WPS 2023 Annual Exhibition Terms and Conditions
WPS 2023 Annual Exhibition Terms and Conditions
Please see Annual Exhibition 2023 Overview and Introduction for a summary of the exhibition and key dates.
Updated 21 January 2023
Please click on each tab and read all sections carefully
A. Preparing and submitting
Entrants must be fully paid-up members of Winchester Photographic Society and will be expected to support the operation of the exhibition by volunteering in some capacity.
The exhibition will be held in the upstairs area at the Arc, Winchester, operated by Hampshire Cultural Trust which provides staffing and technical support.
The cost of entry is £2.00 per entry, paid by bank transfer to
- Account name: Winchester Photographic Society
- Sort code: 09-01-29
- Account no: 65215261
- Reference: WEX yourname
Please make a single payment when you know how many entries you have submitted.
Please note the cost is per entry, whether accepted or not.
Entrants may submit a maximum of 12 entries, made up of no more than 4 entries per class.
An entry in the Set of Three images counts as one entry.
No image shall be eligible for more than one class.
Entrants must own the copyright of all elements of each image and may be asked to provide suitable evidence – failure to do so may result in an image being excluded.
By entering an image, the photographer gives permission for the organisers to reproduce their image, without fee, for publication and/or display in any media in connection with the exhibition, for example in the catalogue, on the Society’s website or for publicity in subsequent years’ exhibitions.
Copyright of the entered images remains with the photographer.
He/she must accept that his/her work could be downloaded from the organisers’ website; the organisers will do their best to protect the copyright of the image when viewed on the website by disabling the download option and reducing the image size.
No image may have been accepted in a previous Winchester Photographic Society Print Exhibition.
All images must conform to the General Rules for WPS Competitions and the supplementary class rules defined below.
Images must be entered in the appropriate class where one exists and may only be entered in the “Free Subject” class where no other class is appropriate.
The exhibition coordinator reserves the right to exclude images which do not conform to these rules.
Classes D, F, G, H and K are defined as Documentary Classes where the image is derived from a single subject.
Adjustment of hues and tonal values, removal of minor blemishes, and mergers of multiple images of the subject (HDR, panorama merge, focus stacking) are permitted, but composite images derived from multiple subjects are not permitted.
Class I, Monochrome, is NOT a “documentary” class and as such may be edited in any way the author sees fit.
For the avoidance of doubt, image stacking for astro photography is permitted in any class (primarily K – scapes)
Class A Beginners – An image on any subject by a member currently in the WPS Beginners class.
Class B – Set of Three – a set of three images on a theme or otherwise related. Entrants will be asked to provide an additional PDI showing all three images together, for judging purposes.
Class C Free Subject – An image on any subject not appropriate for other classes.
Class D Hampshire – An image which celebrates the life, culture or environment of Hampshire. Subjects may include places, events and activities; images must be captured in Hampshire and may be indoors or outdoors, but not in a studio or your home.
Class E Human Portrait – An image of a person, indoors or outdoors, which should form the major subject of the frame. Lighting, studio equipment, and retouching are permitted.
Class F Nature – Based on the FIAP 2022 Nature Definition with minor amendments – see separate tab.
Class G Street/Urban – An image captured within an urban public space. Subjects may include architecture, open spaces, people, and other urban artefacts but should express the feeling of urban life.
Class H Action – Not used in 2023 An image which captures the feeling and notion of movement. Subjects may include sporting events and human activities which have an emphasis on movement.
Class I Monochrome – An image produced using a paper base and one other colour.
Class J Creative – An image produced through the use of imaginative skill or originality of thought, which is not required to represent reality. This includes abstract, multiple exposure and multiple composite images but all elements of the image must originate from an image capture device (camera, scanner, etc).
Class K Scapes – An image of a natural or human altered landscape or seascape which includes middle ground and distance. Subjects may include people and buildings but these should form a subsidiary part of the overall image. City scapes should be entered in Class G.
Themed Class – “Sin” – See guidance in separate tab
Class F Nature
Nature photography includes all aspects of the physical world, both animate and inanimate, that have not been made or modified by humans.
Nature images must convey the truth of the scene that was photographed. A well informed person should be able to identify the subject of the image and be satisfied that it has been presented honestly and that no unethical practices have been used to control the subject or capture the image.
The most important part of a Nature image is the nature story it tells.
- High technical standards are expected, and the image must look natural. Adding a vignette or blurring the background during processing is not allowed, where this distorts the image to make it look un-natural
- Photographs of hybrid plants, feral or domesticated animals – including pets – are allowed in our Annual Print Exhibition
- Images taken with subjects under controlled conditions, such as zoos, are allowed.
- Controlling live subjects by chilling, anaesthetic or any other method of restricting natural movement for the purpose of a photograph is not allowed.
- No modification that changes the truth of a Nature image is allowed.
- Images may be cropped but no other technique that removes, adds or moves any part of the image is allowed.
- Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise and lens flare are allowed.
