Why you should be participating in Photrio print exchanges

Alan Edward Klein said:

Can someone direct to a thread that explains how to enter a plain photo exchange?

Click to expand...

Depends on what you want and what's currently active. At this point, I think the follow activities are fairly active/current:
* Postcard exchange; instructions of the most recent round are here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/postcard-exchange-round-60-sign-up.201488/unread But please note that you'll have to wait for round 61, which isn't open yet. Keep an eye on the Postcard Exchange subforum here and sign up if #61 is announced: https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/postcard-exchange.41/ The Postcard Exchange is one that very explicitly is open to digital prints as well.
* Alt. Print Axchange. While this can be done without a darkroom, the prints do need to be non-digital ones, so that one's out. Sub-forum here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/alt-print-exchange.42/
* Blind Print Exchange. You'd have to check the posts in the relevant sub-forum (https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/blind-print-exchange.44/), but I think digital prints are excluded.

So the postcard exchange is the logical place to start.
Alternatively, you could set up an exchange of your own, but I'd suggest starting with the postcard exchange first to get a feeling for how the practicalities of an exchange work, and then maybe set up something new if you feel it would add something to the party.

Alan Edward Klein said:

Can someone direct to a thread that explains how to enter a plain photo exchange? I plan to only print digitally from a scanned film shot.

Click to expand...

You would have to make such an exchange yourself. The Blind Print Exchange is for analog-only at present (and probably won't change) - although an alt print using a digital negative would probably be fine.

I am sure if you made an exchange where you could make a digital print from a scanned film shot, people would join. I think you should consider allowing digital prints from digital shots, also, though. But you would get to make the rules.

I assume you don't mean the postcard exchange when you say "plain photo".

koraks said:

Alternatively, you could set up an exchange of your own, but I'd suggest starting with the postcard exchange first to get a feeling for how the practicalities of an exchange work, and then maybe set up something new if you feel it would add something to the party.

Click to expand...

FWIW, I just set up this year's two alt print exchanges cold, without having participated in other exchanges. It's really simple. Post a notice, see who responds, collect and circulate addresses by DM. Some exchanges have deadlines and rules. I think deadlines have the perverse effect of causing procrastination -- if there's a deadline, human nature works to it. So no deadlines in my alt exchanges.

@Alan Edward Klein, if you are aiming to exchange digital prints on a site that traditionally has skewed analog, you might want to come up with some sort of hook to induce people to participate. I can imagine that there are lots of people here who might want, for example, to join a street photography print exchange. Or even an exchange related to the Monthly Shooting Assignment.

Ultimately, the only thing stopping you is inertia. If you want to discuss my experiences managing the alt print exchange, I am happy to share.

I would personally seriously consider participating in a digital print exchange (digital-only or digital-inclusive). Speaking for myself, I'd prefer smallish prints; 5x7-ish. They are generally easier to mail around IMO.

There may also be some interest in more regional exchanges, which would enable people to potentially send more prints to more people due to cheaper postage. Sending a postcard to Europe from here in Canada, for instance, is quite expensive. As in send a postcard == buy a beer. The price of postage really racks up over a year - and it would be massively less if nothing left the country.

Of course, that really restricts interest and participation.

But once again, that's just something that someone would have to set up and manage.

If anyone would like some help setting up an exchange - or any other member organized function - I'm sure there are lots of us who either have set them up or participated regularly who would be more than happy to help - I certainly would.
Now I need to go do some work on helping organize our Darkroom Group's Christmas lunch - time's a ticking!

@Alan Edward Klein I'm not aware of any exchange currently on the analog side of Photrio that accepts inkjet prints from digital files, except for the postcard exchange - and even then the original photo needs to be taken on film. There are already pretty clear instructions posted about the postcard exchange (PCX) as it's by far the most active exchange around here.

At the risk of looking like I'm self-promoting too much, I do run a print exchange about twice a year over on Reddit at r/printexchange, where basically anything goes - digital, analog, polaroid, whatever. You're welcome to join us there, although, sign ups for the currently running round are closed, so there's probably not going to be another round until spring 2024.

