BPX 51, sign up.

Dear photographers,

I have the feeling BPX need a break. In the last rounds, we were not more than 10 people, often less.

I drive this round 51 and then BPX gets a break. If someone wishes organizing the following round, please feel free to do so. I give you all the support I am able to.
~

This is the announcement for the next round of blind print exchange (BPX). We have the 51th round now.

If you are new to BPX: Please read the sticky FAQ before you subscribe. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to mail(PM) me.
Signing up: PM me your full real name and your complete mailing address, including the country. Please use the subject: BPX51 signup. I still have the addresses from the last round: If you gave an address last round, you may subscribe simply by answering here.
We're on a three-month cycle. That means:
Signup: September 2025
Print and Send: October and November 2025
If you run late, we don't care, no need for apologies. Just let me know.
Please remember, if you have not fulfilled your obligations for one of the previous BPX exchanges, try to do so before signing up.

~

Starting in 2021 we had problems with small parcels to destinations outside US. It may be that import duty/tax is added on gifts. So I recommend sending only letters or Large Envelopes (Flats) to destinations outside US.

I tried to understand what USPS bills. It seems that the maximum for a normal letter, 11-1/2 inches x 6-1/8 inches x 1/4 inch thick. In "continental" measures: 29 cm x 15.5 cm x 0.6 cm. You may send a decent photograph with that.

Besides this, there are Large Envelopes (Flats), which may have 15 inches x 12 inches x 3/4 of an inch. That means 38 cm x 30 cm x 1.9 cm. Quite large.

USPS says: Pieces that are rigid, nonrectangular, or not uniformly thick pay package prices. That means you must not use heavy cardboard for protecting the prints, and the prints must not be mounted. I recommend using the thin cardboard from ordinary folders (loose leave binders). They are flexible as USPS requires for letters.


For short: I recommend sending letter and use a print size what fits.

I found my information mostly here: https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c341 .

~
If you got a sending, please write something in d the status and updates thread. I open this thread if the print and send time starts. It would be nice if you show us what you received. A simple smartphone shot is ok, you don't need a scanner.

How to avoid taxes / VAT:

If a sending goes outside U.S. (or more correct: outside your country) it should be a letter, as said before. And not a parcel or similar.

Everything you simply put in the letterbox should be a letter. Anything you give at the office may induce taxes. Everything with a custom declaration will induce taxes.

Please keep in mind what "counts" as a letter in your country. In the U.S. it needs to be flexible. In Germany, it may be stiff.

Sign me up, Uwe, please.

I join as usual.

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman

I'm in, thanks Uwe.

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman
04 mfohl

I'll go again, thanks Uwe.

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman
04 mfohl
05 gbroadbridge

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman
04 mfohl
05 gbroadbridge
06 Flying Camera Studio

piu58 said:

I have the feeling BPX need a break. In the last rounds, we were not more than 10 people, often less.

I drive this round 51 and then BPX gets a break. If someone wishes organizing the following round, please feel free to do so.

Click to expand...

I don't know why so few people sign up for this exchange. Maybe they're put off by the name? The postcard exchange has grown to a decent size - but not enormous.

I know it's a bit like a handful of us sitting around a room staring at each other month after month. But some new people wander in every now and then. Maybe we should put it back to every 4 months.

I try to encourage people to sign up, but I can't say I've had much success.

I participate in several print exchanges and this is the one with the least people involved by far. Funny because Photrio is the largest community of all. Just to give an order of magnitude, Reddit Print Exchange has about 200 participants.

Perhaps having the Postcard and the Print Exchange is too much and they should merge in a single open print exchange of whatever size.

I enjoy a lot the print exchange, they had also improved my skills in the darkroom and as a photographer trying to deliver something I would like to share. I can't encourage enough to everybody to join.

halfaman said:

I participate in several print exchanges and this is the one with the least people involved by far. Funny because Photrio is the largest community of all. Just to give an order of magnitude, Reddit Print Exchange has about 200 participants.

Perhaps having the Postcard and the Print Exchange is too much and they should merge in a single open print exchange of whatever size.

I enjoy a lot the print exchange, they had also improved my skills in the darkroom and as a photographer trying to deliver something I would like to share. I can't encourage enough to everybody to join.

