Zine Exchange 10: July - November 2026

[Penlens]

This is a group project where all participants make a zine, then exchange it with everyone else taking part. No money changes hands. All participants agree to send their zine to all other participants at their own cost. What you produce and how, is up to you.

What is a Zine? The word is a shortened form of the word magazine (or maybe fanzine?) and the product is a short, small format magazine - generally a small circulation, self-published work. For this challenge, it is a collection of your photos edited together into a magazine or booklet format. You can either print the zine yourself or you can send it off to a printing service.

You don't need to decide right now; there will hopefully be a good number of us who are committed to this so watch this thread, hang around, ask questions and start pulling together the content you might want to include in your zine. Then, when you are comfortable with that let us know.

Timeline:
1) July - November 2026: You come up with an idea, take pictures and design your zine. You can even build it in your chosen software.

2) Saturday 24th October 2026: This week I will be asking people to formally commit to making their zine. You will have 7 days until midnight on 31st October 2026 to PM me your name & address to confirm your commitment.

3) Sunday 1st November 2026: I will send out a PM to all confirmed participants with everyone's name & address as well as the confirmed amount of zines people need to print.

4) November 2026: Everyone gets the appropriate number of zines printed and mails them out to everyone on the list by the end of June 2025.

FAQ:
Q: Can anyone take part?
A: The exchange is open to contributing members here at Talk Photography. If you found out about this from somewhere else, you're welcome to join in.
Q: I don't live in the UK; can I take part?
A: Yes. However, it will be OPTIONAL for people to post zines out to you mainly due to the costs of postage involved.
Q: How many zines will I have to send?
A: We'll monitor how many people show interest. Sending out 10-20 zines will be expensive. You can leave it until midnight on 31st October 2026 before committing to the point of spending any money, so you can make a decision then.
Q: How should I design it?
A: Images can be in colour, monochrome or a mix, with or without text. Square, landscape or portrait, or a mix. They can be sequenced one image to a page, or one image to a spread or maybe collages. If there's a narrative to the collection of images, think about how their placing or sequence in the zine will affect the story.
Q: How big should I make it?
A: As a minimum, A5 size, containing between 10-15 pages. Participants have also produced square (210 x 210mm) and A4 size zines. Remember, you need to pay for it and post it, so the bigger or heavier the zine, the more expensive it will be.
Q: What should the zine contain?
A: Zines are about creativity, play, experimentation and independence. They can be produced around a theme or a project. It is entirely up to you. You can use film, digital, phone or pinhole - it doesn't matter.