Don_ih said:

There may also be some interest in more regional exchanges

Click to expand...

Only speaking for me, personally, this would take much of the interest out. I enjoy the present exchanges specifically because they're transatlantic. The cost factor is a nuisance, although cost-wise, for us here in NL, it doesn't matter if we send a card to Spain or to Canada; it's the same rate. So that's another reason I personally wouldn't be all for a more regional exchange. I can see the logic of US/Canada exchanges from this perspective, of course.

BHuij said:

At the risk of looking like I'm self-promoting too much, I do run a print exchange about twice a year over on Reddit at r/printexchange, where basically anything goes - digital, analog, polaroid, whatever. You're welcome to join us there, although, sign ups for the currently running round are closed, so there's probably not going to be another round until spring 2024.

Click to expand...

Have you considered linking up these exchanges? If you're the organizer, you could choose to welcome participants from either Photrio or Reddit and then integrate them into one system. I'd be all for it.

koraks said:

Have you considered linking up these exchanges? If you're the organizer, you could choose to welcome participants from either Photrio or Reddit and then integrate them into one system. I'd be all for it.

Click to expand...

I did something like this with the first alt print exchange — I invited a couple of non-Photrio members in and they were great additions.

@Rolleiflexible exactly, that was the inspiration for suggesting it!

Yeah, the only tricky part about opening it up to different sources is that I've branded it as the "Reddit Print Exchange" and generally run everything off of Reddit usernames as the unique identifier, so that I don't have to make anyone's email addresses public.

That said, this most recent time around, I added an opt-in question to the sign-up form that asked "can I share your email address if someone is having trouble contacting you on Reddit?" and like 99% of participants said yes. So I think next round I run, I'll probably post here with the link as well and just allow people to sign up using either a Reddit username or a Photrio username.

BHuij said:

@Alan Edward Klein I'm not aware of any exchange currently on the analog side of Photrio that accepts inkjet prints from digital files, except for the postcard exchange - and even then the original photo needs to be taken on film. There are already pretty clear instructions posted about the postcard exchange (PCX) as it's by far the most active exchange around here.

At the risk of looking like I'm self-promoting too much, I do run a print exchange about twice a year over on Reddit at r/printexchange, where basically anything goes - digital, analog, polaroid, whatever. You're welcome to join us there, although, sign ups for the currently running round are closed, so there's probably not going to be another round until spring 2024.

Click to expand...

Just to be clear. I would be scanning film and printing out as an inkjet. No alt processes. Are there any exchanges currently underway that allow this? Link? IF anyone is starting one in the future, please let me know if you remember. Thanks.

BHuij said:

Yeah, the only tricky part about opening it up to different sources is that I've branded it as the "Reddit Print Exchange" and generally run everything off of Reddit usernames as the unique identifier, so that I don't have to make anyone's email addresses public.

That said, this most recent time around, I added an opt-in question to the sign-up form that asked "can I share your email address if someone is having trouble contacting you on Reddit?" and like 99% of participants said yes. So I think next round I run, I'll probably post here with the link as well and just allow people to sign up using either a Reddit username or a Photrio username.

Click to expand...

The email addresses are actually not even that essential. We never get those for the postcard exchange, either. A mailing address suffices. Of course, you'd still have to ask the people on both platforms if they're OK having their address provided to someone off-site. I can imagine that in case of privacy concerns, it may help some if it's only being done on a username basis.

Alan Edward Klein said:

Are there any exchanges currently underway that allow this? Link?

Click to expand...

The postcard exchange is the only one that fits the bill, currently: https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/postcard-exchange.41/

There is an enjoyment that comes from sending your prints out, waiting for the prints the others are sending you, receiving and viewing the sent prints. If you would get satisfaction from that type of interaction, then print exchanges are for you. I have done that with pinhole photographs and I received some worthy and beautiful prints.