Hello all,

Because of the many topics that are created with different issues/questions, I have created this main topic that will cover everything regarding the new curation system.

What is new?

We have updated the curation process with the following improvements:

• More transparency. We now show every step from Upload to Awarded in the progress bar. In the old system it was unknown if a photo had been reviewed for the Award by the head curators or not. Now the process is 100% clear.
• More accurate scores. We have had many questions/complaints about the scores in the previous curation system so we decided to tweak the algorithms for more accurate results.
• Less is more. Some of the previous features in curation are removed in favor of more simple and clear feedback. "Feelings", "What do I like/dislike with this photo" are now removed.
• Accepted - new step in the curation process. The first step is now called "Accepted" and if your photo reaches this level it will be visible on your profile. "Published" and "Awarded" remains the same as in the previous system. This will allow more people to find your photos when they visit your profile.

Issue tracker

2025-11-19 - SOLVED - Some photos were stuck in the curation process

2025-11-19 - SOLVED - The progress bar sometimes did not update accurately

Feel free to report any bugs you are encountering here.

Regards

Jacob and the 1x Team

Update:

In order for the process to be even more clear, we have added a small label that shows that the curation process is finished.

Hi Jacob

I just tried the new system and so far, so good. It is very straightforward and the elimenation of the "like" and "dislike" charts, which

were redundant and often contradictory, is so much better.

Is there anyway to know how many votes have been cast during the curation process?

What is the time line between "published" and "awarded"?

Does "review done" mean the photo is published and will not be considered for an "award"?

I am sure you will bombarded with questions and suggestions but for me, my test drive, was very positive.

I know you have put in an enormous amount of work to make these changes and I am sure there will be some

tweaks and modifications in the process, but for the most part I think it is a very welcome change.

Thanks!

Jane

Kindly, how much it takes between acceptance and publishing ? will the progress to publish be visible in the progress bar or not ? Thanks .

Since it is handled by a smaller team (the Head Curators) it can take anything between 2-5 days. 

In order to not stall the curation process you can upload another photo to curation immediately after it has reached the Publish level.

Yeah, if you see REVIEW DONE and the photo is at publish level then it means it will not be awarded. In the previous system it was not possible to get this confirmation.

Thanks. I really appreciate the kind words.

It depends on several factors like how many votes it has received but normally it should take a couple of hours. The entire curation process should take 1-1.5 days.

No, this is not something we share. The reason for this is that the amount of votes can vary depending on when the photo is uploaded. We make sure every photo gets a fair review.

Now "accepted" is showing on the profile. So quality of 1x.com is going down. Too disappointed!!!!!!

Looks good to me Jacob well done.

Is it really a problem?

The criteria for the frontpage or the galleries have not changed. This only applies to the profile. I think it is fair that each user has more control what they want to show on their own profile page. Accepted is surely easier to reach than Published or Awarded - but it is still curated and a require a high quality submission. 

I currently have only one photo under the new curation process. It's been published, and it says "Published" exactly as before.

If it hadn't been published but only accepted, it would still appear on my profile with the word "Accepted," whereas before it wouldn't have appeared on my profile at all.

If I were bothered by having a photo that was "only" accepted on my profile, all I would have to do is delete it. So I don't see the problem; it seems like an improvement.

Kind regards, and stay safe.

Now that is clear, what about curation ?

Should we ( the members and the expert members defined by the site) curate for ecceptance or publish or what if you could tell, please?

Hi Jacob,

I appreciate the clarity on the new curation flow, and I’m glad to see these updates happening. But while we’re talking about improving the system, I want to raise something that’s becoming a much bigger issue across the site.

What is being done about the growing number of Awarded images that are unmistakably AI? Some of them are not even subtle, and one recently took second place in a contest. Many of us are seeing profiles full of these examples.

If the Awarded selections are coming from the senior panel, I think it may be time for a group review of criteria or verification, because far too many are slipping through. It’s discouraging for artists who are creating actual photographs and trying to maintain the standards 1x is known for.

I’m asking this with respect, but also with concern. The integrity of the platform depends on it.

Tammy
Senior Critic

 After the latest updates, I noticed that the buttons for rating photos in progress are no longer there and only the Reject, Publish, and Sublime buttons can be used.u

It would be nice that in a photographer's profile it can show different categrories: accepted, published and awared photos.

It's been 22 hours since I uploaded the photo, but I still can't see if it's accepted or not. The curation progress is stuck at 31%. Is this a bug?

Jacob, can we get an option to NOT show the "Accepted" photos on our profiles? If my photo is not "Published" I DO NOT WANT it to be displayed on my profile!

I have my personal webpage where I can display any photo, while I use 1X as a quality filter. So if 1X curators decide that my photo is a "garbage", then it should not be displayed here.

I understand that I can delete an Accepted photo after the review is done, but I guess it will be displayed as soon as it's Accepted, and before the review is finished. So it's out of my control and it will be displayed for up to 2 days. Also, deleting the photos afterwards will make me loose track of why I have already uploaded here.

After about 23 hours the curation progress has changed to 65%. This issue has been resolved.

I agree with this opinion.

I don't really want other people to see the photos that were accepted but never made it to publication.

This is a personal request.

I'm truly delighted that this update has a shorter review period.

Thank you, crew members. My deepest respect and appreciation.

I believe that at the very least, this opinion should encompass two perspectives:

　1x as a record of achievements and 1x as a platform for publication. 1x as a record of achievements is, of course, an authoritative body that only recognises works approved by curators.On the other hand,

　1x as a platform for publication is to showcase their work as their own creations, aiming to have them purchased.

Even if a curator deems something rubbish, it doesn't mean everyone else does. Those who like it will buy the pieces they favour. A certain level of quality is thus assured.

Personally, I welcome the implementaion of ‘Accepted’, but there ought to be more options.

For example, adding an option like " not to display ‘Accepted’ on profile".

(Naturally, far more considerations would be needed for individual use cases. But for those using 1x as an authoritative platform, this is a matter of vital importance.)

# above sentence is translated by DeepL

Mr. Jacob, thank you for your hard work.

For me, who began this challenge in 2023, refreshing the site also feels like a fresh and enjoyable endeavor.

There are currently three points that concern me.

1. It has been stuck at 31% for 24-28 hours.

2. I can't seem to follow the wonderful photographers from various countries; I can't find the follow button.

3. There were instances where entries were publicly displayed and awarded after being revived following rejection. Is that no longer possible?

Take care of yourself. Thank you again.

Very important topic that probably belongs in a different thread. But in short - we do not allow AI generated photos and they should be reported to [email protected]. If we can confirm that they are AI we will remove them from the site and warn the user who uploaded it. Several warnings will lead to a ban.

I will bring this up with the team but we try to keep the process as simple as possible without options. You can always e-mail [email protected] and request to have photos deleted.

Also, never upload anything you do not want on your profile.

Please contact [email protected] if a photo has been stuck for more than 30 hours. 1-2 days is normal time for curation. Sometimes the process is slower because we need more votes from experienced members before we can move the photo forward in the process. We want the decisions to be as fair as possible.

Just click the "Follow" button on the profile. It is in the lower right corner. 

Head curators can still override decisions. 

thank you for your response.

For all the photos I upload here, I wish they are published and even awarded :) I never post garbage intentionally. Because I obviously don't have a proper feeling, what is a good photo, that's why I am using 1X as a "filter". And if this "filter" (curators) decides that a photo is not good (although I think it is good, otherwise I would not post it), I don't want it to be displayed at all.

There can be a simple checkbox in the Settings, like for the "Hide nude photos".

Hello Jacob

What happened to "room for improvement"  Cannot find it concerning my images - to me these comments are quite valuable in my progress as photographer.

Thanks

/Peter 

Update:

Accepted photos can be deleted by the user without contacting support. Just open the photo in Directory and click the red button:

We will not provide an option to disable all accepted photos from profiles but with this delete button you can manually remove any accepted photo that you do not wish to show on your profile.

Good light

Jacob

There are still so many redundant photos of so many memebers including me circulating in the curation system, critique circle, and a critque review frepated and repated since ages, I guess it is the time to clear this visious circle.

Hi Jacob,

Thank you for your reply. There are several AI-related threads here on the forum, but they rarely get attention from anyone outside the critic team and there's noting we can do about it.  Many of the AI images that have been reported or emailed to support never seem to make it past that step, so the concern keeps circling back.

I’m listing three profiles I’ve come across that are full of Awarded images that appear to be AI, but there are quite a few more. These are just the ones I have seen discussed.

https://1x.com/photo/3364441

https://1x.com/photo/3325439

https://1x.com/photo/3310596

If there were a way to “report image” directly from a member’s profile, the same way we can during curation, it might help get these flagged and reviewed faster. Just a suggestion.

