09/14/2026
Do you actually want us in the room… or do you just want us to participate quietly?
Because there’s a difference.
You can say everyone is welcome in your studio, mark you're “inclusive” on your website, and tell me you can’t control who books you.
But after years in business, if the work you show, submit, advertise and celebrate still looks the same, at some point “they just don’t book me” isn’t enough of an answer.
And if photographers of these marginalized communities are encouraged to enter the room, submit the work and participate in the conversation, we also have to be able to call out when something about that room doesn’t feel inclusive and not be dismissed. That part seems to make people uncomfortable.
Inclusion that only feels good when nobody challenges you isn’t inclusion. Maybe the question isn’t why more marginalized people aren’t participating, the better question is: what happens when they do?
