SE Center Open

Open Call is just that, an open theme - all subjects, The SE Center is looking for images of any theme, media, digital, analog, or antique processes that show your best work. Analog and digital manipulation in all its forms welcome. Monochrome or color, all subjects, analog, digital or antique processes, photographers of all skill levels and locations are welcome.

Entering Your Images  

You can enter your images online at Smarter Entry. For best results, make sure your image is 1200 pixels @72 dpi on the longest side. Images should be in JPEG format, sRGB color space. Please name your files: Open.Last Name.First Initial_Image#.jpg (Examples: Open.Smith.J.Image1.jpg, Open.Jones.R.Image3.jpg) If you need help entering your images or are unable to, please contact info@sec4p.com or call 864.214.6114. No exceptions will be made for late submissions. Please allow for ample time to complete your entry.

Eligibility 

Submissions are welcome from anyone who makes photographs. This program is inclusive, and work will not be chosen on the basis of the status of the photographer. It is the imagery that counts. All photographers regardless of location, age or skill level. Images previously selected for exhibition at the SE Center for Photography within two years of the current exhibition are not eligible.

Fees 

$35 for up to 5 Images, $6 for each additional image up to 15. 

Members, $28 for up to 5 Images, $5 for each additional image up to 15.

No refunds for images not selected for inclusion.

Juror

Our juror for the SE Center Open is Alexa Dilworth. Dilworth, an independent editor, writer, and curator based in Durham, North Carolina, was the publishing and awards director at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for more than twenty years. Currently a senior editor for Aperture’s Vision and Justice series and text editor of their Photography Workshop Series, she has edited the text and/or photos for over seventy books, including Larry Fink: Hands On/A Passionate Life of Looking (powerHouse Books, 2025),Pictures for Charis by Kelli Connell (Aperture, 2024), Graciela Iturbide on Dreams, Symbols, and Imagination (Aperture, 2022), The Pretend Villages: Inside the U.S. Military Training Grounds by Christopher Sims (Kehrer Verlag, 2021), and Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial by Jessica Ingram (CDS/UNC Press, a New York Times Best Art Book of 2020).

Dilworth has a BA and an MA, both in English, from the University of Florida, and an MFA in creative writing (poetry) from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. Her writing has appeared in Lenscratch, Aperture’s Photobook Review, and such photography monographs as Beth Lilly’s The Seventh Bardo (2025), Lisa McCord’s Rotan Switch (Kehrer Verlag, 2024), Benjamin Dimmitt’s An Unflinching Look: Elegy for Wetlands (UGA Press, 2023), and Will Warasila’s Quicker Than Coal Ash (Gnomic Book, 2022).

Exhibition Details

35-40 selected images will hang in the SE Center’s virtual gallery space for approximately one month. In addition, selected images are featured in the SE Center social media accounts (FB, IG, Twitter) and an archived, online slide show. A video walkthrough of each exhibition is also featured and archived. Participating artists that can attend have the opportunity for a Portfolio Review by SE Center Director Michael Pannier on the following Saturday morning (reservations needed). 

Sales & Copyright

The SE Center encourages sales during exhibitions. If someone expresses interest in a piece we will put them in touch with the artist. If a transaction is completed the SE Center will take 0% commission, the artist retains all monies. 

Artist retains all copyrights to their own images. Artists whose work is chosen for exhibition inclusion grant the SE Center for Photography permission to use images for promoting the exhibition, artist, or SE Center and its programs, and current and past exhibitions. Images may be placed on social media for promotion and features. Artists grant usage as stated without further compensation.

Calendar          

Submissions Open 9/1/25

Submissions Close 11/16/25

Selections Announced 11/29/25

Exhibition Opens 1/1/26

Exhibition Closes 1/30/26

Thank you for submitting and good luck!