If you look through the forum for AI topics, you’ll see this is already a fairly large issue, and many members have been raising the same concerns. Sorry to hijack your post, but when a Founder steps into a thread, it feels like the right moment to bring this forward on behalf of myself and the many members who have been trying to address it.

Tammy

Thank you for providing me with these examples.

I will bring this up with my team and find a good solution for reporting suspicious photos to keep 1x AI-free.

Regards

Jacob

Wow Jacob Love the New Selection Process. Give yourself a pat on the back...🏆 🏆🏆🏆🏆Have five gold cups...

Yes it is!

When I send someone my profile here, I want them to see my best pictures - that's why I'm here. I don't want my profile to be diluted with my category C pictures. I find that really annoying. I'm here to sort my BEST pictures, not to show a profile diluted with irrelevant pictures.

Especially since my self-curated galleries are not displayed as default in my profile. ALL pictures are shown in my profile as default, now even those that are too bad for this platform.

I understand that you have to move with the times, but you are destroying your unique selling point. 

I have commented on curating few of them ( So real to be true ) which appears to the photographer only. I even wrote to one of them, Is this an AI image ?

Credit to you to refere to them.

I honestly don't understand what the problem is. If I think a photo is irrelevant and unsuitable for this platform, I don't send it. If, on the other hand, I think it's interesting, at least to me, and I send it but it doesn't get published, I might be happy for it to still be visible on my profile. In any case, I can always delete it and it will no longer be displayed.

My argument isn't, and isn't meant to be, controversial. It's just a different point of view.

You're fine.

Hello

You are now free to delete any photo that is in accepted status and that you do not want to show on your profile.

Regards

Jacob

The problem now is 1x.com not a high quality website any more if you look at indidiul photographers' profile. Don't forgert quality of photographer profiles, and they reflect the quality of 1x.com.

I like old curation better: At least I know some people opinons about my photo, which areas are good, which are not. Now I don't have any idea why the photo is selected or not.

Hi Tammy,

I don't know what settings you use but all your posts appear in white letters and on the light grey background are hardly visibe and readable. Is it a problem on my side? 

Hi Jivco,

Are you looking at where it was quoted be another maybe?  It's white on black for me.  The gray part at the top is where I quoted, that's usually not as bold, my text under.  Please let me know if you can scroll up and see it like this.  If not, it's an issue. 

Thanks for letting me know!

Tammy

Yes, I too always see Tammy's messages in white on gray. I select them to read them easily.

“A photo may be accepted but not published. Since the aim for most people here is to have their photos deemed worthy of publication, having a photo accepted but not published creates the same effect as being rejected. In other words, acceptance alone is not enough to satisfy a photographer. ‘Accepted only’ essentially means ‘Not worthy of publication.’”

Jacob Jovelou  

It would seem that the NEW CURATION  process is very sticky and less engaging how long do we have to wait for it to improve and be as dynamic as before?

Hola, puede que no sea el sitio correcto, pero lanzo mi pregunta, se pueden firmar las fotos? ,llevo poco tiempo por aquí y no lo tengo claro, yo firmo las mías y veo muchas firmadas, gracias.

Antonio,

Yes, you can add your name to your photos.  Go to 'Settings' in your Profile, then go down and check 'Append my name on all my photos'.  

. . . .  Steven T. 

Hello

I had a photo published on Friday evening and it was visible on my profile for a few hours. It is still being reviewed for an award, but it has disappeared from my profile, including the overview. I don't know if this is normal now.

When I'm away from home I access 1x on my android phone through Chrome. Since the update, I can no longer access any overviews there (including my own), nor can I see points.

Hi Tammy
I see your posts like this.

Hello Elizabeth,

Thanks for reporting this bug. It has now been solved :)

Good light

Jacob

Thanks so much, Jacob.

The bug that caused Tammy's text to become white on gray has been resolved.

Hi, Jacob

I experienced the same prolbem like Elisabeth described, which I can not see any overviews from my iphone.  

All the best,

Dawn

like the new transparency a lot, also the simplifications ! Moreover, I notice a strong increase in curation speed, thank you!

although I am "sad" that I likely will get no longer comments for one of my pictures in curation for years :-)

Hello Jacob, once a photo is accepted, do we receive a official decision whether the photo is published or not? My last released are stucked in the accepted status for few days currently.

Thanks for the hard work to keep 1x at the top of the photography curation websites. 

.hi, you should have this message under the photo, which means the curation is stopped at this level. If there is no such message after about 12 hours, this is an issue.

Hello

If you see a red blinking "IN REVIEW" then it is still in curation. If you see a non-blinking "REVIEW DONE"  then the photo has received the final result which can be seen below the progress bar and on the progress bar.

Please let me know which photo that is stuck so I can investigate. Curation should not take longer than it did before the changes.

Regards

Jacob

Jacob Jovelou CREW 

Update:

 

In order for the process to be even more clear, we have added a small label that shows that the curation process is finished.

 

 

When the photo is still being reviewed you will instead see this:

 

--

 

Please note that you can upload a new photo to curation immediately when it has passed the "Publish" step. You do not have to wait until the "Award" process has finished. 

 

Regards

Jacob

 

Hi Jacob.

To be clear... if you have received an 'ACCEPTED' and  'REVIEW DONE' does that mean you will NOT get published?

Paul Dovas PRO

Jacob Jovelou CREW 

Update:

 

In order for the process to be even more clear, we have added a small label that shows that the curation process is finished.

 

 

When the photo is still being reviewed you will instead see this:

 

--

 

Please note that you can upload a new photo to curation immediately when it has passed the "Publish" step. You do not have to wait until the "Award" process has finished. 

 

Regards

Jacob

 

Hi Jacob.

 

To be clear... if you have received an 'ACCEPTED' and  'REVIEW DONE' does that mean you will NOT get published?

I am not Jacob but I can answer from my experience. Whenever we see the status of "REVIEW DONE", then that's the end of the review process. If it's accepted, then it is accepted and not published. One remaining question which is still a bit vague is that "Head curators can still override decisions. " comment, and I don't know if they can do so for the "REVIEW DONE" ones as well or not.

Jacob, could you clarify on this point, please?

Hi Jacob,

a few thoughts about the new curation process:

I'm not very happy about it. Especially the speeding up until the first decision about accepted or not accepted leads in my opinion to bad evalutation of photos. Only a handfull of members look at the photos, partly (as seen in my last curation upload) on small smartphone displays where details in the images cannot be recognized. One comment about my photo "the passerby": Only an ordinary snap. 

This "ordinary snap" was awarded honorable mention in the reFocus Black and White Contest in the USA and additionally printed in the book "best 100 monochromatic images 2025" published by DODHO magazine in Barcelona / Spain. In both cases a highly recommended jury evaluated the photos, which can be seen in the text of the honorable mention by reFocus.

After the evaluation of the (in my opinion too few) 1X members the photo "the passerby" did not receive the status "published". And I doubt that any head curator will see this photo to decide about awarded or not.

Therefore I propose that any member can opt for a longer stay in curation. One week would be fine.

You can add a checkbox where the member can opt for longer curation time at the time of his upload.

The link to the DODHO book: https://www.blurb.de/books/12541933-monochromatic-2025

Good light, Hans-Martin

1x.com is a global website, but now some photos only can get a 12 hour curation, and it is unfair for some photgraphers in some places and their photos. A photo should have at least 24 hours curation.

I have recieved this comment too in one my photos, I guess it is a copy  paste sentence for gaining score point .

My reason for this reply is that I have curated the above photo in a super hurry form and I clicked reject, I guess the main reason for rejecting so many good photos (IMHO) is the speed and fastness that members ( me especially ) do curating the photos, and I could tell you why I have rejected the image precisly, I have noticed the unevenness of light in the upper half of the small photo in the image with the rest of the canvas, so I clicked reject in a hurry . Doing that I have missed the whole lower half of the small photo in the canvas. Thanks for bringing this subject to our attension.

I know very well from the time I spent with 1x.com that not every good and fine image will pass the test of curation, a reason for so many members have left the site for.

I took this apporchinty to suggest that some head curatos should review the unpublished or as they called now the accepted or reviwed photos to override the process of rejection for those good images in thier opinions, and doing this in a regular basis.

Mi a minimális százalékos arány, amit egy fotónak el kell érnie ahhoz, hogy elfogadják?

And among these, you can see an image that AI created for me almost exactly the same Way!

