NYC4PA - "Monochrome" International Juried Photography Open Call

• New York Center for Photographic Arts

• Deadline: October 18th, 2026

• Category: Monochrome Photography

• Prize: $4,000 Prize Pool + Online Exhibition

• Entry Fees: Yes

• REGISTRATION: CLICK HERE

KODAK. ILFORD. FUJI. For many photographers, these names evoke an entire era of image-making—rolls of film carefully loaded into cameras, exposures thoughtfully considered, negatives developed by hand, and prints brought to life beneath the glow of a darkroom safelight. Shooting, developing, and printing were distinct stages in the creation of a photograph, each requiring patience, skill, experimentation, and a little bit of magic.

There are memories in the tools themselves: the smell of chemicals, the trays lined up in sequence, the ticking of a timer, the enlarger casting light onto photographic paper, and the quiet anticipation of watching an image slowly appear in the developer. For those who experienced it, the darkroom was more than a workspace. It was a place of discovery, where light and chemistry transformed a captured moment into a physical object.

Photography has changed enormously since then. Today, images may be made with film cameras, digital SLRs, mirrorless systems, scanners, computers, or smartphones. The darkroom has often been replaced by the screen, and processes that once took hours can now happen in moments. But one thing has remained unchanged: the extraordinary expressive power of the monochrome image.

Black and white strips away the familiar language of color and allows other elements to come forward. Light becomes more pronounced. Shadows deepen. Texture, shape, line, gesture, and atmosphere take on new importance. Sepia can evoke warmth and memory, while other monochromatic palettes can transform a familiar subject into something unexpected. Through gradations from the brightest highlights to the deepest shadows, monochrome photography creates a visual language that can be timeless, dramatic, intimate, mysterious, or deeply emotional.

For this call, how you arrived at the final image is entirely up to you. Perhaps your photograph began on a roll of TRI-X and was developed by hand. Perhaps it was captured with a digital camera and carefully converted in post-production. Perhaps it was made with the phone in your pocket. Traditional processes, contemporary technologies, and experimental approaches are all welcome.

The process may have changed, but the power of monochrome remains. If the final result is a compelling image expressed through black and white, sepia, or the shades and tones of a single color, it belongs in this call.