The Colour Library: Blue – A Shutter Hub Editions Publication

About the Open Call

The Colour Library is a curated series of photo books exploring the emotional, symbolic, and visual power of colour. Each edition is a visual exploration and celebration of one colour, showcasing its presence, symbolism, and emotional range across different photographic styles and perspectives. Our first edition is devoted to blue. A colour of depth and distance. Vast as the sky and as still as water. Blue evokes calm, melancholy, serenity and sorrow. Delicate cornflowers, robust denim, precious jewels, and the deepest ocean. From literal to abstract interpretations, and alternative processes, we want to see a wide range of creative expressions and invite you to share them with us for our next book, The Colour Library: Blue. More than just a colour, blue is a language. What does it say to you? Shutter Hub Editions is the publishing house from Shutter Hub – creating a collection of printed publications for people who love photography. Our publications are held in many international collections including the British Library, the V&A, and the Portuguese Center of Photography. The book will be available to buy worldwide, with several stockists across the UK. We’re making this opportunity affordable for all photographers. There are no set entry fees, but we’re asking you to ‘pay what you can’, with a minimum donation of £10. Please help support the work we do by sharing this opportunity with other photographers too. We intend it to be a showcase for the photographers involved. We will promote it heavily across our networks, make it available to purchase in a variety of locations as well as directly from our online shop, and it will be held in national archives around the world. We receive no external grants or funding, but we’re determined to do what we can to keep photography open to all. In order to make this opportunity as accessible as possible for all photographers, we are offering a number of free image submissions to those with limited income – to be considered, please send us an email before entering your submission, detailing why you should receive a free submission. 100 images will be selected for inclusion in the book. You can enter single images or a short series of images, up to 10 images can be entered per photographer. The publication will be perfect bound, portrait orientation 140gsm matte paper at 148 x 210mm with a 350gsm cover. The design, layout and editorial decisions will be at our discretion.

What is Offered

Selected photographers will have their work featured in 'The Colour Library: Blue' photo book, published by Shutter Hub Editions. The book will be sold worldwide and accessioned into international collections like the British Library and V&A. Participants will receive extensive promotion across Shutter Hub networks, a dedicated web page to connect with viewers, and opportunities for commissions or print sales enquiries to be passed directly to them.

Requirements

Photographers can enter single images or a series, up to 10 images per photographer. Images must be 300dpi JPEGs, sized for A5 (148 x 210mm), CMYK colour profile (Coated GRACoL 2006 (ISO 12647-2:2004)), and no more than 5MB. Files must be named as 'lastname_firstname_imagetitle.jpg'. Images must be suitable for a family audience. No multiple images placed together (e.g., diptychs) or captions/titles within the image. AI-generated images require explanation.

How to Apply

All submitted files must be named with the photographer’s name and title of work as described in the specifications. Files that are not labelled correctly may not be accepted. Read the specification information provided. Entries are submitted via an online form, requiring image uploads formatted as 300dpi jpegs, 148x210mm, CMYK, max 5MB. Applicants must agree to the Terms and Conditions.