I think banning members who use AI is the only way to stop this avalanche of AI in a short time.Deleting the AI images is not enough, in my opinion.And at some point it will be practically impossible due to the large number of such images on the one hand and the resources required to manage this situation on the other hand.

This sanction should be known upon registration, and announced to current members so that no one can say that they did not know what are the consequences for using AI, so that they have no excuse.

I think it would be useful to have the possibility to send for checking those published/awarded images that raise suspicion of being generated by AI or with AI elements. Maybe a button next to each photo that would have the role of 'AI check' or to implement a specific email to which messages with the link to those  images should be sent.

The other day I saw in an award-winning photo a left hand that has 2,5 fingers.And a lot of images with many other aberrations, of course.

The last trend I noticed this year is AI generated architecture and AI drone images (mostly lanscape).I saw the almost same lanscape with different paths from a hill to another, one with a river, one without.And so on...

Last year's trend was to overlay taxtures (with flowers and other elements ) on AI generated portraits.

I am curious for the trend of 2026 - ICM? Street? Still life? :) We will see if this AI infusion cannot be stopped.

Hej!

 Synd att jag inte upptäckte det här nya kureringssystemet innan jag betalade en ny Pro-avgift.

Jag må ha blivit bortskämd med att bli publicerad och belönad, men det är anmärkningsvärt hur mina foton plötsligt har blivit så dåliga att de knappt kan accepteras.

Angående kommentarerna du får nu, kan man undra lite. På tre bilder i rad fick jag den här kommentaren. "Det är ett vanligt foto med oskärpa."

Jag förstår inte alls syftet med kommentaren.

Tonen i vissa kommentarer låter också hårdare.

Personligen anser jag att det nya systemet inte bara är för en rättvisare bedömning utan också mycket mer kritiskt. Jag håller dock med om att bedömningen går snabbare, men på bekostnad av vad?

Det kommer förmodligen aldrig att bli några priser för mig hädanefter och jag kommer inte att satsa på samma sätt som tidigare, att lägga upp bilder här.

Det känns väldigt sorgligt eftersom jag kommer att få svårt för att jag inte kommer att publiceras på bästa sätt eller få nöja mig med bara acceptans.

Ylva Sjögren.

Just delete them. They are gone instantly. For me, personally, accepted, feels not good enough. 
I delete them. There is quite a lot I can upload, and maybe that will be published. Maybe not. I just wait and see. Sometimes it is hard when a picture is rejected, and it was one I believed in. Just take a deep breath and try harder. Therte are weeks that everything works out very well, and weeks that don't. I always blame myself and like I said, walk that extra mile before I upload a new picture. I just counted roughly that I have over 120 pictures published this year, that means about one each 3 days. I am not complaning! 

As I said, this makes me loose track of what I already uploaded here.

It's sad that this is now the only way to get rid of these "semi-rejected" photos, as the fully rejected once do not need to be deleted and they stay in the list, to prevent me from uploading the same photos again.

 I have a few questions regarding the recent changes.

1. If the curation process truly has not changed, why are so many members now seeing mostly “Accepted” results, with very few “Published”?
2. In the recent “Published” section, bird, animal, and portrait photos seem to be appearing much more frequently than before.
   Is this shift connected in any way to the new system?
3. I would like to ask whether the recent changes reflect a direction toward making 1x a more casual platform compared to before.

Thank you.

Sorry, I sent the message twice.

  To follow up on my previous post, I would like to share a bit of my experience on 1x.

I started photography about two years ago, and I discovered 1x roughly one year ago. Since then, I have learned a great deal from this platform, and thanks to that, I have been fortunate enough to receive around 50 Published photos and 12 Awards so far.

When I first joined 1x, what impressed me most was that many of the Published and Awarded photos were built on a kind of beauty that beginners (including myself at the time) could not immediately understand.

Yet by viewing them repeatedly, I gradually learned to appreciate their depth.

1x was one of the few places where such “difficult beauty” was not only accepted but celebrated. For many of us, it worked as a true educational platform that helped us refine our artistic eye.

However, in recent weeks, the showcase seems to have changed dramatically.

Highly structured architectural works, abstract concepts, complex compositions, and other sophisticated genres appear much less frequently.

Instead, the Published and Awarded sections now seem to be dominated mainly by portraits, animals, and birds — genres that are generally easier to understand and more immediately appealing to a broad audience.

I do not think these genres are bad.

But when member curation becomes the deciding factor in the earliest stage, photos that require deeper interpretation may be filtered out before they ever reach the expert curators. As a result, only “easily digestible beauty” remains, while more refined or challenging works disappear.

If this continues, I fear that 1x may lose the unique strength it once had — the ability to curate and elevate high-level artistic photography that goes beyond what is commonly found on social media.

I am writing this not as criticism, but as a sincere concern from someone who has learned so much from 1x and has been deeply inspired by the diversity and sophistication of the work once showcased here.

I truly hope the platform can preserve the depth of aesthetic expression that has made it so meaningful to many of us.

Thank you for reading.

Hans Martin Doelz CREW 

Hi Jacob,

 

a few thoughts about the new curation process:

 

I'm not very happy about it. Especially the speeding up until the first decision about accepted or not accepted leads in my opinion to bad evalutation of photos. Only a handfull of members look at the photos, partly (as seen in my last curation upload) on small smartphone displays where details in the images cannot be recognized. One comment about my photo "the passerby": Only an ordinary snap. 

 

This "ordinary snap" was awarded honorable mention in the reFocus Black and White Contest in the USA and additionally printed in the book "best 100 monochromatic images 2025" published by DODHO magazine in Barcelona / Spain. In both cases a highly recommended jury evaluated the photos, which can be seen in the text of the honorable mention by reFocus.

 

 

 

After the evaluation of the (in my opinion too few) 1X members the photo "the passerby" did not receive the status "published". And I doubt that any head curator will see this photo to decide about awarded or not.

 

Therefore I propose that any member can opt for a longer stay in curation. One week would be fine.

You can add a checkbox where the member can opt for longer curation time at the time of his upload.

 

The link to the DODHO book: https://www.blurb.de/books/12541933-monochromatic-2025

 

Good light, Hans-Martin

 

I completely agree. If I'm in a hurry, I just ask my neighbor if he likes the photo. I get an answer in five minutes. But the reason I signed up for 1x is because I need an expert opinion, and I don't mind waiting as long as it takes.

Dear Nihon, your profile is very similar to mine and to that of thousands of photographers who once joined 1x seeking to elevate our artistic quality. With 58 photos published, I came to understand the difference between a photo with artistic quality and simply a good photo. Since this process began, even though I'm the same photographer, my photos have stopped being published and, at best, remain in the "Accepted" limbo. As I've mentioned in a previous post, they've put a security guard at the entrance of 1x who systematically rejects all photos that haven't been taken, with very expensive cameras, by experts in fashion, portraiture, or exotic landscapes. I don't know if this is truly the site's purpose, but if so, it's a shame.

I don't think expensive cameras are a determining factor, just as the pen used didn't matter (when writing was still done with a pen) in determining the value of a literary work.

It seems to me that one needs a higher quote than before for a foto to be published. On 3 of my last entries I reached 48% by experts and it was accepted but not published, before 39% had been sufficent by the experts to be published. So, on the good side that means that the overall quality will not suffer because its far more difficult to get a foto published. On the negative side: the new "accepted level" looks to me like a consolation prize if you don't make it to the new, more difficult-to-achieve "published" level. It´s a personal decision, but I delete all those accepted pictures from my profile page: if they are not rated good enough for publishing they are not good enough for my profile.

I can assure you that this is not the case: 10 days ago I took a pic with my old iphone 12 and I thought it was so good I gave it a try here and it was published........

One system can't fit all user's preferences. If you consider "Accepted" as Class C and not worth to be seen, simply delete them.

You can create an own gallery and make that the default, select what you want to show to visitors of your profile. Newly "Awarded" you will have to add then yourself. 

The idea of this entire change is to provide the possibility to show a portfolio - still including a minimal quality check - even if these were neither published nor awarded. I'm with 1x for so long to still remember that has been the case many years ago. Members complained when it changed that their portfolios only carried published and awarded, they wanted to show more than just selected. These changes obviously don't reflect your preferences of what to show, but there is a way to achieve exactly that.

Ultimately, to be very frank, it's our responsibilty to choose what we want to be shown as reference to our work. Why would I upload a "Class C" work and then complain it's shown indeed. A bit bizarre in my view.

