Enter the open call.
Send a series of 1 to 12 photographs under one theme, with a text about the work. Current themes are: Loneliness, Habits, Empty Spaces, Culture, Green and Diversity.
Sign in to submit a series.
Enter your email address and we'll send you a six-digit code. There is no password.
The code is valid for 30 minutes.
Your account runs under your email address. You can delete the account at any time. Learn more about the privacy notice.
Individual request
You can email us directly for an individual request.
The open call in brief
Entry and selection
- Entry fee
- None
- Closing date
- The call is open until further notice. We will add further themes later.
- Who may enter
- Professional photographers worldwide
- How we choose
- We give every series the time and attention it needs. You can submit through your account or send your photographs to us directly, and we agree with you how the series will be published.
- Direct submission
- partner@concretehuman.com
What to send
- Series
- Each submission is one series on one theme, with a short description or poem for each photograph and a short text for the series.
- Pictures
- 1 to 12 photographs, arranged in the intended sequence. Larger series by individual agreement.
- Text
- A short text on the series, its subject and your observations.
- Per photograph
- Title, description, country, year
A selected series
- Gallery
- Selected series are published in the online gallery under their theme. We are seeking venues to show selected series in physical exhibitions.
- Profile page
- A dedicated profile page with the series and your portrait.
- Substack
- One article about the series on our Substack.
- Credit
- We publish the series under your name.
- Rights
- You retain the copyright in your work. Your entry entitles us to consider the series for publication. Should we publish it, you grant us a non-exclusive right to show the series online and in exhibitions under your name, which you may revoke in writing at any time.
Requirements
- Country
- Please state the country in which each photograph was taken. The right to photograph buildings from public space differs between countries and determines what we may show and print.
- File
- JPEG in sRGB, 1,920 pixels on the long edge and no more than 5 MB per file. Larger files cannot be uploaded.
- Watermarks and signatures
- Photographs are submitted without watermark, signature or frame, and without your name in the title.
- Authenticity
- Every photograph must come from a camera. For a selected series, we ask for the original files in RAW or DNG. Content Credentials are welcome but not required.
Questions about the open call
Who can enter, and is there a fee?
Professional photographers anywhere in the world may enter. Entry is free. The call is open until further notice. We offer no prize money.
What does a submission contain?
Each submission is one series of no more than 12 photographs, on one of the open themes. You send the photographs in the order you want them read. For each photograph we ask for a title, a description, the country it was taken in and the year. You add a short text on what the series is and what you saw. Each file is a JPEG in sRGB, at most 1,920 pixels on the long edge and no more than 5 MB. We agree larger series with each photographer individually. The binding wording is in sections 3 and 6 of the terms.
What editing is allowed?
Every photograph must come from a camera. You may adjust levels, contrast and colour, dodge and burn, crop, sharpen, reduce noise and remove sensor dust and other small marks that were not part of the scene. We do not accept generated images, generative fill, upscaling by artificial intelligence, montage, or adding, moving or removing anything in the photograph. If the jury selects a series, we ask for the original file in RAW or DNG. What is allowed and what is not is in section 5 of the terms.
How does the jury choose a series?
We review every series. The jury decides which series we publish. It looks at the photographs, at what the series says about its theme and at how well the series is made. Its selection is final. The organisations that support Concrete Human have no say in which series the jury selects.
When will I hear from you?
We name no date for a decision. If the jury selects your series, we get in touch with you to agree how best to publish it. We publish a selected series in the online gallery under its theme, with a profile page and an article on our Substack. A selection does not guarantee an exhibition. Photographs the jury does not select stay in your account until you delete them or close the account. When you enter, you decide whether they show on your profile page, and you can change that at any time from the account page.
Who keeps the rights?
You keep the copyright in your work. By entering, you give us only the right to look at your work. If the jury selects your series, you grant us a non-exclusive right to show it in the gallery on this site, in the Substack posts about it, in a physical exhibition, in its catalogue and in press about the exhibition. Non-exclusive means you may grant the same rights in these photographs to anyone else. When a venue shows the series, we may give that venue photographs and texts from it to announce the exhibition, always with your name. We publish every photograph under your name. The binding wording is in section 9 of the terms.
Can I withdraw my series?
