Welcome to the 2025 Winter Print Exchange!
This is the third instantiation of this exchange. As usual, the purpose is to build community and facilitate introductions among artists around the world. It’s also a fun way to share your work with others (with the added benefit of getting a nice print from a stranger in the mail).
This year’s rules and dates can be found below, and the link to enter is at the bottom of the page! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Overview#
As in previous years, this exchange works like a Secret Santa:
- Artists of all levels of experience are welcome to enter.
- Participants enter using the provided form. Anyone in the world can enter, but because international shipping can be quite costly, the form allows participants to opt out of international shipping if they wish and I will implement the rules accordingly when I assign recipients. (Note that this might not always be possible; for instance, if only one participant signed up from a given country. In those cases, I would reach out to participants to determine another solution.)
- I will randomly assign everyone a recipient and email each participant with their recipient’s mailing address.
- Each participant selects and prints a photo, then sends it to their assigned recipient! Feel free to include any personal touches you want (an introduction, a note, a poem, some context behind the image, other personal flairs, etc.).
Important Dates#
- January 14: Deadline for entering
- By January 18: I will email participants with their recipient’s name and mailing address
- February 14: Deadline for shipping your print to your assigned recipient
Rules#
- By entering, you agree to send a print to someone else. This one should go without saying, but I want to be crystal clear!
- Prints must be A4/letter-size or smaller. The goal here is to keep costs down, especially for anyone shipping internationally.
- Your selected image must have been made locally (i.e. within a reasonable drive from your home). Part of the fun with this exchange is seeing an image from someone else’s neck of the woods (and sharing a scene from yours!). Note that the image does not have to be a winter themed! Any subject and any time of year is acceptable, so long as the image was made locally. Feel free to use this opportunity to experiment with something new!
- Your print must be shipped to its recipient by February 14, 2025. We don’t want anyone waiting around for their print!
That’s it for rules! A couple other points to acknowledge:
- I cannot guarantee that everyone who enters will actually send a print. There are a million reasons that someone might fail to follow through. If this happens, assume positive intent and let me know so that we can work something out.
- Obviously, I have to collect some personal information to facilitate the exchange (i.e. your mailing address). I will also have to give your address to someone else so that they can send you your print. I will safeguard this information as if it were my own and delete it once the exchange is over, but I cannot make any guarantees about how that information will be handled by other participants.
- If something isn’t going according to plan, please don’t hesitate to reach out and I will do my best to make it right!
FAQ#
What if I’ve never printed my work before? That’s okay! Artists from all levels of experience, including printing experience, are welcome to enter. If you’re interested in printing your work but have never done it before, this is a great excuse to get started.
What if I don’t have a printer? That’s also okay! In previous instantiations of this exchange, several participants have used either local printers or national print labs like Bay Photo or Nations Photo. In either case, you can have the print shipped to you for inspection before sending on to your recipient, or you can have it drop-shipped directly to your recipient.
How do I know what image my recipient will like? If you don’t know your assigned recipient, I guess you won’t! But that’s part of the fun. In my opinion, the best approach if you’re unsure about which image to print is to pick one of your own personal favorites. If an image resonates with you, it is worth sharing. And if you want, you can add a note that provides context or explains why you chose the image you did or why you like it.
What if I don’t hear anything back from my recipient? Most recipients are excited to get in touch and thank whoever sent their print, but sometimes our schedules are full and time gets away from us. In these instances, I recommend reaching out to your recipient directly to confirm that they received it. However, if you experience any issues doing this, please feel free to let me know and I can also try to reach out.
Does all that sound good? Then click the button below to enter the 2025 Winter Print Exchange!