Thank you for sharing your opinion, Mr. Neumann. First, let me congratulate you on the publication of your photograph. I've always believed that talent isn't included in the price of any camera, and I also have two photos published, taken with a modest Xiaomi A2. I've never said that nothing should be published. I maintain that I pay a fee, like everyone else, so that expert, novice, senior, and junior curators can evaluate my photos and decide together whether they are published or forgotten. That's what has happened so far, and I've accepted the rules. What I don't understand, nor have I asked for, is that to speed up the acceptance or rejection process, photos are evaluated, in the initial stages, by people without sufficient knowledge to discard photos that, otherwise, might have had a chance. In life, there are two types of movement: evolution and change. The first allows us to move forward; the second doesn't take us anywhere specific, it only changes the rules of the game. Have you seen in any forum a large majority calling for a faster photo acceptance or rejection process? I honestly haven't. Best regards.

Mike said: "You can create an own gallery and make that the default, select what you want to show to visitors of your profile. Newly "Awarded" you will have to add then yoursel".

Unfortunatly that is no longer the case. Instead, any newly accepted/published/awarded photos now appear on my profile automatically regardless of my default 'exhibition' choice of shots. Is this issue a BUG? I hope so, as I no longer can create my own curated series of images for my own profile. Or am i the only one affected?

"When I'm away from home I access 1x on my android phone through Chrome. Since the update, I can no longer access any overviews there (including my own), nor can I see points."

I have the same issue on my phone (Apple), no points and overview showing, hope this will be back soon.

Thanks team for your great work, a new system normally takes time to be smooth, and I truly appreciate your time and effort.

Hi Peter,

What you describe is also meant to be a feature. Did you check the settings of your gallery - set as default for entry?

 Should be in your control whether new photos will be added. And even if, can't you remove them from a custom gallery? 

Regards,

Mike

Thanks Mike, yes, I do have those options as wanted, it always worked fine before, but nevertheless 'now' new images get posted on top of my default profile.

Open for visotors (Tick) Automatically add published photos (Un-ticked) Default exhibition on profile (ticked)

By the way, it's only published and awarded images that appear to be available to be included in any exhibition!

Indeed, Peter.

I don't know if Jacob still plans to make it possible to include the accepted photos in exhibitions. That would at least make sense. 

That's exactly what we don't need, I'd call that an issue. I thought the sense of it is to show a portfolio besides (and mabye including) awarded and published photos. Did you report that to Jacob or support@ ? 

You see, I don't use that gallery option not too instensively. Have some, just played around with it.

Cheers,

Mike

 Dear Luis,

 Thank you very much for your reply.

I am relieved to know that many others have gone through similar experiences.

I strongly suspect that photographs in certain fields, such as architecture and abstraction, are being filtered out simply because they are difficult for member curators to understand.

As a result of repeated system changes, it seems to me that 1x has let go of the kind of highly specialized and intellectually demanding beauty that once defined it.

If this shift was intentionally made to attract a broader and more casual audience, then I personally no longer feel the need to continue using this website.

Unfortunately, on Japanese social media, I have even seen comments saying things like,

“If you take portraits using Rembrandt lighting at around F8–F11, getting published on 1x is easy.”

This kind of situation sadly suggests to me that the brand value of 1x has significantly declined.

I think this new curation system is quite nice and a decent step towards a more transparent and faster way to show some achievement towards publishing and awarding photos. That being said, I hope the site allow some of the previous curation system to come back.

The first step seems way too quick. While the bar may be low for this step and it's only to have a photo show on a photographers profile, more time may be needed to really have a good idea on whether a photo's quality for the category is up to par. Photography as an art form is quite subjective afterall.

I must admit that while the idea of an Accepted step has great potential for positive reinforcement on the photographer to grow, it also has the potential for many sub-par photos to be seen on the site. Granted a person would need to visit the photographers profile to view it, so that may not really be a big issue. 

The removal of 'how does this photo make you feel' and the charts showing what is liked and what needs improvement are definitely great changes. 

Overall, I look forward to seeing how the curation workflow changes and becomes better for all.

How do you build a portfolio on 1x?

Thanks!

Jurgen, 

I see you just joined in October.  Welcome!

There is some information in the FAQ section about Exhibitions and how to make them from your Published photos.  

If you need help, try writing to Support.  Their address is at the bottom of the FAQ section.  

. . . . Steven T.  

As someone mentioned in another thread, the initial “cut-off” by member curators has apparently been in place since 2019, and according to that, the system itself has not fundamentally changed.

However, if there has truly been no change in the curation system, I find it difficult to understand why certain genres have clearly become much less likely to be published, while at the same time the main showcase has come to be dominated by very specific types of images.

One possible explanation, as others have also suggested, is that many member curators tend to evaluate only what is visually “clean,” easy to understand, or immediately pleasing. This is not meant as criticism of individuals — I myself was exactly the same when I had just started photography.

Ultimately, I feel that there has been no official explanation from the platform regarding this shift in aesthetic balance.

How do you change the currency from dollar to euro?

And change from inches to centimeters? 

I don't find that. 

Thanks in advance. 

Since far fewer images are being awarded, we should focus our attention to the gallery of latest published work. Unfortunately proper

navigation is still not possible there. I kindly request navigations buttons as in the gallery of awarded images

Hans-Wolfgang, 

the navigation in the gallery of published photos is the same as in the awarded gallery. You can choose by clicking on one of the 24 lines below LATEST. Or what do you mean ?

Hi Hans Martin, 

I usually choose thumbnails, not flow for the overview of he latest published images gallery. However, the navigation arrows on the left and right are missing there, so you can't navigate through the images in the same way as with the awarded photos. Thanks for your interest

Curation System

Curation System

The curation system is still lacking transparency because it does not show how many curators actually participated in the evaluation. A displayed approval rate of, for example, 70% has a very different meaning depending on whether this result is based on 10 or on 100 curators.

A 70% score derived from only 10 votes is statistically far less reliable. A single additional approval or rejection can significantly change the outcome. In contrast, a 70% result based on 100 curators is much more stable and representative, as individual votes have only a minimal impact on the overall score.

Without information about the number of curators involved, an essential context for interpreting the score is missing. The percentage alone creates an impression of objectivity and clarity, but it does not indicate how reliable or meaningful the result actually is. As a result, a key aspect of transparency remains unaddressed: the ability to understand how broad or narrow the decision-making basis truly is.

In summary, displaying percentage values without revealing the underlying number of votes provides only an illusion of transparency. A truly transparent curation system should disclose both the percentage score and the number of participating curators in order to allow a realistic assessment of the quality and reliability of the evaluation.

deleted

Hi Jacob,

First I'd like to say the new algorithims on curate appear to be more accurate.  I have sent some photos back through that previously got 1% to 5% and now track at 20% to 60% I think the changes are more acurrate and consistent with the quality of the images. ... also testing with images of marginal content and quality the numbers come in low as expected.  :)..granted it's my own work, so I may be biased. ...Thank you, to the team for continued improvments to the 1X site.

My question/concern is about the image quality we see while curating. I have noticed while curating images that the image quality is degraded some at curate vs when the same image shows up on the main page after it is awarded or published. This is much more noticable on panoramic images, but seems to effect all to a degree. During the curation process image quality can be a deciding factor on whether one hits "Publish" or "Reject" ... so not being able to see the true image quality during the curation process could effect final results.  I realize this is not an easy fix, as programming is complex. Possibly this was done just to stream-line the work flow and load times of images to curate.  ...or it's possible, the expert curators and those making the final decision already see a larger file.

Currently while curating if you push "+" you get more info about the photo. I wonder if it would be possible to also see a larger image file here as well? 

... just a thought, there are times when image quality is the deciding factor.

Thank you for all your hard work, Best Regards ~ Rick

Hi Rick,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I understand your perspective, however unfortunately I do not feel that the new curation algorithm has become more accurate.

In my view, it is not so much “improved” as it is that the tendencies have changed. I suspect that the weighting of member curators’ votes has increased, which would naturally shift the results.

Interestingly, my experience is the opposite of yours:

images of mine that previously passed curation are now consistently rejected under the new system. This suggests to me that the criteria or balance within the evaluation process has changed rather than the accuracy objectively improving.

In addition, this is only my personal observation, but after comparing 1x from about a year ago with the current version using the Wayback Machine, it seems to me that highly specialized genres such as architecture and abstract photography have become less visible, while more broadly accessible subjects have become more prominent.

Of course, this is only my personal observation, but I felt it was worth sharing as another data point in this discussion.

nihonOOtokage

My experience over the last two months is similar to yours.

Architecture and abstract art are apparently no longer to the curators' taste. I think the head curators see far fewer of these images because they don't make it through the initial stages of selection. It's completely unclear to me how the selection process works now. 