- Complete conversion of colour images to greyscale monochrome is allowed.
- Partial conversion, toning and infrared captures or conversions are not allowed.
- Images of the same subject that are combined in camera or with software by focus stacking or exposure blending are allowed. Multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively and combined in camera or with software (image stitching) are allowed
The above definition supersedes the description in the WPS 2022-23 Handbook.
The above definition is based on the FIAP/PSA 2022 Nature Definition announced in FIAP News No. 16, November 2021 ( https://www.fiap.net/upload/files/1636546673-8c1e5.pdf ) with the following changes:
- We do not automatically exclude images that directly or indirectly show any human activity that threatens the life or welfare of a living organism.
- We do not restrict the inclusion of objects created by humans, and evidence of human activity.
- We do allow photographs of hybrid plants, feral or domesticated animals – including pets
Running concurrently with our Annual Members’ Print Exhibition will be a travelling Exhibition from the National Gallery on the subject of “Sin”, on show in The Gallery at the Arc.
From https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/across-the-uk/sin
Sin has permeated life since the earliest days, but until now the story of its relation to art has never been told. Bringing together works of art that span centuries, this exhibition explores the concept of sin in art in a truly unique presentation.
You can book tickets for the touring exhibition here: www.hampshireculture.org.uk/event/sin-0
WPS members are invited to submit their own interpretations on any aspect of “Sin”, bearing in mind that their work will be on display in a public area open to all ages.
The nature of the exhibition space, potentially visible to all including children, means that HCT has some sensitivities about what is displayed in all classes and this is particularly relevant for “Sin”. This means that some restrictions will apply around nudity, sexual or violent activity, and language.
If you have doubts about the suitability of your image then please check with the Exhibition Organiser (Gavin Bowyer) before submitting it.
All entries must be submitted digitally using the Photo Entry system that we now use for club competitions.
The Annual Exhibition 2023 appears as a Competition Group in PhotoEntry. Each of the eleven classes appears as a separate competition within that group.
You may enter up to 4 images in any single class, and no more than 12 images overall (an entry in the Set of Three counts as one image).
Normal WPS PDI rules apply: – image jpg max width 1920px, max height 1200px. If accepted, see Mounting, tab 9 below, for details of the printed image.
Submission dates: Saturday 21 January to 23:59 Saturday 18 February
Please ensure you make payment to the WPS Treasurer (see Cost of Entry tab)
B. Judging and exhibiting
As in previous years, we will have three highly experienced judges who are always very welcome here.
All entries not excluded by the Exhibition Coordinator and committee representative will be shown digitally to the three judges who will jointly select the winner in each class.
They may also award Certificates of Merit at their discretion. The judges have the right to withhold any award in any Class and their decision is final.
Authors of accepted entries will be requested to submit mounted prints for exhibition.
Prints must be mounted on board measuring 40 cm x 50 cm, not exceeding 4mm in overall thickness and clearly marked on the back with the author’s name and contact details, the title of the image and the class.
The Exhibition Coordinator reserves the right to exclude any print which does not conform to these specifications or is mounted in such a way that it may cause damage to another print.
Prints which are accepted into the exhibition will be framed for hanging by the organisers.
The frames used are unglazed lightweight aluminium, made to take 40 cm x 50 cm mounts with a leeway of a few mm either way.
The mounts are held in place with clips that will not damage the mount board.
Some prints will be held in a browser rack, at the discretion of the exhibition curators.
All prints accepted into the exhibition will be offered for sale unless specifically marked NFS (not for sale) on the back.
The purchaser can expect a print, mounted, which matches that on display in the Exhibition. There is no need for it to be that actual print, as an author is entitled to sell as many copies as they wish.
We do not provide framed prints, just mounted in 40×50 mount board.
Entrants are invited to set a selling price for each of their entries and record this on the back too.
The default position is that each print is offered for sale at £65. HCT deducts 30% + VAT so this yields £41.60 for the author. Please indicate if you wish your work to be “NFS” (Not For Sale)
HCT will not be selling postcards for us this year.
Entrants will be notified of their results as soon as possible after the judging day on 25 February.
Details of award winners and of all accepted images will be published on the Society’s website.
The results will be shown as a table and as an image gallery for each class.
We don’t know whether there will be enough hanging space to display all the accepted images in the Discovery Centre. But we will be able to show all the accepted images in the online gallery.
Winning entries may also be published in the local press unless requested otherwise by the author to the Exhibition Organiser.
The Catalogue listing all accepted entries, with reproductions of the trophy and certificate winning images and a selection of the accepted images, will be available to view online, as will a gallery of all the accepted images.
Each entrant of an accepted image will receive a copy of the printed catalogue.
Every care will be taken of prints but no responsibility can be taken for damage or loss.
The submission of entries shall be taken as acceptance of these Conditions of Entry.
C. See also
See also
Annual Exhibition 2023 Overview and Introduction
FIAP News No.16 November 2021 – see pp6-7 for new Nature definition
