By Hand: An Exhibition of Contemporary Alternative Process Photography

Texas Photographic Society is proud to announce the call for entry for By Hand: An Exhibition of Contemporary Alternative Process Photography, our sixth exhibition featuring hand-made photo-based imagery created using alternative photographic processes and historical printing methods. Our juror is acclaimed fine art photographer, author, and educator Jill Enfield. (See full bio and juror's statement below.) This call is open to artists of all levels internationally.

By Hand will open at the Wilma and Terence Dennis Gallery at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, on February 8, 2027 and run through March 26, 2027.

Texas Photographic Society is proud to announce the call for entry for By Hand: An Exhibition of Contemporary Alternative Process Photography, our sixth exhibition featuring hand-made photo-based imagery created using alternative photographic processes and historical printing methods. Our juror is acclaimed fine art photographer, author, and educator Jill Enfield. (See full bio and juror's statement below.) This call is open to artists of all levels internationally.

By Hand will open at the Wilma and Terence Dennis Gallery at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, on February 8, 2027 and run through March 26, 2027.

PLEASE NOTE: non-framed and three dimensional work is now being allowed. Please see the IF YOUR WORK IS ACCEPTED section below.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

October 22, 2026 - Call for entry opens throough Cafe.
December 20, 2026 - Deadline for entry (11:59 p.m. Mountain Time) 
January 15, 2026 - Exhibiting artists announced and emails sent to all entrants
February 2, 2027 - Work due in Abilene, Texas 
February 8, 2027 - Exhibition opens at the Center for Contemporary Arts
March 26, 2027 - Exhibition closes

AWARDS

First Place = $400

Second Place = $250

Third Place = $150

Up to 5 Honorable Mentions may be awarded

The entry fee for current TPS Members is $30 for 5 images, plus $5 for each additional image. The Non-Member entry fee is $40 for 5 images, plus $5 for each additional image. You do not have to be a member of TPS to enter. However, if you enter the competition and join TPS or renew as a member at the same time, you can pay the reduced current TPS Member entry fee of $30.

You may enter up to 12 images.

TPS Member Benefits include member feature opportunities via our Members' Gallery, Member Spotlight, Blog, Members' News, Members' Instagram Takeover, social media accounts and E-Zine, discounted entry fees to most TPS competitions, access to special lectures and workshops, and discounts to programs and services offered through our partnerships.

If you are not sure of your TPS member status, please contact TPS at cpireland@texasphoto.org. All entry and membership fees are non-refundable.

By Hand: An Exhibition of Contemporary Alternative Process Photography is open to artists internationally, of all levels, who are at least 18 years old at time of entry. Works exhibited previously in a TPS show are not eligible. Current members of the TPS Board of Directors are permitted to enter but are not eligible for awards.

All photography-based work using alternative processes is encouraged, including but not limited to Albumen, Anthotype, Argyrotype, Athenatype, Bayard Direct Positive, Calotype, Carbon, Casein, Chrysotype, Cyanotype, Dusting-On Process, Gum Bichromate, Gumoil, Herschel’s Breath Printing, Inkjet Photopolymer Gravure, Ivorytype, Kallitype, Mordancage, Platinum/Palladium, POP, Solarplate Intaglio, Van Dyke Brown, Wet Plate Collodion, Whey Process, Ziatype and all photographic image-making techniques that incorporate traditional mediums such as printmaking, ceramics or painting.

ABOUT THE JUROR

Jill Enfield is a fine art photographer, author and educator who has accomplished international acclaim, in all three of these capacities, as a leading authority in Alternative Photographic Processes. In addition to expertise in current standard digital photo techniques for the last 10+ years, Enfield is also known for her instruction of hand coloring, wet plate collodion, and an array of other photo processes at Parsons The New School for Design, Fashion Institute of Photography, New York University, Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, and the International Center of Photography in New York City as well as RISD. For years Jill has also appeared annually for workshops around the world including Cairo, Croatia, Edinburgh, Italy, Lisbon, London, Norway, and dozens of other cities around the globe as well as many cities in North America, including Anderson Ranch, Maine Media Workshops, Palm Beach Photo Workshops, Penland School of Crafts, and Santa Fe Photographic Photo Workshops.

As for her own photographs, Enfield’s work is in the permanent collections of The Amon Carter Museum of Art, Bellagio Hotel, Bibliothque Nationale, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Canyon Ranch Spa and Resort, The Crocker Art Museum, The Florida Senate, Hilton Hotels, Marriott Hotels, Southeastern Banks, The Toledo Museum of Art, and Museo de Arte Moderno de Medillin, Bogota and Cartagena, in Colombia, where her work was shown during a three month exhibition that traveled throughout the country including her personal engagements for lectures and openings. As for exhibitions, Enfield has been the subject of dozens of solo exhibits over the years, in galleries and museums around the world. Her work is also included in hundreds of group exhibitions.

A partial list of Enfield’s commercial clients include American Baby, American Express, American Heritage Magazine, AT&T, Con-Ed, Disney, Discover Channel, Fortune Magazine, Guatemala Tourism, Hasselblad, Hershey Park, Kodak, LIFE Magazine, National Geographic, Nikon, Penguin Putnam, Inc., SC Johnson, St. Martin’s Press, The New York Times Magazine, Vassarette Lingerie, Woman’s Day Magazine and many others.

Jill’s personal work has appeared in such publications as American Photo, Archive Books, Camera Arts, Camera & Darkroom Techniques, Digital Camera, Hasselblad’s FORUM Magazine, Modern Photography, National Geographic, Nikon World, PDN, Photo Techniques, Popular Photography, Shutterbug, Step by Step and ZOOM.

Jill’s first book on non-silver techniques titled Photo Imaging: A Complete Guide to Alternative Processes was published by Watson-Guptill, Amphoto in November 2002 and won the Golden Light Award for Best Technical Book of 2003 through the Maine Photographic Workshop. Her second book, Jill Enfield’s Guide to Photographic Alternative Processes: Popular historical and Contemporary Techniques, was published by Focal Press in 2013, has already sold out and is currently being prepared for a third printing.

See more of her work here.