Click to expand...

The reddit print exchange I'm aware of allows any type of print including digital captures and prints so it's comparing apples and oranges.

When I asked why so few members join these exchanges, I came to the conclusion that most people here (1) don't make prints and (2) aren't interested in anyone else's photos. Even with the postcard exchange opened up to any kind of print whatsoever, the number of participants has not really blown up.

And the first posting of the Reddit print exchange on this site stirred quite a bit of interest. The current round, however, has been sitting there for 11 days with no comments. There's just not that much enthusiasm here for exchanges, however large this community is.

gbroadbridge said:

The reddit print exchange I'm aware of allows any type of print including digital captures and prints so it's comparing apples and oranges.

Click to expand...

True. We are 5 joined in this exchange so far. I must be comparing apples and dinosaurs looking at the difference of people interested.

Please count me in for the "last" BPX.

halfaman said:

I participate in several print exchanges and this is the one with the least people involved by far. Funny because Photrio is the largest community of all.

Click to expand...

Don_ih said:

When I asked why so few members join these exchanges, I came to the conclusion that most people here (1) don't make prints

Click to expand...

Mostly interested in gear (interesting stuff). And chemistry (interesting stuff). And the exquisite details of sensitometry (f/8 and be there is about it for me). And just plain arguing.
Characteristically, there are several members that either gloat about their printing skills, or start a thread "show your XXX pictures" without ever showing a single of their own pictures, whether darkroom or digital.

Don_ih said:

But some new people wander in every now and then.

Click to expand...

But sometimes do not fulfill their duties (setting aside any subjective quality evaluation), either acknowledging receipt, sending in due time, or sending anything at all.

This said, warm thanks to Uwe who has kept the BPX going for more than 8 years.

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman
04 mfohl
05 gbroadbridge
06 Flying Camera Studio
07 bernard_L

BTW: Here in Germany we have a analog forum, aphog. I started a postcard exchange there, similar to ours here: One card per round, but from own lab. We started with 30 photographers, and now, after 15 rounds = around 3 years, we are only 16.

+ 08 st1 please

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman
04 mfohl
05 gbroadbridge
06 Flying Camera Studio
07 bernard_L
08 st1

Photrio does not seem (to me) to be a large community of active printers, photographers, whatever. It might have a lot of members but my impression is that it's basically two moderators posting all day plus a small handful of other regular thread participants. It appears to have changed a lot versus what I remember from say 10-15 years ago when (for example) the gallery here was very active with people who were into printing. However I have no idea if this kind of print exchange existed back then and/or if the participation rate(s) were any better. People are busy, and I think I agree with the comment above regarding people generally not being all that interested in the random work of others.

halfaman said:

I participate in several print exchanges and this is the one with the least people involved by far. Funny because Photrio is the largest community of all. Just to give an order of magnitude, Reddit Print Exchange has about 200 participants.

Click to expand...

Milpool said:

a small handful of other regular thread participants

Click to expand...

That's true, since you tend to almost always recognize the names of those who comment. But I think there are more print-makers here than you'd suspect. I imagine most of them don't participate in many threads. As a ready example, look at the join date and the number of messages posted by those who have joined up for this exchange. Everyone other than me has relatively few comments per year of membership.

And people are busy. Or at least they think they might be too busy to make a print and mail it.

I'm lucky enough to be a member of a Darkroom Group that also participates from time to time in both group shows and competitions, so I get a reasonable chance to see other prints and engage with the photographer's who made them.
I do find though that the increase in costs over the last several years does serve to be a real disincentive against exchange participation.
And as for general participation here on Photrio, it is pretty diffuse. I'd hazard a guess that statistically and arithmetically most posts don't concern darkroom printing or subjects directly relevant to it.
Photography is a big tent.

Uwe, if that is okay to sign up for a new round before my BPX 50 arrived, I'd love to be counted in again.

I'll be number 10. Uwe, please add me to the list.

Dear bedrof (and all others), it counts that you sent your photographs, not that they arrive. I add you to the list.

01 piu58
02 Don_ih
03 halfaman
04 mfohl
05 gbroadbridge
06 Flying Camera Studio
07 bernard_L
08 st1
09 bedrof
10 spijker