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Grants for Analogue Photography

Grants of £500 - £1,500 are available to support photographers in projects for which use of analogue techniques are central to implementation.

For the purpose of these grants, analogue photography is defined as the predominantly film-based processes that were used before the development of digital photography. Examples include: 35mm and medium format film photography, wet plate collodion, polaroid, tintype, slide transparency, pinhole camera photography and camera-less processes such as photogram or cyanotype.

There is strong competition for funding, so make sure to read all the guidance before starting an application. If the project you are considering includes (or could include) activities that improve the health and wellbeing of children or young people aged under 25, then do also read the guidance for community projects and consider whether what you propose to do might be reconfigured, since there is currently less competition for these grants.   

Step by step guidance on the application process is set out below and in subsequent web pages. You can also download a PDF of the guidance webpages here: 

Who can apply

The Foundation welcomes applications from photographers at all career stages. An application can be from an individual, or from a partnership or group coming together for the duration of the project. The Foundation does not accept applications from organisations for these grants.

Projects must take place in the UK.

If you have submitted a previously successful application you must leave it 3 years before re-applying. So, if you obtained a grant in 2022, you must wait until 2026 to apply again.

You may only submit one application in a year.

When to apply

There is one application round a year, opening on the 18th of January each year. Please make sure you use the current year’s guidance and form when applying.

The deadline for applications is midday on the 2nd of April each year. Applications received after this deadline will not be accepted, nor will they be held over to the following year.

What we can fund

The Foundation funds projects which promote, preserve, develop or practice the art and techniques of analogue photography and support learning in analogue photographic techniques.

A successful project will therefore achieve some or all of the following:

• Preserve or revitalise traditional analogue photographic techniques

• Develop analogue photographic techniques in creative, imaginative or innovative ways

• Share learning and skills in the practice of analogue photography

• Raise public awareness of analogue photography as an art-form.

A project for which a grant is sought should not have already started, though it may be a phase of a longer-term programme or a part of a wider project.

Normally, projects benefitting from these grants would be expected to last for up to one year’s duration, and be implementable within the year of the grant being awarded.

You will find illustrations of some of the projects that have benefitted from past grants on the Supported Projects page.

Examples of projects the Foundation would not give preference to would be:

• Preservation of an archive of analogue photographs

• Projects which have been designed to sustain a predominantly commercial, profit-making photography practice.

Amount of awards

You can apply for a grant of between £500 and £1,500. The Foundation can fund up to 100% of costs, but normally expects its contribution to be matched either by other funding or in-kind contributions. Artists’ fees are not eligible for an analogue grant but the Foundation would be happy to see them in the budget as an in-kind contribution.

What makes a good project?

Given the strong competition for grants, it is in your interest to come up with an ambitious project that is a good fit for what the Foundation can fund, and then to describe it clearly and well in your application. When describing your project do so in ways that somebody who is not a practising photographer will understand, as not all the Trustees have the technical knowledge.

Preference may be given to applicants who have not previously applied.

A poorly defined project is likely to be rejected, so do work out the detail of what you will do, how you will do it and how it meets our requirements before applying, then tell us this when you describe your project in the application.

The Foundation will give preference to projects which explore, expand and experiment with analogue techniques and which push boundaries. The more creative and imaginative the project is the more likely it is to be successful.

The Foundation expects projects to pursue excellence in the application of analogue photography and that all applications will take environmental sustainability into account.