Alt: A Photo Opp Gallery

Description

We are excited to announce this year’s gallery and fundraiser taking place this October! 
At Photo Opp, we celebrate photography as a medium without limits. ALT explores what happens when artists step outside the expected and redefine what a photograph can be.
This exhibition embraces alternative creations in every sense; from cyanotypes and salt prints to film soup, unconventional printing surfaces, digital manipulation, sculptural photography, emulsion lifting, collage, and beyond. If it challenges convention, questions process, or expands the definition of photography, it belongs here.
“Alternative” isn’t just about technique,  it’s about mindset. It’s about curiosity over perfection. Process over predictability. Risk over routine.
ALT may reference photography’s earliest methods; others may push the medium into entirely new territory. What unites them is a willingness to experiment; to blur boundaries between analog and digital, object and image, photograph and artifact.
This exhibition invites viewers to reconsider the photograph not just as a captured moment, but as a constructed, transformed, and reimagined experience.
Anyone can enter up to three pieces, and there is no submission fee.

Deadline for submissions: August 10, 2026 at 11:59 pm CST

Important Dates
July 3, 2026: Gallery submissions open
August 10, 2026: Submissions deadline at 11:59 pm CST
August 10-21, 2026: Online jury process
August 24, 2026: Artists are notified
September 1, 2026: Tickets go on sale
September 1, 2026: Deadline for artist to submit images for zine and promotion
October 16, 2026: Opening reception and awards announcement 5-9pm

Application Requirements
WORKS PER ENTRY
Up to 3 works may be submitted per application. One application per artist. 

Submission Terms and Conditions
Artists must be Wisconsin residents to submit a piece, but the submitted work can be created anywhere, anytime.Artwork must be owned by the artist who is submitting it to the 2026 Photo Opp Juried Show.All rights of the submissions will remain with the photographer. Artists will manage sales of their own works. Photo Opp does not take any commission from sales.Submissions must not contain obscenity, explicit sexual material, profanity, graphic violence, calls or incitement to violence, commercial solicitation or commercial promotion. Submissions must not contain watermarks and/or artist's name or any personally identifying markers.Submissions must conform to local law and must not contain content or images that could be considered abusive, inflammatory, denigrating, or disrespectful to any of the Photo Opp or to any groups, individuals or institutions. Submissions must adhere in appearance and in fact to the norms of civil discourse. In other words, all submissions must be suitable for a global, public audience.You allow Photo Opp to use your submissions for promoting the current and future Juried Shows and for Contest Sponsor marketing and social media uses. You allow your image to be printed in a 'zine of the gallery that will be for sale as a fundraiser for Photo Opp. You provide the right to Photo Opp to replicate your submissions for these uses.If your submission is admitted to the Gallery show at 621 N Bateman St, Appleton,WI, you agree to not hold Photo Opp accountable for any damage or theft to your submission and you will hold insurance for its value if you deem that it is necessary.

Artwork Terms and Conditions
No artificially (AI) generated images are allowed. Any use of these tools will automatically disqualify the submission from the 2026 Photo Opp Juried show.The use of smart tools, or AI powered enhancement tools is possible as long as the use of these tools do not lead to significant changes to the photo as a whole, introduce new information to the image, nor remove more than 10% of the image that was captured by the camera.Some examples of tools where limited usage would be allowed are adjustments that have existed in Photoshop and like programs before the widespread introduction of AI, such as denoise, automatic adjustments (e.g. on level, color, contrast) and object selection for local adjustments.Tools that immediately breach the 2026 Photo Opp Juried Show rules and are not allowed as are all AI powered tools that would use AI for replacing areas, significantly altering components, etc. that would render the photo incongruent to the original photo.Composite images are allowed, providing that all the content is from your own photographs.If the jurors have any questions regarding your submission, Photo Opp reserves the right to request a copy of the original photograph prior to post-processing to be used for comparison

User Entry Process Tutorial