WHAT’S YOUR WALES?
OPEN CALL — Be part of a new photography exhibition at Oriel Colwyn.
We’re putting together a new exhibition celebrating the many different ways Wales can be seen, experienced and understood.
To start things off, we’ve picked a few images from some of our friends (Martin Parr, David Hurn, Tom Wood, Niall McDiarmid & McCoy Wynne)— photographs that capture something of their own relationship with Wales. Now we want to open it up and see what Wales looks like through your eyes.
Wales. Llandudno. Bank Holiday 2013. (c) Martin Parr/Magnum Photos
What does Wales mean to you?
What does the Welsh community mean to you?
What does it feel like, look like or mean to have a connection to this place?
Loggerheads Clifftop, Towards Moel Famau, 2010. (c) Tom Wood
You don’t need to be Welsh. You don’t need to live in Wales.
You might be Welsh-born and living abroad. You might have lived here all your life. You might have moved here, visited often, have family here, visited on your holidays, or simply have a connection to Wales that’s difficult to put into words.
We’re interested in all of it.
We’re looking for photographs that say something about your Wales — made in Wales, or exploring your connection to Wales and its people, places and communities.
Tintern Fete. 2026 (c) David Hurn
It could be a landscape, a portrait, a street scene, a family moment, an everyday detail, something unexpected, something familiar, or simply something that captures a feeling or your experience of Wales and the Welsh community.
There are no restrictions on style or approach. We want to see your perspective of Wales or Welshness.
Porthcawl, Wales. July 2023 (c) Niall McDiarmid
FREE TO ENTER
Submit up to 2 images for consideration.
Your images can be connected as part of a series, or completely unrelated individual photographs.
Image Requirements
- Images must be suitable for printing up to A3 size.
- Ideally, files should be supplied at 300dpi.
- Please submit the highest-quality version of your image available. (10mb limit for each file)
Tell Us a Little More
Along with your photograph, we’d love to know a little more about you and the image you’ve submitted. Please include:
- Your name — the name you would like to be credited under if your photograph is selected.
- A title — give your photograph a title if you wish. If not, we’ll simply list it as Untitled.
- About your photograph — a short description or explanation of your image and, if you’d like, something about the story or connection behind it. Please keep this to 100 words or fewer.
- Additional links — if you’d like people to discover more of your work, you can include links to your social media and/or website.
Open to All
Open to photographers of all ages, skill levels and abilities. Photographs may be taken using any type of camera or camera phone.
Own Work
All images entered must be entirely the work of the photographer submitting them.
Composite & AI Images
Composite images are permitted, provided that all component images are the photographer’s own work.
All photographs must be taken with a camera or camera phone and must not be created entirely using AI programs.
We discourage the submission of heavily AI-altered images. However, the use of AI tools as part of the general editing process is acceptable where used reasonably and to enhance, rather than create, the photograph.
Multiple Entries
Multiple entries will not be accepted and anything past your first two image submissions will be excluded.
Images selected for the open call will be printed by us at no cost to you and exhibited in the gallery at Oriel Colwyn throughout December and January. Selected works will also be shared online via our social networks.
BLIND RAFFLE
At the end of the exhibition, the photographs will be made available to take home for £10 each through an optional blind raffle.
You won’t choose a particular photographer or image. Instead, you’ll take a chance and be randomly allocated a photograph from the exhibition.
You are not required to enter the blind raffle as a part of the open call… but if your image is chosen you will be contacted and given the option to purchase a ticket per selected image. Any untaken tickets will be offered to the public and exhibition visitors.
By submitting work to the open you agree that if selected, your printed image(s) will automatically be included as a part of this blind raffle for others to receive.
The blind raffle is about more than making photography affordable. It’s a way of creating connections between photographers and audiences through chance. You might discover a photographer you’ve never come across before, take home an image that unexpectedly speaks to you, or find yourself with a photograph from someone whose work you’d never have encountered otherwise.
The small £10 fee for raffle particiation helps us recover some of the costs of printing and putting on the exhibition, while making it possible for more people to own a unique photograph from the show.
- You submit a photograph.
- It’s selected for the exhibition.
- Someone takes a chance on it.
- A photograph finds a new home, and somewhere along the way, two photographers — and two strangers — connect.
And in the process, we hope a few new connections are made.
Offa's Dyke (c) McCoy Wynne
We want to bring together a collection of photographs that shows the many different faces, places and perspectives of Wales — creating a collective portrait made by the people who see it, experience it and feel connected to it.
Whether Wales is home, somewhere you return to, somewhere you’ve just discovered, or somewhere you feel connected to from afar…
WHAT'S YOUR WALES?
OPEN CALL — ENTRIES OPEN NOW
ENTRIES CLOSE 23:59, SUNDAY 08 NOVEMBER
ENTER HERE
*The extra small print...
By submitting entries to the 'What's your Wales - Open Call' you are giving permission for your images to be used by Oriel Colwyn for the purposes of the exhibition, alongside associated PR/advertising and fundraising (print and online). No payment can be provided for this use. Credit to the photographer will always be given.