Earlier this spring, 2023, I was part of an exhibition of college age students in a gallery exploring emerging perspectives in photography. Hosted by Photo Lounge in Philly in their 3 floors of gallery space, I was able to meet tons of other artists and photographers, learn from them, be inspired by their work, and talk about my own work with people who didn’t know me. I’ve written about it in a previous blog post, but I’d like to highlight Photo Lounge again, and all the cool opportunities they have for photography students and anyone who loves film photography.

First they have a free membership to their film club for students that includes discounts on developing, high resolution scans at no extra cost, to be featured in their blog in the member highlights, among other great opportunities. This is great if you’ve only printed your own work before and want to have professional prints made, but can’t necessarily afford professional prints just yet (and even their non-discounted prices are affordable).

On their Instagram page (@myphotolounge) they also have weekly (weekly!) contests that you can enter free of cost, where you can submit up to three photos to win rotating prizes! I’ve won a free roll of film developing and 3 – 5×7 prints, and encourage any young photographer to enter these! They’re a great way of getting your feet wet in terms of competitions, and great exposure if you win. The prompts are fun but simple, and broad enough that you can easily find a photo to enter, or even go out and take one to submit. For instance I won their rain prompt on May 06, 2023 with one of my favorite pictures that I took through a car windshield leaving Marywood my freshman year, seen here. If you do win the contest, you will also be featured in their blog, with a small description of why they chose your photo, along with a description from you and what inspired it.