Opportunities

Shutter Hub Pop-Up Photobook Library

Closes: 27/11/2025 5:00 pm

Launching alongside the Shutter Hub OPEN 2026 at Cambridge University, our exciting new Pop-Up Photobook Library will run for the full duration of the exhibition – over 10 weeks – and will include two weeks as part of the famous Cambridge Festival, giving participating photographers and publishers the opportunity to showcase their books to a diverse audience of over 45,000 festival goers (on top of our already projected audience of over 10,000 visitors!)

Our Pop-Up Photobook Library will feature a curated selection of photobooks, zines, and independent publications created by photographers and publishers from around the world. Our goal is to highlight a broad selection of photobooks ranging across as many genres and themes as possible.

For the past few years, we’ve showcased creativity in print through the Shutter Hub Book & Zine Fair, a one-day event held alongside our much-loved OPEN exhibitions at at Cambridge University’s Alison Richard Building, home of CRASSH (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities). Now we want to make that platform more impactful and accessible for a much wider audience – in the form of a Pop-Up Photobook Library!

The Photobook Library will be open to everyone and fully accessible to the public to come in and view the books any time they like (as long as the building is open!) and will be featured as part of our Curator’s talk and tour taking place during Cambridge Festival. We will also produce an online catalogue of every publication featured in the library, providing a means for people to buy directly from the photographers, to get in touch, share and ask questions.

Whether you are an emerging photographer with your first zine, or an established publisher with a series of photobooks, we invite you to submit your work and become part of this library of creativity.

We can’t wait to see your work and help share it with the world.

 

Deadline for entries: Thursday 27 November 2025, 5pm UK Time.

Deadline for selected books to be received: 07 January 2026.

Entry fee: Pay what you can, with a minimum donation of £25.

Shutter Hub Pop-Up Photobook Library

19 January – 02 April 2026

Art at the ARB / Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities,
University of Cambridge, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road,
Cambridge CB3 9DT

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RULES

 At Shutter Hub, we support creative photographers and provide opportunities for them to showcase their work through accessible exhibitions, publications and creative projects. We believe that everyone should be able to expand and grow their creative practice and we work to remove barriers wherever possible.

Before submitting your application, please make sure to read the terms and conditions below carefully.

ENTRY FEES

This opportunity is ‘pay what you can’, with a minimum donation of £25. We ask you to donate based on your means – if you are able to donate more than the minimum entry fee, please do. Please help support the work we do by sharing this opportunity with other photographers too.

Photographers, Publishers, and Agents are all eligible and encouraged to submit work, and there is no limit to the number of titles contributors can submit. Please note that each title must be entered in its own submission.

Successful applications will need to provide one copy of the selected publication to Shutter Hub. Please note that postage costs will be covered by the photographer. If photographers would like their publication returned at the end of the Shutter Hub OPEN 2026 Pop-Up Photobook Library, please be aware that return postage and customs costs will be the responsibility of the photographer.

Deadline for Entries: Thursday 27 November 2025, 5pm UK Time.

Selected books must be received by Shutter Hub by 07 January 2026. If your book arrives after this date, we may not be able to include it in the Photobook Library.

For successful submissions outside the UK, please note that the photographer bears responsibility for any customs charges that be incurred.

SUBMISSION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Shutter Hub reserves the right to display, reproduce and publish in any media any entry, without payment, for the purpose of the project and its promotion and publicity. Copyright remains with the originator and each photographer shall be deemed to warrant that they own the entire copyright in the work or that they have permission from the licensee and/or copyright owner/s for the uses and that all necessary model releases and clearances have been obtained. If relevant, insurance of the artist’s work is the responsibility of the artist. Shutter Hub bears no responsibility for loss or damage to books included in the Photobook Library, and books are provided by the photographer with the knowledge that Shutter Hub can not reimburse photographers for lost or damaged work.

We hope to accept as many books as possible, but please be aware that we reserve the right to not put on public display work that may be offensive to a family audience.

Please make sure you read and agree with the above information before you submit your application. By submitting your application, you are agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions and the information set out above.

Pop-Up Photobook Library
What is your connection to this Photobook?
Please provide 200-500 words about your photobook.
Please name all the photographers who have work featured in the photobook.
Who is the book's publisher?
Please list your RRP in GBP (£).
Where can people find out more and purchase the book online?
Please let us know any additional information you think we should know about.
All social media handles that should be mentioned for you or organisations involved.

Additional websites

Please include the full URL to your profile on each site that you would like to share.
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Images

Each image row you add will be counted as an image - if you have a blank row, or decide you want to submit fewer images, simply click the 'remove' button on the row. You can upload a maximum of 10 images.

Images - Pop-Up Photobook Library

File Upload *

Maximum file size: 5MB

Please supply .jpeg images, 2500px wide, of the front cover and a selection of internal pages. All submitted files must be named with photographer's name and title of work. Please upload a .jpg file less than 5mb in size.
To make your image accessible to more people, including those who are blind or visually impaired, please describe your image - we will add this as Alt text. This should be a description of what is shown in the image for those who are unable to see it, rather than an explanation of process or context, e.g. 'Photograph of a red car parked in the middle of a field of grass, with a pigeon flying in the blue sky overhead'.
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Help support Shutter Hub

There is a minimum donation of £25 to submit your work for this opportunity, and all contributions will go directly to the production of the project. If you would like to donate more to further support our production costs, we thank you. We are a small organisation and receive no external grants or funding but we’re determined to do what we can to keep photography open to all, and if you are in a position to help us do that it is very much appreciated!

Payment

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Terms and conditions

Please review the Terms and Conditions here.

Before submitting your form we recommend saving all your details as a Word document, along with a note of which images you submitted, for your records.

If you experience any errors while submitting your form please contact us at info@shutterhub.org.uk, including details of error messages, browser etc., so we can investigate this for you.