The New Orleans Photo Alliance is delighted to announce our second annual PhotoNOLA Photobook Prize, celebrating creativity and excellence in photobook publishing. This prize is an opportunity for artists to showcase their work to photography peers, industry professionals, and collectors during the annual PhotoNOLA Photobook Fair at Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Eligibility: Open to any artist who has published a photobook within the past 5 years (December 2021-December 2025). Self-published titles are welcomed and encouraged!
Special Consideration: The Louisiana Award of Excellence will be allocated to a Louisiana resident, ensuring continued support for our local artist community. Louisiana applicants will be considered for all three prizes.

PRIZES:

Grand Prize
$500
Silver membership to the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Opportunity to be included in the 2026 Photobook Prize table at the 2027 PhotoNOLA PhotoWALK and Photobook Fair

Award of Excellence
Silver membership to the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Opportunity to be included in the 2026 Photobook Prize table at the 2027 PhotoNOLA PhotoWALK and Photobook Fair

Louisiana Award of Excellence
Silver membership to the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Opportunity to be included in the 2026 Photobook Prize table at the 2027 PhotoNOLA PhotoWALK and Photobook Fair

DEADLINE: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH, 11:59PM

APPLY HERE

Music and photography have a long and vibrant relationship. The New Orleans Photo Alliance and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation invite submissions of your best photographs of these interconnected art forms – from stages to streets, from full orchestras to solo practice sessions. Photographers are encouraged to think broadly about form, format, process, and approach: as many ways that there are to arrange sounds into music, there are equally as many ways to make a photograph. In the spirit of Roy DeCarava’s “The Sound That I Saw,” this call for entry invites a wide and improvisational approach to making lens-based work about the sound and images that move us, in New Orleans and beyond.

Our Juror:

Bruce Sunpie Barnes is a veteran New Orleans musician, former Park Ranger with the National Park Service for 30 years, actor, photographer, book author, former high school biology teacher, former college football All-American, and former NFL player (Kansas City Chiefs). Sunpie Barnes’ many careers have taken him far and wide. He has traveled to over 50 countries playing his own style of what he calls Afro-Louisiana music incorporating Blues, Zydeco, Gospel, Caribbean and African influenced rhythms and melodies. He is a multi-instrumentalist, master accordion and harmonica player, also piano, rubboard, talking drum, and dejembe. He learned accordion from some of the best Zydeco pioneers in Louisiana including Fernest Arceneaux, John Delafose, and Clayton Sampy. Along with his musical group Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots, he has performed at festivals and concerts across the US and around the globe. Sunpie has recorded 6 critically acclaimed CDs with his compositions currently featured in 16 Hollywood film productions.

Submission Fee (for Members) : $25
Submission Fee (for Non-Members) : $35
Submission Fee + Basic NOPA Membership: $60
Submission Fee + Silver NOPA Membership (Includes online portfolio listing): $85

https://neworleansphotoalliance.org/membership/

Maximum pieces per entry is 5. Files must be in JPEG or JPG, under 5MB with a minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side so that photographs are large enough to be viewed properly by the juror and used in promotion if selected.

Seeing Sound will open in late November 2026 and remain on view through PhotoNOLA Fest/December. 

APPLY HERE

Our juror this year is, Bill Boling who on the website lists himself as just Publisher. Mr. Boling is the founder of the Atlanta publishing company Fall Line Press. 

William Boling resides and works in Milledgeville, Georgia. Boling’s projects such as 52, Never Gone, Southern Places of Arts and Letters, and You Ain’t Wrong have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Atlanta, New York, and internationally. He has exhibited in the New Museum in New York, the Window Gallery at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and for Atlanta Celebrates Photography’s 11th Annual Public Art Project Gifted. Boling’s work is held in many public and private collections. Bill studied photography under Stephen Shore during the early 2000s at Bard College. In addition to his art practice, he runs an independent photobook publishing company called Fall Line Press in Milledgeville.