What I do know is that it is impossible to make a fair selection if you decide after 12 hours whether a photo is published and can proceed to a possible award. 1X is a 24-hour event, so at least give members all over the world the chance to judge a photo.

I´ve come to the same conclusion. The curations process and results are disastrous and a real nuisance every time I visit 1x.com.

I don´t want to get annoyed, so I´ve looked for and found alternatives.

I agree. I think, perhaps I'm wrong?, that the new abbreviated process doesn't adequately cover the various time zones (obviously, in a certain part of the world, there are few people judging images at four in the morning).

I've noticed, with the new curation system, that my photos, which I always send at more or less the same time due to my daily schedule, achieve high approval ratings in the first 12 hours or so, and then, in the hours that follow, this percentage drops significantly. This ALWAYS happens. I'll try to organize myself so that I can send photos 12 hours earlier/later to see if, this way, the exact opposite will happen.

Hello everyone! I would like to share my experiences with the new curatorial process with you! I slowly started to get more serious about photography five years ago when I bought my first DSLR camera, a Nikon D80. When I found 1x, I liked the selection process and the variety of images! I look at 500 images almost every day during the curatorial process! Unfortunately, lately, 50 percent of these images are completely unappreciable in my opinion! Uninteresting topic, bad composition, bad editing and I could list more! I feel like I learned a lot during my time on 1x! I currently have 193 published images, but since the new curatorial process was introduced, unfortunately, I have hardly any images that are published! In my opinion, you can't expect an expert evaluation from a member who can't even see the mistakes in his own image! I noticed with many of the pictures that the creator took a picture with his mobile phone and immediately uploaded it to 1x! I think 1x cannot be compared to Facebook! My suggestion would be that in the curation process only those members who already have a certain number of published photos can rate! Thank you for reading my opinion!

I agree with the recent comments, especially that certain categories have become more prevalent than others since the update, noticeably animals/birds, landscapes and portraits, while architecture, street and creative edits are less visible. I have started to feel that 1x is emulating National Geographic. Perhaps this is because some categories sell better than others, but there is also a possibility that more weight is being given to the votes of member curators since the update.

I canceled my renewal at the end of the month but in the meantime i tried to send another photo. The usual nonsensical comments and the photo was rejected. The evaluation process is increasimgly umclear

Hello dear Jacob

 Is AI currently used for judging photos and for accepting or rejecting them for publication?

I've recently noticed similar comments on my photos that are in the judging stage. These comments have been repeated quite often on my photos lately, which is why I'm wondering if AI is used for judging and commenting on photos at 1x?

طاقم  جاكوب جوفيلو

تحديث:

 

ولجعل العملية أكثر وضوحًا، أضفنا علامة صغيرة تشير إلى أن عملية التنسيق قد انتهت.

 

 

بينما لا تزال الصورة قيد المراجعة، سترى هذا بدلاً من ذلك:

 

--

 

يرجى العلم أنه يمكنك تحميل صورة جديدة إلى قسم التنسيق فورًا بعد اجتيازها خطوة "النشر". لا داعي للانتظار حتى انتهاء عملية "المنح". 

 

يعتبر

يعقوب

 

Hello dear Jacob

 Is AI currently used for judging photos and for accepting or rejecting them for publication?

I've recently noticed similar comments on my photos that are in the judging stage. These comments have been repeated quite often on my photos lately, which is why I'm wondering if AI is used for judging and commenting on photos at 1x?

I see many photo's in the curation of architecture, street and creative edits.

In the curation process should be the category mentioned. 

These are comments who are copy and paste of members. 

I'd just like to know if it became "harder" to get awarded.

Good afternoon, Elizabeth. I think there are many people who, like me, use 1x.com to check the artistic quality of their photos, their progress within the world of photography, and the level of acceptance of their work. I have 60 published photos, and since someone implemented this new evaluation system, none of my photos are being published. They are accepted (sometimes with a 59% approval rating from the curators), but not published. Has my quality suddenly dropped? Are my photos getting worse every day? I believe that 1x.com's responsibility and goal is not to deceive people about their true skill level, but to help many photographers who rely on this site to measure their progress to improve. To sell photos, there are stock websites, commercial sites. I don't care if photos of birds, field mice, or wildflowers sell more. What matters to me is not being frustrated by people saying my photos are bad because they don't sell. I think someone from the staff should step forward and clearly explain the reasons for this change so that no one feels deceived.

Hello Luis, I'm sorry that I can't give you an explanation although I am a crew member. I understand your frustration. While there are other sites to sell photos, 1x is a business and I'm sure some members are hoping to sell through the site. (That's not why I'm here - like you I want to know whether or not my work has merit.) I hope that an explanation will be forthcoming.

1x.com has long ceased to be a benchmark for judging whether an image is good or bad. If an image is loved in 3 oither communities and not published at 1x.com, then 1x.com´s decision is irrelevant for me.

 Below are some concerns I personally have regarding the direction of the updated evaluation system.

Recently, it seems that the number of accepted portrait and wildlife photographs has increased.

At the same time, I cannot help but question whether many of the works now being accepted under the new criteria truly meet the level of quality that 1x has traditionally represented.

This is because many of them would not have been selected under the former curation standards.

As a result, architectural, abstract, and street photographs — genres that were once highly valued — now appear to be selected less frequently, which I find quite disappointing.

I fully understand that 1x is a commercial platform, and that attracting new users and improving profitability are important for its sustainability. I also recognize that any community without new members will eventually decline.

However, if achieving this comes at the cost of altering the very identity of the platform, then I believe this is fundamentally misguided.

I feel that what makes 1x “1x” — namely, its high curation standards and selective quality — is at risk of being diluted by the current direction.

Hi Elizabeth, thank you so much for your reply. I understand that some people want to sell, but I understand that they are actually selling their photos. What they really want is to sell much more, and to do that they're going to destroy this Website. Well, success can kill you too. It's a shame. Of course, I'm no longer interested in staying on this site where, except for people like you, no one else is stepping up. Warm greetings. 

I have actually written about my feelings on the current situation several times, but no one has taken any notice. That's one of the reasons why I canceled my subscription. What's the point of a forum if no one pays any attention to you?

Responce of the founders? 0,00000

It's disapointing. 

I'm guessing there is a cut off in the % for accepted to go to published?  Since the new update only 1 of my photos had made it to even accepted,  and I have awarded photos that were at a much lower percentage then my most recent reviewed photo.  

Also, almost all the feedback I have received while the photos are in curation since the update have been positive,  I'm really confused on what happened that suddenly my work is falling so short.  

is there anywhere to get more clarification on what is happening in the curation process? Or is that style of photography just not valued right now.  I feel that the value can be the issue as crew members haven't really changed? 

maybe with how the new system is,  the photos aren't even making it to be reviewed by senior critics/ crew members?  Any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated 

I feel that member ratings carry much more weight and that my preferred genre, abstract architecture, receives less attention. This makes 1x.com hardly interesting for me anymore. I'll go where my images are appreciated.

Dear Hans, I support your views. For some time now, many valuable photographers have lost their trust in 1x’s curatorial authority. The criticisms being raised should be taken seriously, and 1x should move away from being merely an aesthetic showcase.

Hi everyone,

The first steps of the curation process are based on how members are voting. This means that what is being accepted and published is actually what the photographers of this site are voting for. Unfortunately the truth is that some genres are more popular than others among the voting photographers of this community. If you think that the results are bad, I encourage you to vote more in curation for the right photos that you think should be published.

We are working on a feature to make it possible for the head curators to override the decisions of the community, since you are not happy with the decisions of the community.

The reason we changed the system is because there were a lot of negative opinions about the old system in this very forum. It seems there is no way to make everyone happy unfortunately, because whatever we do we mostly just get complaints. But we are not giving up, we are constantly trying to find new ways to improve the system.

All the best, Ralf

thanks a lot Ralf, much important info

Thank you Ralf.

The Problem is: members tend to like nice and happy images of birds, women and patagonian landscapes. But 1x has always been a place for creative and unusual photography. How do you make sure that an unusual but great photo does not go down in a enviroment that favours mainstream photography?

I delete your post because

- there is now a respose of the founders

- your question on curation categories is listed in a different section

This surprised me. I imagine accepted might be but even for publish are decided by members.

I am paying for the professional curation, not community base curation for sure, because that is similar (not same though) with SNS.

I understand that you are trying to update the system that head curators can override the decision, but why we need people to decide which one to publish? 

Anyone can be a member by paying for subscription. Some photographeres here have experience but not all.

I am okay with not accepted, accepted, or even just published if that the decision by experts. But I don't want members to judge the photo.

I did curation based on my senes without knowing my voting will affect the result of others publication. I cannot vote anymore as I am not trained curator.

