Sometimes with the right lighting and circumstances, and maybe even a little luck, a smartphone photo can become gallery-worthy artwork. If you’ve ever thought your Instagram posts might be deserving of a photography exhibition, an upcoming show with TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image might just be for you.
TILT is a local organization that promotes all levels of photography through classes, exhibitions, free programs, artist residencies, youth education courses and more. This month the institute is inviting everyday Philadelphians to become expert photographers for its upcoming Philly Photo Day exhibition.
Philly Photo day began in 2011 and was revived after a nine year break in 2024. Over the years, TILT estimates it has received over 8,100 images.
This year, during one week in April, anyone in the greater Philly area can take and submit a photo through TILT’s online submission portal. No need for a fancy camera. Smartphone photography is more than welcome. Then, each digital image that Tilt receives will become a physical print and get displayed in an exhibition on a 45-foot hallway next to TILT’s Project Gallery at the Crane Arts building in Kensington from May 8 to May 31.
“We aren’t all artists, but we are all creative and we all have something to say about our community,” said Sarah Stolfa, TILT’s President and CEO. “We invite anybody and everybody in Philadelphia, whether you work there or live there, or you’re just visiting for the day, to take a picture of something in Philadelphia that’s meaningful to you.”
Stolfa stressed that it’s important for participants to follow TILT’s guidelines and only submit photos taken between Monday, April 7 and Sunday, April 13.
“It’s a free event to participate in,” she said. “The exhibition is also free because we really want to bring the community together to celebrate both the grandiose in Philadelphia and the mundane.”
“The only pictures we exclude is anything that would be offensive or is hateful in any capacity,” Stolfa added. “But in all the years that we’ve done it, we’ve never had to exclude a picture. People always bring their best selves to the project.”
While Philly Photo Day submissions have typically taken place over a 24-hour period, this year TILT is expanding the submission window to an entire week to make it more accessible.
“We get pictures of the Love Statue… of City Hall. We also get pictures of people and their lunches,” she said. “One of the great things about photography is it can really capture everyday life in whatever way that people see fit.”
It’s rare to have an open call and be able to submit artwork into an exhibition, especially without ever having necessarily studied the medium. Stolfa said the show is all about inclusivity. Practiced photographers are welcome to participate and so are amateurs.
“Everyone is engaged in photography whether or not they’re conscious of it, especially now with our cell phones,” she said.
In recent years, smartphone companies have created campaigns to boast just how far their camera technology has advanced. For example, Apple’s “Shot On iPhone” advertisements feature dynamic photographs of cityscapes, landscapes, animals and human portraits to demonstrate that one doesn’t necessarily need to understand aperture or shutter speed to capture a beautiful image.
What elevates Philly Photo Day images into exhibition-worthy photography? There are a few elements Stolfa describes; For example, in order to ensure that submitted photos have a sense of purpose, each photographer can only send in one entry.
“I think it’s really important for us to take a moment and be intentional about the images that we take and what we want to share with the world and communicate,” Stolfa said. “I think that photography is a very powerful medium, and the more that people can really be present in thinking about what they want to communicate and be intentional about that, that’s really what is important to us as an organization.”
What’s more, the fact that each image is printed gives them a tangible weight.
“Just the physicality of it becoming a print gives it more space to be intentional,” she said. “One of the things I love so much about it is that something that is completely mundane can look magical when we stop and give it our visual focus,” Stolfa said.
Once photos are submitted, curators will display the images for the open exhibition. For eager creatives inspired at the idea of participating Stolfa had a couple tips. To start, don’t overthink it.
“I’ve heard people sometimes say they get photographer’s block,” she explained. “They get a little too in their head about what they should take a picture of. Some people plan their shoots out, but I really also want to encourage people to just follow their gut and their eye. It’s a no judgment zone.”
And second, let the light guide you.
“If someone is tripped up about what to photograph, I always just say, follow the light,” she said. “It will surprise you how the light can change the way you see something or the way that something looks when photographed that you see everyday.”
Photos can be submitted here as a JPEG file through the submittable portal window beginning April 7. The portal closes on April 13 at 11:59 p.m.