CURRENTS is a showcase exhibition featuring up to 4 images per selected photographer, and is designed to give an overview of contemporary photographic practices and projects.

The exhibit will be open from December through January at Ogden Museum of Southern Art, for the PhotoNOLA festival.

CURRENTS is the annual PhotoNOLA Showcase exhibition at Ogden Museum of Southern Art which highlights 8-10 portfolios of diverse photographic work created by New Orleans Photo Alliance Members.

Our juror this year is, Brian Piper, Freeman Family Curator of Photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Brian Piper, PHD is the Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). At NOMA, his exhibition credits include Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers, Picture Man: Portraits by Polo Silk, Show & Tell: A Brief History of Photography and Text, and Nicholas Floc’h: Fleuves-Océan, Mississippi Watershed. His current research and writing interests include the history of African American picture magazines, self-portraiture, chemigrams, and the everyday lives of photographs. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

CURRENTS is a showcase exhibition featuring up to 4 images per selected photographer, and is designed to give an overview of contemporary photographic practices and projects.

The exhibit will be open from December until January at Ogden Museum of Southern Art, for the PhotoNOLA festival.

Call Description

Entry Deadline: 10/20/25
Jury Dates: 10/20/26 – 11/05/25
Event Dates: 12/12/25 – 2/1/26

Application Requirements

You must be an active member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance to enter. Before jurying process begins NOPA team will verify membership status.

Submission Fee (for Members) : $25 
Submission Fee + NOPA Membership: $60

Minimum pieces per entry is 4. Maximum pieces per entry is 10. Files must be in jpg format. Maximum file size 5 mb. Resize images to be 1800px on the SHORT dimension so that photographs are large enough to be viewed properly by the juror and used in promotion if selected.

CURRENTS will open on December 12th and remain on view through the end of February 1st, 2025.

Entry Deadline: 11/1/25

The Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography (MPS Fund) was created to honor the life and work of Michael P. Smith, one of New Orleans’ most legendary and beloved documentary photographers. The MPS Fund awards cash prizes and exhibition opportunities to Gulf Coast photographers whose work combines artistic excellence and a sustained commitment to a cultural documentary project.

Application Requirements

• A portfolio of 10 to 20 images. These images can originate in any format, but you must submit them digitally via the online application process
• Each image file must be in jpg format at 150 dpi and 1800 pixels on the short side.
• Name your files with your last name, then first name and a title (can be abbreviated).
• Use an underscore to separate the names and title.
• At the end of the file name, add sequence numbers starting with 01 – Example: Doe_Jane_The Farm_01.jpg, Doe_Jane_The Farm_02.jpg, Doe_Jane_The Farm_03.jpg 
• Add a short caption or descriptive information as well as the year that you created the image.
• Enter and upload each image file and its accompanying information one at a time. After you have uploaded all of the files, you will be able to review and rearrange the sequence of your portfolio.

A concise description of your work (2-4 sentences that could summarize your project), limited to 260 characters maximum , which the juror will see alongside your portfolio. The description of works not the project statement.

A written project statement of not more than 530 words, explaining your project’s scope and significance. Please include your plans on how you would use the grant. The best practice is to write your statement beforehand, and then copy and paste your text into the Statement box.

A biography or resume/CV of not more than 530 words, describing awards, publications and other career highlights.

All entry fees support the mission of the New Orleans Photo Alliance, a non-profit organization.

In 2013 PhotoNOLA established the Collectors Club series as a fundraising initiative with a mission to encourage collecting. Through this program we offer the public an opportunity to collect works by great contemporary photographers at an accessible price point. All proceeds support the programming initiatives of PhotoNOLA, a volunteer-run photography festival.

Each year we partner with a photographer to create a limited edition print. The editions of 100 (plus five artist proofs) are beautifully crafted archival pigment prints on 8×8” hot press, 100% cotton rag paper. Each print is signed and numbered by the artist.

