It begins
with your eye.

The photographer’s eye is the heart of Alla Prima. A file format does not determine a photograph’s beauty or artistic worth. We celebrate honest photographs made in the camera and the people who notice, imagine, and create them.

Give people room to experiment, learn, disagree, and belong. Treat their dignity with the same care you give your photographs.

These standards apply to photographs, captions, profiles, comments, group names, descriptions, topic tags, discussions, invitations, and private messages. They apply equally to free members, paid members, group creators, moderators, and platform staff. Private groups follow the same standards as public spaces.

Do not use profanity, obscene insults, slurs, sexually degrading language, or abusive gestures to communicate with others. Do not bully, humiliate, intimidate, threaten, or repeatedly mock a person. Disguising abuse with symbols, images, or another language does not make it acceptable.

Disagree with an idea or photographic choice without attacking the person. An honest mistake or a difference in taste is an opportunity for conversation, not a reason for a pile-on.

Do not attack, exclude, demean, or dehumanize people because of race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or similar personal characteristics. Hateful symbols, praise for hate groups, and calls to deny people dignity or safety are not welcome.

Groups may organize around a language, location, experience, or shared interest. They may not use their theme or admission rules as a pretext for hatred or discriminatory abuse. Racism, hate, and discrimination are prohibited throughout Alla Prima, including private groups and messages. Photography-focused group themes must also follow section 9; excluding political or religious group themes does not permit discrimination against people for their beliefs or identity.

Do not threaten harm, encourage violence or self-harm, celebrate abuse, recruit for violent causes, or organize harassment. Do not post instructions or invitations intended to help someone hurt another person or animal. Threats presented as jokes are still subject to review.

Do not upload graphic gore, severe injury, torture, or cruelty intended to shock or glorify suffering. Non-graphic documentary photographs of difficult subjects may be appropriate when presented with care, relevant context, and a content notice. Context matters; documentary intent does not excuse threats, exploitation, or graphic abuse.

No pornography, sexually explicit activity, sexual solicitation, unwanted sexual messages, or non-consensual intimate imagery. Sexualized imagery or exploitation of minors is prohibited, including altered or generated depictions.

Respect the dignity of people photographed in vulnerable situations. Do not use portraits or captions to shame, sexually target, or invite harassment of a subject. Artistic intent does not override these boundaries. Until a separate mature-content policy and suitable controls are adopted, do not upload nude imagery.

Ask before offering detailed critique unless the photographer or group has invited it. Describe what you notice, explain your response, and offer suggestions without presenting personal taste as an absolute rule.

“The bright corner pulls my attention away from the subject” is useful. “You have no talent” is not. Do not shame people for their camera, lens, budget, experience, file format, or membership tier. Respect a request to end a critique.

Share work you made and have permission to display. Do not steal photographs, remove another creator’s attribution, impersonate a photographer, or invent a photograph’s origin.

For the current Alla Prima portfolio practice, submit the original camera JPEG with metadata intact, without extensive editing after capture or generative additions. Describe your process honestly. Do not claim that a declaration proves authenticity: Alla Prima is not an authentication service.

The Film-to-JPEG group may discuss film and scanning. Film-scan portfolio eligibility needs a separate published declaration before those uploads are accepted. Respect other photographic practices even when they fall outside this community’s upload criteria.

Do not expose someone’s address, contact details, private documents, precise sensitive location, or other personal information without permission. Be particularly careful with children, vulnerable subjects, and location metadata.

Do not repost private messages, invitation links, or private-group photographs and discussions outside their intended audience without permission. A limited disclosure to report abuse through the designated moderation process is different from public exposure or retaliation.

Group membership does not transfer ownership or grant permission to reuse another person’s photograph. Ask before editing, redistributing, selling, or using someone else’s work in a project.

Respect each member’s contact preferences. An invitation is an offer, not an obligation. Do not repeatedly contact someone who has declined, stopped responding, asked you to stop, or blocked you. Do not use another account or group to get around those boundaries.

No unsolicited sexual content, mass invitations, promotional spam, deceptive offers, or pressure to share personal information. Private messages and private groups are not exceptions to these standards.

Professional and Maestro members may create and moderate groups. Give your group a clear purpose, understandable admission rules, and visible house rules. Aficionado members may participate when the group’s access rules permit it.

Groups must center on photography and shared creative interests. Do not create groups around politics, political campaigning, religion, or religious debate. This applies to public, discoverable private, and unlisted invitation-only groups, including their names, descriptions, topic tags, and discussions. Photographs of religious buildings or historical events may be discussed for their photographic craft and relevant context; do not turn the conversation into political campaigning or religious debate.

Creators may establish open groups, private groups that accept membership requests, or unlisted invitation-only groups. A discoverable private group may show its name, description, topic tags, and a Request to join option, but its discussions, photographs, and chat remain private. Requests may include a short note. An owner or moderator may approve or decline a request; pending or declined requests do not grant access. Approval grants membership, and moderators may later revoke access. Joining an invitation-only group requires an invitation and the recipient’s acceptance. Unlisted groups must not appear in public search. Explain the privacy setting before people contribute; do not expose private contributions by silently changing a group to public. Private content must be restricted to authorized members, including in search results; personal messages must never appear in community search.

Moderators should apply rules consistently, manage conflicts fairly, and explain moderation decisions when safe to do so. Do not use the role to settle personal disputes, demand money or favors, appropriate members’ work, or retaliate against reports. Co-moderators must follow the same standards. Group rules may be stricter than platform rules, but cannot override them.

Do not impersonate members or staff, send phishing links, make deceptive sales claims, or manipulate engagement through fake accounts. Do not flood galleries, comments, or groups with repetitive material or irrelevant promotion.

Keep permitted sales activity relevant and transparent. Disclose commercial relationships when recommending a product in which you have a financial interest. Group membership is not consent to receive advertising or to be added to an outside mailing list.

Reports should identify the content or account, explain the concern, and include relevant context. Use the platform’s designated reporting channel once available. Do not mobilize a public attack, deliberately file false reports, or retaliate against someone for raising a concern in good faith.

Share only the evidence needed for review. Do not download or redistribute suspected child sexual exploitation material to document it. Blocking or leaving a conversation is appropriate; you do not have to continue an upsetting exchange. Alla Prima is not an emergency service. Seek local emergency assistance if someone is in immediate danger.

Moderation should consider severity, context, repetition, and the risk of harm. Responses may include a request to edit content, a warning, content removal, limits on posting or messaging, removal from a group, loss of moderation privileges, suspension, or account closure. Serious abuse may warrant immediate action without a warning.

Where safe and appropriate, affected members should receive the reason, the rule involved, and a way to appeal. An appeal should be considered by someone not directly involved in the dispute where possible. Correct mistaken decisions and restore access or content when appropriate. Paying for a membership does not purchase an exception to the rules.

Treat reports and moderation records as sensitive. Limit access to those who need them for review; do not promise absolute confidentiality or disclose a reporter’s identity unnecessarily.

I will share honestly, speak respectfully, protect privacy, welcome different perspectives, and help make Alla Prima a place where photography and photographers can flourish.

This is a proposed community policy, not a claim that moderation, reporting, appeals, private access, or member accounts are already operational. Those systems must be implemented before the community opens to members. Material changes to these standards should be dated and communicated clearly.