Events: October 6–12, 2025, Beyoğlu
2025 General Coordinators:
Nazile Bolat & Birgül Koç
The Istanbul Street Photography Festival is a large-scale event that brings together street photographers from around the world who represent street photography through different approaches.
The common goal is to use the advanced capabilities of photography to share experiences through street photography and encourage participants to take part in an event that will bring them great pleasure.
In 2025, it will be held internationally for the sixth consecutive year.
Previous Main Sponsor
TEZ Elektronik is the official Turkey distributor of Sony, Atomos, Samyang, Sirui, Prograde, Voigtlander, Exascend, Hollyland, Accsoon, and Freewell.
Prizes
Single Category Winner: $750
Series Category Winner: $750
Istanbul Category Winner: $500
Sponsorship negotiations for 2025 are ongoing.
How It Works?
Participation Rules
All submitted images must fall under the category of street photography.
Only photographs taken within the last 3 years are accepted.
Any location within the public realm, worldwide, is acceptable: indoors and outdoors
(i.e. streets, beach, train, park, restaurants, dirt road, etc.)
There are no restrictions on the type / brand of camera used.
Photos taken with a phone are also accepted.
Photos may be either black/white or color.
Photographs that previously received awards can also participate.
The photos submitted to the Istanbul category must clearly indicate that they were taken in Istanbul.
Each participant can submit a maximum of 5 Istanbul photos.
The jury may request the original of the winning photo.
Images must be JPG/JPEG files, no bigger than 5 MB.
Watermarked and/or signed images will not be accepted.
Open to all participants from around the world 18 years or older.
You can select the category
Last upload date: September 21, 2025, Sunday
SINGLES CATEGORY
$15/STARTING
- You can participate in the festival with as many single photos as you wish.
- Photos can be from anywhere in the world.
- Participation Fees:
- 1 Single Photo – $15
- 3 Single Photos – $20
- 6 Single Photos – $30
ISTANBUL CATEGORY
FREE – $10/PARTICIPATION
- You can submit one Istanbul photo for free, but there will be a $10 fee for submitting 2 to 5 photos.
- Each person can submit a maximum of 5 Istanbul photos.
- Only photographs taken in Istanbul, and clearly showing recognizable Istanbul landmarks or scenes, should be uploaded.
SERIES CATEGORY
$30/STARTING
- You can participate in the festival with 5-10 photographs in each series.
- Photos can be from anywhere in the world.
- Participation Fees:
- 1 Series – $30
- 2 Series – $45
- 3 Series – $60
F.A.Q.
In the event in 2025, there are two paid categories and one free category.
In the paid Singles and Series categories, there is no limit to the number of photos you can submit. Series must consist of 5-10 photos. There are discounts available for multiple submissions.
For the Istanbul category, you can upload one photo taken in Istanbul for free. However, a fee will be charged for 2 to 5 Istanbul photos. Each person can submit a maximum of 5 Istanbul photos.
Yes, it is possible to participate in the festival with any brand / model camera and smart mobile phone.
Your payments are provided securely with the infrastructure of iyzico, Turkey’s largest fintech brand, where you can make transactions with credit cards from anywhere in the world.
You can also use PayPal!
An exhibition will be held for the photos that make it to the finals. The exhibition will only be available on the website. If a sponsor is found, the exhibition photos may be compiled into a book. In 2023 and 2024, the photos that made it to the finals were exhibited alongside our ISPF exhibitions.
Juries cannot see the names of the participants; they see the photographs with the participant’s registration numbers. Each jury first determines own winners.
Subsequently, the photos suggested by each jury member for the relevant category are collected in public folders and evaluated collectively.
Finally, winner photos for each category and finalists are determined.
The date for announcing the finalists will be October 6, 2025.
Workshops, talks, photo walks, and other events will be held between October 6 and 12, 2025.
Our organization does not have a photograph of any photographer. The copyrights of the photos belong to their owners. Photographs can only be used for promotional activities. Finalist photos are published on our website and social networks with the photographer’s name.