Maude Schuyler Clay was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. After attending the University of Mississippi and the Memphis Academy of Arts, she assisted the photographer William Eggleston. She moved to New York City and worked at LIGHT Gallery and then as a photography editor and photographer for Esquire, Fortune, Vanity Fair, and other publications.

Maude Schuyler Clay started her color portrait series “Mississippi History” in 1975 when she came upon her first Rolleiflex 2¼ camera. At the time, she was living and working in New York and paid frequent visits to her native Mississippi Delta whose landscape and people continued to inspire her. Over the next twenty-five years, the project, which began as “The Mississippians,” evolved into an homage to Julia Margaret Cameron. A definitive pioneer of the art of photography, Cameron lived in Victorian England and began her photographic experiments in 1863, after receiving the gift of a camera. The expressive, allegorical portraits of her friends and family as well as Maude Schuyler Clay’s artful approach to capturing the essence of light are the driving forces behind Clay’s nostalgic recollection of carefree moments of family life and play in Mississippi in the 1980s and ’90s.

When Maude Schuyler Clay returned to live in the Mississippi Delta in 1987, she continued her color portrait work, for which she received the Mississippi Arts and Letters award for photography in 1988, and in 1992. In 1993, Maude Schuyler Clay began a series of black and white photographs of the Delta landscape. She received the Mississippi Art Commission’s Individual Artist Grant in 1998. The University Press of Mississippi published her widely recognized monograph DELTALAND in 1999, which received the Mississippi Arts and Letters Award in 2000. Maude Schuyler Clay was the Photography Editor of the literary magazine The Oxford American from 1998-2002.

Maude Schuyler Clay’s photography is in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The National Museum for Women in the Arts, among others. Maude Schuyler Clay continues to live in the Delta with her husband, photographer Langdon Clay, and three children.

Purchase your pass here

Timeline:

5:00 – Depart International House Hotel – 221 Camp St
5:20 – Arrive Julia Street Stop (Walk from 400A to 615 Julia)
Ferrara Showman – 400A Julia Street – Manifest: An f/504 Annual Exhibition
BOULIER Gallery – 618 Julia Street
GRYDER Gallery – 615 Julia Street – Intimate Fictions
6:10 – Leave from 615 Julia Street for Ashe Cultural Center
6:40 – Leave from 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd for New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery
7:30 – Leave from 7800 Oak Street, 70118 for the French Quarter
8:15 – Leave from 131 Decatur Street for Paper Machine
9:00 – Leave from 6330 Saint Claude Avenue, 70117 for Kolj Institute + Second Story + St. Roch Food Hall
9:50 – Leave from 2374 St. Claude Avenue for Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club 1931 St. Claude Avenue
11:15– Arrive International House Hotel, 221 Camp St., 70130

Visiting:
Julia Street Galleries:

Ferrara Showman – 400A Julia Street – Manifest: An f/504 Annual Exhibition – Featuring Jeremiah Brown, Patrick Davis, Eric Dominguez, Franck H. Godefroy, Frank Gelormini, Joshua Huval, Leon Ledet, Maya Miller, Joliet Morrill, Joseph Ryan, Tesla Wolf, and Chris Wickline.
BOULIER Gallery – 618 Julia Street – David Joshua Jennings & Brittany Lauback: The Colorful South
Gryder Gallery – 615 Julia Street – Intimate Fictions – featuring
photography by Alexis Martino, A. R. Havel, and Meg Turner

Uptown:

Ashe Cultural Center – 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. – Southern Hospitality: Community Spirit, curated by Pro$per Jones
New Orleans Photo Alliance – 7800 Oak Street, 70118 – Group Show: Abstract, Sur-real

FQ:

A Gallery for Fine Photography – 241 Chartres Street, 70130 – Josephine Sacabo: Invented Truth

Downtown:

Claire Elizabeth Gallery – 131 Decatur Street, 70130 – Ashleigh Coleman: The Keepers

