1. All images must be photographed within a five-mile radius of your home. Your home is deemed to be the address to which your RPS Journal is posted.  

2. All images must be photographed during 2023 and must be submitted by midnight on 31st January 2024.

The principal outputs from Postcards will be:

• A printed book featuring all eligible postcards that are submitted by registered participants. A copy of the book will be provided to each registered participant.
• A web gallery on the RPS website featuring all eligible postcards.

3. A submission must comprise four postcards. 

• Three postcard fronts each featuring between TWO and FIVE photographs PLUS 
• One postcard reverse side featuring a project title, a statement of intent (see no 7, below) and your name as you wish it to appear in any accreditation of your work (include any distinctions if you wish).

4. The four postcards will be distributed across two facing pages in the project book.

• The left-hand page will include the reverse side with statement of intent and one picture postcard. Both must be in horizontal format.
• The right-hand page will include the other two picture postcards. Both must be EITHER in horizontal OR vertical format. For an illustration of how the book will be laid out, see here

Each finished postcard must be submitted as follows:

      14 X 9 aspect ratio (either horizontal or vertical)

      1654px x 1063px @ 300PPI

      Jpeg (at maximum quality)

      sRGB colour space

5. Each postcard front must feature between two and five separate photographs.  

6. Brief text may be added to the fronts your postcards to locate or explain the subject as in these examples; one, two, three, four, and final example five.

7. In addition, each entrant must write a brief statement of intent (max. 100 words) explaining their project and why they chose the subject(s). The text must feature on the reverse side of the postcard which should resemble the reverse side of a typical picture postcard, with a vertical line through the centre with your statement on the left and your name on the right, and the words POST CARD at the top.

8. Images must feature landscapes that conform to the definition adopted by the RPS Landscape Group i.e.

“Landscape” photography is defined as the photographic portrayal of all elements of the land, sea and sky whether natural or built or influenced by human endeavour.  Examples include mountains, hills, farmland, coasts, bodies of water, forests and populated and industrial areas. Images may be created using traditional or other techniques (including but not limited to infrared, multiple exposures, intentional camera movement, abstraction, minimalism and post-processing).

9. Images may be taken with traditional or creative techniques but the location(s) should be, at least to some extent, recognisable.

10. Images may be processed to a particular style if you wish (e.g. retro, contemporary, pop-art etc).  If you choose a particular style, there should be a rationale for this that relates to the content or theme of your postcards.  Avoid style over substance!

11. All images and postcards from a single photographer should be photographed, processed and presented in a similar style so as to create a cohesive body of work.

12. Most of us like to look at other photographers’ images and a QR code could be included in the stamp area of your “Statement of intent” postcard to link to your work.

QR codes should link to any of the following:

• the homepage of your website
• a gallery page on your website featuring work of relevance to your postcards entry
• your Instagram, Flickr, Facebook, 500px or similar feed

Please note: QR codes will not be published if they link to overtly commercial pages or websites. The Landscape Group's chair and vice-chair, together with the Postcards project manager will be the final arbiters.

13. When you have your postcards ready, please send them to Sue Clark at sjc.postcards@gmail.com using the large file transfer service, www.wetransfer.com.  If you need help on how to use wetransfer, watch this video https://youtu.be/mqTXdGcFC0k

Why is the number of participants limited to 100?

Because, with each participant being allocated two pages in the book, the book will become unwieldy and unduly expensive to produce with more participants.

Why is there a registration fee?

To cover the cost of producing the project book, and posting a copy to each participant.  The fee has been calculated on a break-even basis.

Why must photographs be taken during 2023?

1. Because the purpose of the project is to assist participants in the development of their photographic skills by having to think carefully about choice of locations, viewpoints, time of day or year, desirable weather or lighting conditions etc. This will not be achieved by the trawling of back catalogues.
2. In order to produce a contemporary record of the places photographed.

What sort of scenes can I photograph?

Locations may, or may not, be popular tourist areas and need not necessarily be thought of as “attractive” or as “typical postcard” subjects.  It should be noted that the Landscape Group’s definition of “landscape” is broad and effectively includes any place outdoors.  Scenes should be predominantly feature land, sea and sky and things that are attached to the land (such as buildings and trees).  All places can – as the Frontiers project has demonstrated – be photographed in attractive and/or engaging ways. 

Do all my images have to be taken at the same location?

All images on each postcard must portray the same “place”. Each individual postcard should portray a different place within your 5-mile radius.  Your postcards and accompanying narrative should make clear what the “place” is.  A place could be, for example, a city, a mountain, a valley, an industrial estate, a housing estate, a park, a forest.      

What if I have a question that isn’t already answered above?

Please contact the project manager Sue Clark on sjc.postcards@gmail.com