How to Prepare Work for the SDN Website

We encourage both professional and non-professional photographers to submit your work to the Social Documentary Network website. The primary criteria is your commitment to use the documentary form to explore the human condition—with the goal of increasing our understanding of it. Submitting your projects to the SDN website is the first and only step in getting your work selected for publication in ZEKE magazine.

All submissions are reviewed by SDN before going live. We accept nearly 95% of all work submitted to the website. The most common reason work is not accepted is because it is not documentary. We do not edit or curate exhibits. The content on SDN is completely user-generated.

Please click here to view summary and complete terms of service.

Technical requirements

• Your exhibit must include a minimum of six photographs, images must be 1500 pixels in one dimension, and under 5 mb per image.
• In addition to still images, your exhibit may include multimedia or video. To include video, you must get the "embed" code from YouTube or Vimeo and paste this code into the Video/Multimedia field.
• Your exhibit must include an abstract about the exhibit. Maximum 180 words. Please note that we do not edit or proof your text.
• Captions for each image are highly recommended but not required.
• You must select at least one exhibit category and a maximum of seven.
• Your text must be in English

Other requirements

• Documentary integrity. The images and the writing must avoid sensationalism, factual information must be accurate, and the images must be respectful of the subject and viewer. The work should be more about the external world than about the photographer.
• Technical quality of digital files (focus, exposure, etc.). We leave this up to the photographer to determine what level of technical quality is appropriate for their subject matter, although we encourage photographers to maintain the highest standards possible.