Paper Machine – 6330 Saint Claude Avenue, 70117 – Chandra McCormick, Keith Calhoun & Polo Silk: Honoring and Remembering a Resilient Community
Kolaj Institute – 2374 St. Claude Avenue #230, 70117 – Camera & Collage Second Story Gallery in the New Orleans Healing Center – 2372 St. Claude Avenue, 70117 – Heather Weathers: Gravitas
Sweet Lorriaine’s Jazz Club -1931 St. Claude Avenue – L. Kasimu Harris: King and Blue: Vanishing Black Bars and Lounges

Saturday, December 14
11 am – 5 pm
Patrick F. Taylor Library at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Menu:
mushroom arancini / preserved lemon aioli
crab boil croquette / pineapple relish
housemade chorizo sliders / aioli / manchego / pickled veg
mushrooms a la plancha / bourbon smoked togarashi / soy cured egg yolk

Adam moved to New Orleans in 2017 after 7 years spent cooking in NYC and a life-changing 18 month stint cooking abroad including 6 months at Mina Restaurante in Bilbao, Spain. Started in 2020, Txow Txow (@txowtxowpintxos) aims to bring the world’s greatest bar snacks (pintxos!) to the world’s greatest bar city, New Orleans! They pride themselves on sourcing high quality ingredients from smaller producers across the Gulf South whenever possible, and showcasing the bounty of our region in a way that’s fun, approachable, and of course delicious. Txow Txow draws on Chef Adam’s diverse experience across Mediterranean cultures and fold in the flair and flavor of the Crescent City to create a cuisine that’s uniquely their own.

Submission Guidelines:

Eligibility: Open to any artist who has published a photobook within the past 5 years (December 2020-December 2025). Self-published titles are welcomed and encouraged!
Special Consideration: The Louisiana Award of Excellence will be allocated to a Louisiana resident, ensuring continued support for our local artist community. Louisiana applicants will be considered for all three prizes.

Prizes:

Grand Prize
$500
Silver membership to the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Commemorative trophy
A projected exhibition of selected photographs from the winning book during the PhotoNOLA Photobook Fair reception on Saturday, December 14, 2024.
Opportunity to be included in the 2025 Photobook Prize table at the 2026 PhotoNOLA PhotoWALK and Photobook Fair

Award of Excellence
Silver membership to the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Commemorative trophy
A projected exhibition of selected photographs from the winning book during the PhotoNOLA Photobook Fair reception on Saturday, December 13, 2025.
Opportunity to be included in the 2025 Photobook Prize table at the 2026 PhotoNOLA PhotoWALK and Photobook Fair

Louisiana Award of Excellence
Silver membership to the New Orleans Photo Alliance
Commemorative trophy
A projected exhibition of selected photographs from the winning book during the PhotoNOLAPhotobook Fair reception on Saturday, December 14, 2024.
Opportunity to be included in the 2025 Photobook Prize table at the 2026 PhotoNOLA PhotoWALK and Photobook Fair

Apply Below:

Deadline: Sunday, November 17, 2025, 11:59pm CST

Is it possible for a portrait to be abstract? What defines a portrait: the clarity of every detail captured in a photograph or can abstraction obscure recognizable features? What about the surreal, the real, and the interplay with three-dimensional space? This exhibition seeks to explore the multifaceted nature of portraiture through lenses of abstraction, surrealism, realism, and spatial depth.

Spanning the evolution of photography, from abstract portraiture to surrealism and realism, this exhibition will juxtapose diverse works, engaging in a dialogue with work by Franck Godefroy and Joliet Morrill. While traditional photographs will adorn the walls, our focus extends beyond the confines of two-dimensional prints. We seek photographs that transcend boundaries, incorporating mixed media. Feel free to interpret this how you please. Mixed media prints are not required.

This call invites submissions from across the spectrum. We welcome striking portraits brimming with emotion, enigmatic photographs that challenge viewers to discern their subjects, and portraits that push the boundaries of human form, embracing surreal elements.

Join us in redefining the essence of portraiture and exploring the endless possibilities of visual storytelling.

Application and Fee
NOPA Member Submission Fee: $20
Non-member Submission Fee: $30