You can withdraw the right to show your series in writing at any time. We then take the series out of the gallery and out of any exhibition still to come. You can also delete your account at any time. Questions about the terms go to partner@concretehuman.com.
What happens to my data?
An account needs an email address. A submission needs the files and the details of each photograph. You can ask us to delete either. In the privacy notice, we explain what we store, why, for how long and how to have it deleted.
Our terms of participation
Terms of participation, last changed September 2026
1 Who runs this call
The Concrete Human open call is for photographs of the places people live and work in. Concrete Human Collaborate runs it from Hauptstraße 50, 83684 Tegernsee, Germany. Write to partner@concretehuman.com with any question about these terms.
2 Who may enter
Professional photographers anywhere in the world may enter. Entry is free, and the call is open until further notice.
3 What you may enter
You may enter a single photograph or a series of up to 12, always to one of the themes that is currently open. Add a short text on what the series is and what you saw. Larger series by individual agreement.
For each photograph we ask for a title, a description, the country it was taken in and the year. All four are required.
4 What you promise us
By entering, you confirm the following for every photograph in the submission. We may ask you to show any of it.
- You took the photographs yourself and you hold the copyright in them.
- Anyone recognisable in a photograph has agreed to it being entered and shown. For anyone under 18, a parent or guardian has agreed.
- You either hold the rights in the building shown, or you can rely on an exception in the law of the country where the photograph was taken.
- The photographs follow the editing rules in section 5.
- Nothing in the submission infringes anyone else's rights.
5 Editing and artificial intelligence
Every photograph must come from a camera. If we select a series, we ask for the original file, RAW or DNG, whichever your camera writes. Content Credentials are optional.
Not allowed
- Generated images and generative fill.
- AI upscaling.
- Adding, moving or removing anything in the picture.
- Montage.
Allowed
- Levels, contrast and colour.
- Dodging and burning.
- Cropping.
- Sharpening and noise reduction.
- Removing sensor dust and other small marks that were not part of the scene.
6 What the files have to be
Each file is a JPEG in sRGB, at most 1920 pixels on the long edge and no more than 5 MB. You send between one and 12 files, in the order you want them read.
The upload refuses a file over either limit. We do not resize it, because the resampling and the sharpening are your choice.
Photographs carry no watermark, signature or frame, and your name does not go in the title. We judge a series on its photographs, and we publish your name with every photograph.
7 Photographing buildings
The right to photograph a building from public ground differs from country to country. The law of the country where you took a photograph applies, and you are responsible for keeping to it. You indemnify us against claims by architects, owners and heritage authorities over a photograph you entered. If such a claim arises, we may take the photograph down.
8 How we choose
We review every series. If we select it, we get in touch with you to agree how best to publish it. Our selection is final.
We look at the photographs, at what the series says about its theme and at how well it is made.
9 What you grant us
Entering gives us only the right to look at your work. Your copyright stays with you, and every right you grant us is non-exclusive.
If we select a series, you grant us a non-exclusive right to show it: in the gallery on this site, in the Substack posts about it, in a physical exhibition, in its catalogue and in press about the exhibition. You can withdraw the right in writing at any time, and we then take the series out of the gallery and out of any exhibition still to come.
We may resize a photograph for the web, print it for an exhibition and show it on a page announcing that exhibition. We do not alter what is in the picture. When a venue shows the series, we may give that venue photographs and texts from it to announce the exhibition, always with your name.
10 Photographs we do not select
They stay in your account until you delete them or close the account. When you enter, you decide whether they show on your profile page, and you can change that at any time from the account page.
11 Partners
Organisations that support this work are named as partners. No partner uses a photograph from the gallery to advertise a product, and neither do we. No partner decides which series we select or which findings we publish.
12 What we do not offer
There is no prize money, and a selection does not guarantee an exhibition.
13 Your data
On the privacy page we explain what we store, why, for how long and how to have it deleted. An account needs an email address, and a submission needs the files and the fields above. You can ask us to delete either.
14 Changes
We may change these terms for submissions made after the change. A submission already with us is decided under the terms that applied when you sent it.
15 Language and law
The English version of these terms is the binding one. German law applies. Where the consumer law of your country of residence gives you rights that cannot be contracted away, those rights apply regardless.