the website. You warrant, in respect of the photographs submitted by you, as follows:
1- You are the sole copyright owner and creator of the photographs
2- You have the right to enter your photographs in this competition.
3- To the best of your knowledge, the photographs do not contain any infringing, threatening, false, misleading, abusive, harassing, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic or profane content.
4- To the best of your knowledge, the photographs do not contain any material that could constitute or encourage conduct which would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any law.
5- The photograph does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, contract rights, or any other intellectual property rights of any third person or entity, or violate any person's rights of privacy or publicity, and your photograph does not include: trademarks owned by third parties, copyrighted materials owned by third parties, entries in which you have purchased or secured the rights to use stock images.
6- Due to the limitations of this webhost Icompendium, your images in our online competitions may appear in Google Image Search without your credit. Sometimes Google Image Search will link information to associate images to search results, and other times it will be ignored.
Your image will appear in google and may list the source of the image only; the source being the competition that your image is viewable in.
You agree to fully indemnify L.A. Photo Curator in respect of all royalties, fees and any other monies owing to any person by reason of your breaching any of the foregoing.
You indemnify L.A. Photo Curator from and against all claims, suits, demands, actions, liabilities, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses on a full indemnity basis) resulting from your participation in this competition.
In no event will L.A. Photo Curator be liable for any loss, damage, cost or expense including legal costs and expenses (whether direct or indirect) incurred by you in connection with this competition.
By submitting to this competition you understand and agree to the terms & conditions stated above.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To stay in the loop sign up on our CONTACT page.
Join us on facebook and Instagram and check out the past featured entries as well as winners. https://www.facebook.com/laphotocurator/
www.instagram.com/laphotocurator7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Media Partners:
https://artdeadline.com/
www.photocontestinsider.com
-------------------------------------------------------
Enter in the email Subject box: Your name + Personal Narrative
---------------------------------------------------------
Enter in the body of the email:
1- The title of the competition and your name
Write it like this:
Personal Narrative & Your Name
2- Artist Statement & Bio only (you can insert your career highlights in your bio. CV's are no longer accepted.
(No word docs or pdfs accepted)
ADD YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA AT THE END OF YOUR SUBMISSION AFTER 'IMAGES FOR SALE' (if for sale).
Make sure to write out your website like this-
www.lauriefreitag.com
(Links you send don't translate across all media)
Make sure to write out your instagram like this -
www.instagram.com/lauriefreitagphotography
(Writing instagram like this @lauriefreitagphotography doesn't translate across all media)
If you don't have a website just add your email address so viewers will know how to contact you.
---------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO SET UP FILES:
1- Titling images-
Write it out like this example. Don't use all lower or all upper caps.
Your First Name_Your Last Name_Name _of_Image.jpg
2- Size your images-
Jpg files, 1024 pixels on the longest side at 72 DPI, not to exceed 1 MB.
3- Send your images in a zip file.
4- BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR IMAGES PLEASE CHECK THAT YOU HAVE EITHER 3 OR 6 IMAGES, NOT 4 OR 5. ALSO PLEASE CHECK THE SPELLING ON YOUR IMAGES, THE FONT AND MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS ON THE JPG. THANKS!
----------------------------------------------------------
IMAGES FOR SALE. This is up to you. If you don't want to list images for sale just say so. All proceeds go to the artist. Make sure to list contact info so viewers can contact you.
List your images like this.
IMAGES FOR SALE-
Boy in Boat- 11"H x 14" W
Archival paper
$350 unframed
Limited edition of 15
Signed on back
Contact: Your Name and email address
Please only list your contact info once- at the end of the last image.
Please check and recheck how many images you are sending in. It should be EITHER 3 OR 6 IMAGES. I'm receiving many submissions with 5 images.
----------------------------------------------------------------
All information requested must be sent before the contest deadline to be eligible for contest. Non-payment disqualifies an entrant unless they have made arrangements for the entry fee waiver.
Eligibility: The exhibition is open to all photographers world wide, both amateur and professional.
Please do not contact the curator under any circumstances. If you want to get a message to them email us at laphotocurator@yahoo.com and we will get a message to them. Thanks.
By submitting your work to our competitions, you agree to the Terms and Conditions below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Terms and Conditions for L.A. Photo Curator (LA Photo Curator)
All sales are conducted solely between the artist and the buyer.
L.A. Photo Curator does not handle any part of sales or commissions.
By entering, entrants automatically accept the conditions of the competition; they grant L.A. Photo Curator nonexclusive rights to use and reproduce submitted photographs for promotional (e.g.: website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and competition advertising purposes. No royalties or compensation will be paid for these purposes. We also use your image and info to promote your work at random times on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
All copyright rights to the photographs remain with the photographer.
Work and entry fee must be submitted by the prospectus deadline date or otherwise not be eligible to participate in competition. There are no refunds.
L.A. Photo Curator reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify and remove any photograph that does not comply with the following requirements, even after the photograph appears on the website. You warrant, in respect of the photographs submitted by you, as follows:
1- You are the sole copyright owner and creator of the photographs
2- You have the right to enter your photographs in this competition.
3- To the best of your knowledge, the photographs do not contain any infringing, threatening, false, misleading, abusive, harassing, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic or profane content.
4- To the best of your knowledge, the photographs do not contain any material that could constitute or encourage conduct which would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any law.
5- The photograph does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, contract rights, or any other intellectual property rights of any third person or entity, or violate any person's rights of privacy or publicity, and your photograph does not include: trademarks owned by third parties, copyrighted materials owned by third parties, entries in which you have purchased or secured the rights to use stock images.
6- Due to the limitations of this webhost Icompendium, your images in our online competitions may appear in Google Image Search without your credit. Sometimes Google Image Search will link information to associate images to search results, and other times it will be ignored.
Your image will appear in google and may list the source of the image only; the source being the competition that your image is viewable in.
You agree to fully indemnify L.A. Photo Curator in respect of all royalties, fees and any other monies owing to any person by reason of your breaching any of the foregoing.
You indemnify L.A. Photo Curator from and against all claims, suits, demands, actions, liabilities, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses on a full indemnity basis) resulting from your participation in this competition.
In no event will L.A. Photo Curator be liable for any loss, damage, cost or expense including legal costs and expenses (whether direct or indirect) incurred by you in connection with this competition.
By submitting to this competition you understand and agree to the terms & conditions stated above.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To stay in the loop sign up on our CONTACT page.
Join us on facebook and Instagram and check out the past featured entries as well as winners. https://www.facebook.com/laphotocurator/
www.instagram.com/laphotocurator7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Media Partners:
https://artdeadline.com/
www.photocontestinsider.com
