Who is this challenge for?+
It is for every person who feels alive when they hold a camera. Your gender, nationality, race, skill level, and all the other things, they don't matter. What matters is that you are a photographer. You and your images, they're welcome here. This challenge is also for one person who can no longer hold a camera. It was created in remembrance of Raymond A. Vanderwoning, friend and photographer. He is missed.
Is PHOTOFRI.DAY the same thing as photofriday.com?+
No. That one's much older — the original contest, open to everyone, off the fediverse. This one is fediverse-only. You don't put your photos on someone else's server — you do it through follows and hashtags. We're here to boost you, help people find you (in the fediverse and out on the regular net), and promote the fediverse itself. Different thing entirely. Nothing to do with the other contest.
When does it start?+
It already has, and it runs every week. The next prompt drops next Thursday at 10:00 UTC. At that same moment the submission window opens for the current prompt, #PhotoFriBanquet, and stays open for 50 hours (closes Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 12:00 UTC). Every prompt is announced a week ahead: the next one, not queued yet , gets posted on the Friday a week after it drops. Same rhythm every Thursday 10:00 UTC after that: a new prompt lands and the window opens for the previous one. The countdowns on the home page always show the next prompt and the next submission window.
Is there a 24-hour submission window?+
No. We know everyone's sick of being forced to live on North American time. Friday spans a total of 50 hours worldwide — starting in the UTC+14 zone on the Line Islands of Kiribati at 10:00 AM UTC Thursday, and finally wrapping up in the UTC−12 zone at Baker Island at 12:00 PM UTC Saturday. We don't police your timezone — we can't, and we wouldn't want to. People travel. People use VPNs. So any entry posted anywhere in that 50-hour window counts as a Friday entry, the same for everyone, and our software boosts them all equally. Call it a fuzzy Friday. It's the only version that's actually fair to participants everywhere on the globe. We've got your back.
What kind of photos are allowed?+
AI-generated images — please don't. All entries should look like an actual photograph, not a composite, not mixed media. We get it: image editors touch up, fix noise, use a bit of generative fill — that's the reality in 2026. A little AI help, sure. AI doing your heavy lifting for you? Be ashamed. You can add hashtags letting people know what was and wasn't used in your entry.
How do I participate?+
Follow @[email protected].
Post on-theme images using the week's hashtag while the 50-hour posting window is open. Notice is published to your feed when the window opens and closes.
How do I participate if I'm not part of the fediverse?+
Join the fediverse — it's free. You sound like our kind of person — come on in, get comfy. Here's more to get you started: fediverse.info.
What if I want my photos removed?+
Delete the photo (or the whole post), or just pull the hashtag off it. We periodically check back on everything listed — post's gone, or the tag's gone, either way we catch it on the next pass and clear it from our board. No extra step needed on your end.
How do I leave the challenge?+
Who is running this?+
Sean McCormick. Canadian, 57. I own about twenty times as many cameras as you've got fingers and toes — yes, you too, people in Alabama — and I use every one of them relentlessly. I hate closed platforms and the dickhead billionaires trying to monetize us.
Day job: insurance broker, so basically boring as hell. I pretend I'm interesting by writing spicy things online; my friends know better. Passable photographer, unintentional gap coder. No company behind this, no ad team, nobody in a meeting arguing about engagement metrics — just one person who thinks the fediverse deserves an easier on-ramp for photographers. Something breaks, that's on me.
What are Pixelfed, Mastodon, Vernissage, and SNAPSMACK?+
Different doors into the same room. Pick whichever already fits how you post — any of them gets you a fediverse handle, and a handle is all you need to follow @participate.
- Pixelfed — a throwback to what Instagram was, and a beautiful vision of what it could be — with some limitations (discoverability, namely). No ads, no algorithm, and plenty of good photography to be found. Worth supporting, and we plan to do our part. pixelfed.org
- Mastodon — a decentralized, Twitter-like experience, but without Herr Douchebag calling the shots. Mostly text-forward, but some photographers live and share here. joinmastodon.org
- Vernissage — fediverse image sharing with some varnish added. A curated experience focused on high-quality image sharing with rich detail through EXIF information. Participate through the iOS app or their web instance. vernissage.photos
- SNAPSMACK — blogging software built specifically for hobbyist photographers. Share the way photographers always did, before the work got co-opted by social media and paid platforms — but free. Proud participant of the fediverse. snapsmack.ca
Why did you build PHOTOFRI.DAY on the Fediverse?+
Because we believe it is the most ethical way to build social software. The Fediverse lets photographers keep their identities, work, relationships, and choice of platform. PHOTOFRI.DAY can bring people together without requiring everyone to join the same service or surrender their photographs to us. We preserve credit and traffic at the original post, respect consent and removal, and support whichever Fediverse software suits you — even when that isn’t SNAPSMACK. We are here to strengthen photography culture across the whole network, not capture it for one platform.
This site is run by the same person behind the SNAPSMACK software. Do I need to use SNAPSMACK to participate?+
No. In fact, SNAPSMACK is a niche software platform and probably not for you. It requires having your own domain name, your own web hosting account or hardware, and a mild pain tolerance at the very least. That's not most people — you should be looking at all the options available to you at fediverse.info. If the fediverse platform you choose can follow other accounts and share a post with a photo and a #hashtag, you're in.
Can I enter my five images as a carousel from Pixelfed or SNAPSMACK?+
No. The carousel may not render properly in some fediverse apps — single images are safer. Posts using carousels from either platform aren't boosted by our software.
What's this about a Starter Kit?+
Following @[email protected] joins the challenge but does not automatically add you to our Starter Kit. To ask to be included, add #photofrifindme to your public profile bio. Your account must remain public and permit discovery or featuring according to the privacy controls supported by your fediverse software. Remove the hashtag or unfollow us and we remove you. PHOTOFRI.DAY assembles the list; it does not boost your ordinary posts from it.
Does it cost anything to participate?+
It costs nothing in terms of money to enter this photo competition. It will cost you your honour if you're a photographer and you don't. Choose wisely.