Ken

Dear Ken.

"This surprised me. I imagine accepted might be but even for publish are decided by members.

I am paying for the professional curation, not community base curation for sure, because that is similar (not same though) with SNS."

I am surprised too. 

Yushi

Dear Ralf,
Thank you very much for taking the time to share this explanation. I truly appreciate your openness, and I am grateful to finally understand the current situation. It means a great deal to hear directly from you.
At the same time, I must admit that I was surprised to learn that general members effectively function as the primary filter in the curation process. I had not imagined this to be the case.
This includes myself, but general members naturally consist of a very wide range of people: from experienced photographers to complete amateurs, from those with no proven track record to those who participate in curation mainly to accumulate points. As has been discussed in other threads, there are also cases where identical comments are repeatedly copied for scoring purposes.
I understand that these may represent only a small fraction of users, but even a small fraction can be concerning when it becomes part of the filtering mechanism.
As you rightly said, it is probably impossible to satisfy everyone. Still, I believe that there is a clear value in a curated gallery where photographs are ultimately judged through professional eyes. That principle is, in many ways, what makes 1X unique.

I became tired of social media platforms where value is determined by mass reaction, and that is how I arrived at 1X.
This place is truly demanding, but it is precisely because of that severity that it has helped me grow as a photographer. For that, I feel nothing but gratitude.
I genuinely love 1X.
I sincerely hope that 1X will never become a place where value is determined solely by what the crowd happens to “like.”

Thank you again for your continued efforts and for not giving up on improving the system.
With my deepest respect and appreciation,

Yushi

Dear Karin,

 Thank you for your comment. I agree you too.

I believe that the quality of curators needs to be properly ensured. For example, curation that directly affects outcomes should be restricted to individuals who have demonstrated expertise in the relevant genre. As one possible criterion, influence on curation in the Street category could be limited to curators who have published more than 100 images in that genre.

This would inevitably raise concerns about a shortage of curators. However, when critique lacks technical and domain-specific expertise, it effectively becomes equivalent to no critique at all.

While I initially welcomed the faster curation cycle and found it encouraging, I have come to feel that incomplete or insufficiently informed critiques are not useful for my artistic development or for meaningful selection of my work. I consider my subscription fee as payment for receiving thoughtful, well-founded critique—even if it takes more time—rather than rapid but low-quality evaluations.

I sincerely hope that the platform’s greatest value—the opportunity to receive critique and to have one’s work meaningfully validated—will not be diminished.

I fully recognize that this is an extremely challenging issue for the team to address, and I genuinely understand the emotional and practical burden it places on the administrators. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest respect and sincere gratitude to everyone involved in operating and sustaining this platform.

Yushi.K

Thanks for letting us know,  I wasn't trying to complain just trying to get some clarification on what the requirements and cut off are for making it through.  I think it's a great idea to add the override.  Thanks for the info! 

Hi Ralf,

Thank you for the information and for explaining the reasoning behind the current system.

You mention that the first stage of curation is now based on member voting. From my perspective, this seems fundamentally incompatible with what this website has traditionally presented as its core value: professional curation by experienced photographers.

Some members have already raised concerns about the “cutoff” stage. How do you address the situation where a photograph may be filtered out by voters who are not necessarily experts in photographic evaluation, and therefore never even reaches the attention of professional curators?

This is a point that directly affects trust in the curation process, and I would appreciate your thoughts on how this risk is being considered. 

... qualquer um é curador se assim o quiser, tenha ou não alguma experiencia com a fotografia, composição, estudo de cor, (...) qualquer um pode chegar a curador top se assim resolver comentar nem que os seus comentários ou opiniões possuam alguma credibilidade então porque não aparecer junto ao comentário o nome de quem comenta iriapermitiria que o seu curriculo pudesse ser apreciado por quem recebe a critica ...
porque é que as fotografias não podem ser postadas na galeria individual de cada um sem terem de ser alvo de curadoria (?) quem quiser submeter a fotografia para curadoria iria depender de cada um ... e ia tirar trabalho aos "curadores, sejam eles quem forem"

...anyone can be a curator if they want to be, whether or not they have any experience with photography, composition, color study, (...)
anyone can become a top curator if they decide to comment, even if their comments or opinions have some credibility, so why not show the 
name of the person commenting next to the comment? It would allow their resume to be appreciated by those who receive the criticism...
Why can't photographs be posted in each person's individual gallery without having to be curated (?) whoever wants to submit a photograph 
for curation would depend on each person... and it would take work away from the "curators, whoever they may be"

I'm really sorry for posting so much.

The other day, I submitted photos that didn't make it to publication for critique. The only comment I received was:

This is the mass-produced copy-and-paste comments that have been problematic in numerous threads. They only resulted in comments that were not constructive enough to contribute to growth, let alone criticism.

If I can't get expert curation or proper criticism at this point, then I see no point in using 1X.

I am concerned that the value of being featured in the Gallery and receiving awards may decline if things continue as they are.

As a result, I'm finding it less appealing both for growth and for building a track record.

I was informed that there exists a juried gallery where works are evaluated solely by professional eyes. I intend to try using that service.

I sincerely thank 1X for all the insights and lessons it has given me up until now.

Warm regards,

Yushi. K

I believe that a system which satisfies every single member does not exist. Therefore, I want the management team to stay true to their vision of what they want 1X to be in the photography world, rather than being swayed by the opinions of a few.

In my opinion, the current system does not align with the initial vision of gathering the world's best photographs in one place. While I understand that catering to the membership and maintaining a democratic approach may be necessary for operational sustainability, that is not what I seek from 1X.

I really want 1X to be a community where members can mutually inspire one another, and where an "Awarded" or even a "Published" status is a prestigious milestone that photographers can truly take pride in. However, as our peers have also expressed similar concerns, I feel that is no longer the case.

I am deeply grateful for everyone here and everything I have learned.

Thank you for the inspiration you have provided over the years.

Hi, Yushi

 I have received many similar types of comments as well.

At first, I considered them merely meaningless or distracting, but after following the recent discussions, I have started to feel that the existence of such comments may itself be undermining the fairness of the curation process.

To be honest, I consider the recent update to be a failure — serious enough to fundamentally undermine the trust many of us had in 1x.

The professional curation that many of us trusted now includes a popularity-based mechanism that is fundamentally incompatible with it.

Moreover, parts of this voting and commenting process influence evaluations without clear transparency regarding who is participating or based on what standards.

If fair and expertise-based judgment, as we once knew it, is no longer maintained, I believe that many long-standing users who have supported this platform will choose to leave.

For this reason, unless the previous curation system is restored, I will not submit photographs to 1x.

I reported this comments many times, but they keep coming back. 

Then you begin to think, why report those if they don't do anything about it? 

The developers of this webpage can always look into the database, to see which users are posting those repeating comments, and they can be banned. These are not some fake or anonymous users, but real users that want to increase their points.

If the administrators haven't done this yet, it seems they do not care about that. I am also a professional software developer (photography is just my hobby), and I know it's quite trivial to perform such an analysis.

However, as I said in another post, I am quite sure that those comments are not manually copy pasted, but some automated script is used to call the website's server functions. 

Default Exhibition on 'My Profile', still does not work. I (and probably everyone else) is stuck with whatever new image is Accepted/Published/Awared as the first image. This means no one can arrange their own landing page images as they like.

The curation system has worked like this for many many years. There is also an in-built test in the curation system that will determine the skill of each voting member and weigh the voting power according to how good each member curator is. Of course photographers will be unhappy when images are not published and blame the system for this or that reason, it's in the very nature of a curated gallery like this. Everyone won't be happy or agree with every decision because different people have different visions of what artistic quality photography is. I have heard this type of critique against the curation system and how the quality level is constantly dropping every year since we started this site. I'm very tired about this kind of talk. If that was true we would have already hit rock bottom a long time ago. We have been running this site for 19 years making improvements all of the time and still going strong and not giving up despite constant complaints. Personally I think the front page is looking better than ever before and surely way better than in the beginning.

Thank you Ralf for the reply. 

So you mean it's members (us) who decided publish or not even before the recent update and only awards were decided by hear curators for years. 

 If the system has been functioning in this form for many years, may I ask why it is only now being stated that the first stage of the process is based on member voting?

And why is it only now being acknowledged that this voting results in certain genres being disadvantaged?

I have the utmost respect for your dedication in maintaining this platform for almost twenty years. That is a truly remarkable achievement.

Although I am not familiar with the full history of 1X, I have nonetheless felt a notable change in the gallery. If the recent updates have not affected the curation standards, then the preferences and perception of photography among community members may simply have changed.

