2020 Best of Show, © Nader Khouri 2020 Second Place, © Shawn Fender
2020 First Place, © Hardy Wilson 2020 Third Place, © Andy Frasheski
Winners directly connect with a Judge who may hire you, or refer you to others.
Every Top Place Winner is entitled to a special virtual Portfolio / Website Review with an Exhibition Judge.
Each Judge also selects their personal favorite; if they select your image, you get a Review with them.
So each Judge will do two Reviews. Limited to one Review per Winner, so more chances to win.
Judges will be announced soon. (The number of Judges determines the number of Reviews).
Top Place Images will appear on a special printed promo piece that will be sent to creatives in our region.
Each of the Top Four Winners will receive a $175 gift certificate good for: Do-It-Yourself C-Prints, or for Print on Demand service.
Left to Right: © Nicolas Bates, © Tom Kubik, © Markku Lahdesmaki
1. This is our 24th annual impressive Something Personal exhibit, which is now established as the original, premiere personal work exhibition.
2. Hundreds of Creatives, Photographers, and others are expected to attend the spectacular annual World Premiere Online Gallery Exhibition & Virtual Holiday Party.
3. APA Members get up to a full 50% discount on the Entry fees.
4. Acclaimed Panel of Judges (listed below, soon) will see your work, at their own pace.
5. Top Place winners are entitled to special virtual portfolio / website reviews with Judges.
6. Online Gallery version of the Exhibit will be up for all of 2022 and beyond, (last year's gallery is here).
7. This year, 100 images will appear in the online gallery.
8. Top place images proactively promoted to Creatives with a printed promo and via email.
9. Best of Show image appears on special email Invitation / Announcement.
10. Prestigious Exhibition of 100 images helps all Exhibitors succeed.
11. Simple, reliable, secure online entry procedure, through the APA National website.
12. No limit to the number of images you can enter.
13. No date-created limitations.
14. Fairness Max4 Rule: no one can get more than 4 images accepted into the show.
15. Excellent odds of getting images accepted into the Exhibit.
16. We featured 49 different Exhibitors’ images last year.
17. About 1/3 of all entrants got at least one image in the 2020 Exhibition.
18. Less financial commitment: no printing, matting or framing required this year (online gallery only).
19. Superb opportunity to advance your career, display your own photographic style.
20. Top Exhibitors receive Award banners for their websites, and under their winning images at the Opening.
21. APA Something Personal Exhibit is one of the world’s most respected and prestigious photo contests.
22. Exhibitors' websites get a good boost in online traffic, especially from Creatives.
Left to Right: © John Blais, © Paige Green, © Sara Rubinstein
APA San Francisco's annual Something Personal Exhibition is well established as the photo event of the year in our region. Something Personal 2021 is a great opportunity to exhibit your finest personal work at the spectacular World Premiere Online Exhibition & Virtual Holiday Party, from 7:00-9:00 PM on Thursday, December 9, 2021.
Every recent year, between 300 and 1000 people have attended the in-person Something Personal Exhibition Holiday Party. We expect many hundreds of people to participate in our online version, this year. All of the top Creatives in our region will receive special invitations, so this is a superb opportunity to show them your finest personal work. We will also display the complete exhibition on our website for over a full year, so your finest personal work will be available to thousands more clients.
Your chances of participating in the APA SF 2021 Something Personal Exhibit are truly excellent! You can online-enter as many JPEG images as you like. We've limited the number of accepted pieces from any one photographer to their top 4, as decided by the Judges' scores.
Left to Right: © Jim Hughes, © Smeeta Mahanti, © Brian Kuhlmann
Creatives love to see pro photographers' personal work, because it reveals your true photographic style, without anyone else's influence or input. The APA SF Something Personal Exhibit started more than two decades ago with this core concept, and each time, we've streamlined the process to make it even easier to enter, with very few restrictions. This year, we again have easy online entry and judging.
• No confusing categories.
• No series of images.
• No creation date restrictions; no limitation on when your images were created.
• Only strong, original, creative, truly personal work gets accepted.
• Entries may be black and white, duotone, or color, and should be self-commissioned.
• Entries must represent what you consider to be your finest personal work.
• Alternative print processes (tin type, etc) are acceptable.
• PLEASE NOTE: Panoramas, diptychs & triptychs cannot be entered this year.
No commercial work, please: Images specifically commissioned for publication, or some other use by a paying client are not considered true "personal work" for the purposes of this competition and may be disqualified without prior notification or explanation.
Left to Right: © Lucas Saugen, © Peter Samuels, © Oliver Hamilton
Each of whom are directly responsible for hiring photographers or buying pro photographers' imagery.
Every Top Place Winner is entitled to special virtual Portfolio / Website Review with a Exhibition Judge.
Each Judge also selects their personal favorite; if they select your image, you get a Review with them.
So, each Judge will do two Reviews. One Review per Winner.
A list of past years Judges is here.
Left to Right: © Jim Hildreth, © Stan Musilek, © Mark Holley
There are different Entry Fees for different APA Member levels this year.
APA Leader, or Professional Members : $15 for each entry
APA Associate, or Supporter Members : $20 for each entry
APA Contributor Members : $25 for each entry
Non-Members : $30 for each entry
Not an APA member? Now is a great time to join APA and receive up to a 50% discount on each image you enter.
Current APA member looking to upgrade your membership? Please read the basic Upgrade info here, then please contact: membershiprep@apanational.org
Left to Right: © Tricia Turner, © Hillary Maybery, © Jens Lucking
Please read the Competition Rules (below), and then follow these guidelines and image requirements carefully to ensure the proper submission of your entries.
Everyone who enters will be notified of their entry status oneway or the other, on or before November 16, 2021. APA SF never leaves you wondering; we know you want to know. Decisions of the judges shall be final and binding.
Left to Right: © Gene Lee, © Dawn Heumann, © Kevin Tiell
Watch past events from APA National and all the Chapters on our YouTube Channel
Show your APA Membership card at Samy's Camera and receive 20% discount on all rentals!