I was concerned that the vision of 1X might be becoming blurred by trying to accommodate various complaints. I really want the management team to have absolute confidence that the system is the best way to achieve its vision. If it is uncompromising, the right people will follow.

Therefore, it is encouraging to know that you are confident you are on the right path. Ultimately, for those who can not embrace these changes, the only option is to move on.

I am grateful once again for everything I have learned here. I wish you and 1X all the best.

Agreed, the front page looks well. However, member curation is fine but in cases members don't have the necessary expertise we should think about adding some AI evaluation to the member votes. Especially in genres like street photography or documentary photos (when the photo is a blending of documentary with fine art) AI can be helpful. Let's have a look at the Google AI evaluation of my street photography "the passerby" which did not get enough points from the members to receive the publish status. And I doubt that any of the head curators saw this image.

I asked Google AI: "what makes this photograph stand out?" https://gallery.1x.com/photo/3375895

For my taste, the gallery would win when good street photography had more chances to be included and not sentenced to death by some member curators.

Good light, Hans-Martin

Fully understand your point.

The popular vote favours "easy" images, resulting in an overdose of stylised (female) portraits, colourful landscapes and cute animals. I have no problem with these subjects, but they become really dominant now. Anything that is difficult to read in less than 5 seconds is voted out. 

I have photos not even accepted, something that never happened in my 12 years membership.

Of course I had lots of photos not published, but at least a Head curator made that decision, not a series of member voters pushing the reject button ( takes 1 second and is worth 5 points).

Best

Luc

Hi Everyone,

What Ralf said is ironic. Giving the head curators authority to overide is a step back to the old system which people objected to not long ago. I think making changes to a curation process because photographers wantt more photos published is a bad idea.

In the old system, the first filter was members voting, the second was a curator team and the third was overides by the head curator.

It looks like 1x may have to re-invent the wheel again. Since everyone can not be pleased, the old system was as good as anything else.

Photograpy should not be a competition anyway.

AL

I see it exactly like Luc. This current curation process forces me to exhibit my new pictures elsewhere first. Furthermore, every time images are judged by someone, it's a competition.

With sadness, I have to agree.

Unfortunately, many of the members' complaints lack constructive suggestions for improving the voting process. Therefore I would like to present an idea:

In almost all world class photography competitions, photographers are required to submit a description of their entry. This description should be at least 300–600 characters long. This allows the jury to familiarize themselves with the submitted images.

How about introducing a similar requirement at 1X? The voting member would have to read the text before deciding whether to publish or reject the entry.

On the one hand, this would require the submitting photographer to reflect on their images; on the other hand, it would provide the member curating the entries with more information.

The good news: The current system already offers a field for a description.

The bad news: Filling it out is not mandatory.

This should be changed.

Good light, Hans-Martin

Excellent proposal i agree

Hi everyone. The system will only be fair if all photos are reviewed by the head curators, as was the case in the old curator system from about 10 years ago.

Personally, I disagree with this proposal.

Instead, I agree with Ansel Adams's aphorism: "A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words."

I already find too many "explanations" accompanying the photos on 1X. Some are enthusiastic, out-of-place, and cloying self-reviews. Others meticulously describe what is seen in the image: "An intense light coming from the right casts a deep shadow on the left, where a garbage can can be glimpsed. On the left, a ladder leans against the wall..."; "A man in a checked jacket with an umbrella hanging from his arm walks down the street." They almost seem like descriptions for the blind, who, however, as such, cannot read them.

I understand that, in some cases, it's possible to describe the personal motivations that led to taking the photo, the emotional state that influenced it, the peculiarities of a place, a situation...

However, making the description mandatory would, I believe, lead to new "disasters," with "descriptions" that are often cloying and/or ridiculous. I believe that, as is already the case, AI-generated "descriptions" would abound.

Of course, this is my personal opinion.

Best regards

A description of the photo can be helpful. I don't think that my description of the Bryan Ferry photograph from his gig in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg is a cloying self-review. 

I wrote: "Bryan Ferry CBE (born September 26, 1945 in London) is an English singer and songwriter. In the early 1970s he became known as the lead singer and main songwriter for the glam rock band Roxy Music. Ferry’s musical career as a band member or solo artist now spans about half a century. In March 2019, Roxy Music was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Ferry gave an acceptance speech on behalf of all Roxy Music members. The picture shown here was taken in May 2019 when Ferry and his band performed in Hamburg / Germany in the Elbphilharmonie, a place with one of the most famous concert halls in the world, which is known for its excellent acoustics, among other things.  Besides the names mentioned above, it was especially Jorja Chalmers who impressed with her excellent saxophone playing."

Nearly all of these statements are facts, the statement about saxophonist Jorja Chalmers is my personal opinion. So far, so good.  

After the evaluation of the photo by the voting members (it didn't even reach the status accepted, with 16% positive reviews from member curators and 3% positive reviews from the so called expert curators), I asked the Google AI about my photos of Bryan Ferry. The question : What stands out in the photos of Bryan Ferry ?

Here is what Google AI answered:

Maybe that Ansel Adams' landscape photos need no explanation, but my Bryan Ferry project is documentary work. https://gallery.1x.com/photo/3445885

Best , Hans-Martin        

I like the description idea, but unfortunately there are a lot of language barriers with photographers from many different countries on 1x in our experience. Thanks for the contstruvtive suggestion though.

We are still fine-tuning the new system, so it will get better and better both at picking up slower, story based photos as well as purely aesthetic ones and all categories will be evaluated fairly. The idea behind new system is not to make it harder to be awarded, but to keep the same quality level as before.

totally agree, this is the right solution

Hans Martin Doelz CREW 

Pier Giorgio Franco PRO

Personalmente, non sono d'accordo con questa proposta. Condivido invece l'aforisma di Ansel Adams: "Una vera fotografia non ha bisogno di essere spiegata, né può essere contenuta in parole". Trovo già troppe "spiegazioni" che accompagnano le foto su 1X. Alcune sono auto-recensioni entusiastiche, fuori luogo e stucchevoli.

 

Una descrizione della foto può essere utile. Non credo che la mia descrizione della fotografia di Bryan Ferry scattata durante il suo concerto all'Elbphilharmonie di Amburgo sia una stucchevole auto-recensione. 

 

Ho scritto:  "Bryan Ferry CBE (nato il 26 settembre 1945 a Londra) è un cantante e compositore inglese. Nei primi anni '70 divenne noto come cantante e compositore principale della band glam rock Roxy Music. La carriera musicale di Ferry, come membro della band o artista solista, dura ormai da circa mezzo secolo. Nel marzo 2019, i Roxy Music sono stati inseriti nella Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, dove Ferry ha tenuto un discorso di ringraziamento a nome di tutti i membri dei Roxy Music. La foto qui mostrata è stata scattata nel maggio 2019, quando Ferry e la sua band si sono esibiti ad Amburgo, in Germania, nell'Elbphilharmonie, una delle sale da concerto più famose al mondo, nota, tra le altre cose, per la sua eccellente acustica. Oltre ai nomi sopra menzionati, è stata soprattutto Jorja Chalmers a impressionare con la sua eccellente tecnica al sassofono."

 

Quasi tutte queste affermazioni sono fatti; quella sulla sassofonista Jorja Chalmers è una mia opinione personale. Finora, tutto bene.  

 

Dopo la valutazione della foto da parte dei membri votanti (non aveva nemmeno raggiunto lo stato di accettazione, con il 16% di recensioni positive dai curatori membri e il 3% di recensioni positive dai cosiddetti curatori esperti), ho chiesto all'intelligenza artificiale di Google informazioni sulle mie foto di Bryan Ferry. La domanda: cosa risalta nelle foto di Bryan Ferry?

 

Ecco cosa ha risposto l'intelligenza artificiale di Google:

 

 

Forse le foto paesaggistiche di Ansel Adams non hanno bisogno di spiegazioni, ma il mio progetto su Bryan Ferry è un lavoro documentaristico. https://gallery.1x.com/photo/3445885

 

Cordiali saluti, Hans-Martin        

Hi Hans,

I wasn't referring to you and the descriptions of your works, of course. In fact, I also said that, in certain cases, a few words of explanation can be useful, even interesting and instructive. I've done that myself, a few times.

My concern stems from the request to make them mandatory.

I'm sure that, in that case, the "descriptions" I mentioned in the previous post would multiply—boring, useless, and cloying.

Besides, you didn't need the requirement to write your explanatory notes, and neither did many others.

Best regards

In August 2015, 1X magazine reported that the number of submissions had reached one million. This means one million in eight years, or 125,000 images per year, or about 10,000 images per month. The curation time was approximately one week.

In December 2024, 1X magazine reported that the number of submissions had reached three million. This means another two million in nine years (from 2015 to 2024), or 222,000 per year, or 18,500 per month. The curation time was reduced to two days (this was a request from many members, which I never quite understood).

Currently, we have almost three and a half million images, exactly nearly 450,000 images in 15 months (from December 2024 to January 2026), or 30,000 images per month. Without using a pocket calculator: this means 1,000 photos per day

That is three times the amount compared to the period from 2007 to 2015.

Do you have any idea on how it could be realised that every head curator can evaluate every submission? And how many head curators do you think are necessary to evaluate 30,000 images per month ?

I think without the help from members or AI it's not possible to handle such an amount of submissions.

Good light, Hans-Martin

I completely disagree

I think a picture should speak  for itself and not be followed by a description

Hi Hans Martin Doelz,

I have done similar calculations in the past and came to the same conclusion. Without using members as the first filter, it would be virtually impossible for the head curators to curate every photo.

I don't see any problem with using members as a filter as long as the member sample size is wide and large enough in terms of photography styles.

AL

The French magazine "L'Oeil de la photographie" published an article today about the exhibition "Looking at LIFE" at the Staley Wise Gallery. The exhibition focuses on LIFE magazine, considered a milestone in American photography and a window into 20th-century American life.

All the photographs on display are accompanied by descriptions. Here is one: Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly backstage at the 28th Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, California, 1956. Photo: Allan Grant.

Although the photograph speaks for itself, the description helps the viewer to better understand it.

Right, i agree

It's getting to complicated for me. Bye bye 1x.

I don't know the history but as a business person, I am sorry to say that the excuse doesn't make sense at all.

If you have more submissions, that means you have more members and more subscription, thus more income.

It's 1x side of the issue which they can't review all the submission, as each indivisible pays the same amount of money.

I can understand the number logic but if you have more members, you should have more official curators. If you can't hire such number, you shouldn't have accepted that many members.

Why do I need to pay the money to volunteerly curate others image to save the work for the company which we are paying to be curated.

I pay the money to be curated by somewhat experts not by the customs regardless they are good curators or not. 

If that IS the intended operation from the beginning, then I join the wrong platform which is my fault only if clearly stated that somewhere. Maybe I missed the condition. 

Now I am sending an email to the support to refund my money as I payed for a year subscription. But no response at all for more than 10 days even without email received notification. 

I don't mind what kind of service 1x offers, as it's their business. I buy the service if I like and I won't if I don't.  It's as simple as that. 

But the impression I had when I joined the platform was the world most strict curation site for great photography, that's why I could be proud of my published and awarded photo.

This is not a complain, as I won't demand any change at the moment and I shame my ignorant. 

I agree whit you that at an exhibition it may be relevant to have a description of the picture

But here, when it comes to whether a picture is good enough to enter or not,

I dont think it matters. 

You got the point, my friend...

@Kenichiro Nakamura - 1x is a community of like-minded creative people who want to help each other to grow as photographers. All the curators are volunteers, inclduing the head curators. If you only want to receive and not give anything back to the community, then you are very right this is not the place for you. Besides helping others, which you apparently don't want to, curating photos is an important way of improving your own photographic skills as well.

Thank you for the information regarding how the 1X curation system works.

I understand now that a voting-based filter by members has been part of the process for many years.

There is, however, one point that still concerns me.

In the comments from the management side, there seem to be two messages at the same time:

on one hand, that the system itself has not changed from the past;

on the other hand, that certain parts of it have been adjusted and are currently being fine-tuned — which also suggests that something has not been working as intended. After all, something must have changed for it to be called an “update.”

This leads to a simple question:

Why have portraits, animals, and easily readable images such as tourist scenes increased so noticeably in recent times?

Saying that “the current gallery looks better than ever” is, of course, a personal opinion.

However, the fact that some photographers suddenly find their work no longer being accepted, and that these more immediately appealing categories have become far more dominant, is an observable reality.

Is there any explanation for what has led to this shift?

Thank you so much for the reply Ralf. I even didn't know that head curators are also volunteers. Thank you head curators to do all the hard work all the time.

I totally agree that curatiing photos is very important way of improving the photography skill and using critique forum where we can get so many useful feedbacks by experts. 

I have no idea why you said I am apparently don't want to help others though. 

Only reason why 1x is not the right platform for me at the moment is that I had misunderstanding how the curation system works. That's all.

I love helping the community, I kept promoting 1x to my friends, support 1x Japan in my own pace, actively comments on posts in social network, wrting blogs about the platform, etc.

The reasons why I stopped curation a year ago was I thought I didn't have proper curation skill that I was not eligible to say publish or not t others photo, especially the genre I was not familiar with. I even posted about curation training how I can be proper curator in 1x thread which I end up finding no training offered. Even though I thought my voting won't affect the publishment state (which I understand it acutally did), I didn't want to give crapy feedback to the precious members of 1x.

Anyway, I don't have any complaints at all how the platform works. It's just different than I thought and I already sent support to cancel my subscription weeks ago. Thank you so much for all the answers!

I still don't understand the evaluation criteria used by the curators... without names it's difficult... 
inconsistent and meaningless criticism is what appears most often... on the other hand, I see award-winning photographs with visible errors, 
easy to verify, yet they are awarded prizes.

...after two days and without any information, the photographs are accepted... there are too many platforms where having a photograph 
accepted is possible without any evaluation... what makes 1X different by accepting photographs without providing a justification for 
not publishing or awarding a prize... and why not justify the winning photographs?

The dissatisfaction is starting to grow... do those responsible for 1x intend to end up with a website devoid of content?If that's truly 
their intention, they're on the right track.

We spent two months with critizize. Now it's time to offer some praise. After the obvious fine-tuning, today's 1x.com page with awarded work looks fantastic again – exciting and full of variety. Thanks a lot, Ralf Stelander and Jacob Jovelou.

Good bye Kenichiro!

Hi Hans, I think it's a fantastic idea. I usually add comments to my photos explaining why I'm trying to add grain or noise to a particular image and the effect I'm aiming for. Unfortunately, if no one can read those comments, all they see is a photo with obvious grain or noise, and it gets rejected for not having the right technical quality. Perhaps if they could read the comments, they would understand and change their minds, or they might still reject it, but they would know the reason behind a particular editing technique. Best regards.

... after reading through this tread I believe I now have a better understanding of how the curation proccess works.

If I understand correctly, based on Ralf Stelander's comments, it's a weighted system ... which makes sense and appears to address most people's concerns.

A photograph goes through 3 levels of review.

First, the entire community of curators have a say in whether the photo is accepted and has potential for publication.

Second, all curators continue to vote, and the expert curator's votes and accuracy carry more weight in the decision to publish.

(... your accuracy can be checked by clicking the "page open" icon in the lower right corner, while curating.)

Third, the photo is then sent to the head curators for review, to decide if that published photo is then awarded.

This proccess gives the photo a fair and balanced review, providing both peer and expert opinion, as art is subjective and this way publication is not based on just one person's decision.

One of the main reasons I have continued using 1X is the educational aspects of being a part of this community. The interactive nature of this site continues to improve my photography.  1X provides an avenue to be on both sides of critique and curation, providing both the opportunity to teach and to be taught.

"If you want to master something, teach it."  ~ Richard Feynman

Lots of good comments, pro and con. My two cents:

1. Length of time for the curation process doesn't matter to me, even if it takes a week.

2. I believe that the people doing the reviewing, whether they are "just" members or "experts", are people who love photography and want to maintain high standards. Unless we are talking about high-stakes competition, I don't think we should expect professional-level impartiality.

3. I am a little disappointed that "Accepted" photos can't be sold. For me that was the best part of being published. But perhaps it was wrong on my part to have saleability as a criterion for a good photo.

In any case, thank you 1X for all the effort you put into the design and operation of this site. It may seem a thankless task at times, but I will continue to maintain my subscription for the foreseeable future, and I look forward to improvements and new developments.

We have now implemented the head curator override. This means that the head curators have the chance to see all photos uploaded to 1x and may publish or award photos which were rejected or accepted by the members. It will likely not be a big amount becuase the current curation results are quite accurate, but likely a few photos every day will be promoted in this way to make sure we don't miss out on any slower images that are more easily passed by otherwise.

I liked this "override" method. I am the beneficiary of this - as one of my photos recently was overridden by the head curator and published!

One thing I found when this happened is that the certificate that got generated did not have the QR code. Can we fix that to be consistent?

Thanks for all your great work - I for one have improved my photography since I am part of 1X and love it.