Photography Competitions - My Personal History and Views

I remember the first time I heard that photo competitions were a thing. I figured they were, but not being involved in photography, it wasn't anything that caught my ear or eye before that moment. This was in the very early 2000's when I was barely taking photos. During a time, I was photographing with my favorite early camera, the "advanced" Nikon Coolpix 990 3.3 MP! At that time, I still received a subscription to the statewide newspaper at my door; I don't think the online paper was even an option. I recall seeing the winner of a recent annual amateur garden photo competition, a mesmerizing close-up view of a sunflower. I eagerly entered the following year with no response.

Did I let the absence of a competition placement, let alone acknowledgment of any sort, deter me from my photography pursuits? Of course not. I went on doing my thing with photography, not doing anything specific to grow or learn, or enter any competition. My goal was simply to take photos of what interested me. While I have compositions I still like from a couple decades ago, the success rate was much lower due to my fundamental lack of technical photography skills. When things worked out it was more luck than skill.

Then, in early 2006, as my connections started to grow in the photography sphere, I was invited by my still-good friend Joni Kabana to join the Professional Photographers of Oregon (PPO). An organization she was part of. Let me tell you, the name alone sent me running for the hills. I was not ready to join this organization, which consisted primarily of full-time photographers and a smaller percentage of part-time photographers like myself (and honestly, I still considered myself a hobbyist, which wasn't the sort they normally accepted). They even required a letter of recommendation from another business-running photographer. At that time, I was photographing weddings for the photographer who had taken photographs of my wedding. He gladly wrote a letter of recommendation. I submitted the application and was accepted. Of course, looking back, this whole process feels like it discourages, not promotes, potential photographers from joining. It had elements of a camera club but focused on those who made a business of photography, which isn't the goal of camera clubs I interact with today. PPO eventually dissolved in 2010's, and the Oregon Professional Photographers Association took its place.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's go back to 2006. Part of the reason I joined PPO when I did was because their annual print awards competition and conference was taking place in a matter of weeks. I planned to join the event, and thanks to Joni's encouragement, I decided to enter the print competition. I was hesitant to do it. This was no easy, straightforward process, given I had no clue what I was doing. There were specific requirements of size, medium, and backing that needed to be printed on to be accepted. This was all utterly foreign to me. I figured it would be a learning experience, getting feedback on what I was doing wrong to improve my photography, so I charged ahead, selecting a handful of photos to enter. I had them printed at a local professional print lab and dropped them off just before the conference.

This was the kind of competition with a half dozen judges as a panel that you could watch and listen to as they judged the photos. Each photo received a score (0-100), and after the judging portion, those that merited went up for display during the conference. Oddly enough, I had a few that merited. This multi-day conference included guest speakers, networking, vendor tables, etc. The real deal but on a smaller scale than something you would see at the big conferences. Then came the final evening, a fine dining banquet awards dinner. I was there mainly for the food. Anyone who knows me knows I rarely pass up a meal, especially one I paid for as part of my conference fee.

What happened during the awards dinner was a little mind-blowing to me at the time. Okay, let's be honest here; it was a turning point for me that I will get to in a minute. Shockingly, I ended up walking to the stage four times to collect awards. They included the following:

• Best Black & White
• Best Color
• Best Illustrative
• Kodak Gallery Award

One award would have been a cause for celebration, but instead, this happened. It took me a few days to digest it. I would be lying if I said I wasn't smiling big after that awards ceremony. This was all a result of simply clicking the shutter on my camera and minimal processing because of the limited digital tech and my limited knowledge. I was a little puzzled why my photos won over others that I recall being better in multiple ways. It is a reminder of how subjective the whole process is and should be; art is subjective.

Why am I sharing all this? Looking back at this moment, I realize that it wasn't me doing anything to follow any trend, be a processing/darkroom master, or learn all the technical abilities of my camera. Prior to this time, I didn't even fully understand the importance of always photographing in RAW mode! I simply photographed what interested me, it really was that simple. Social media was in it's infancy and I hadn't been a member of Nature Photographers Network (NPN) very long. It's an online forum I still recommend today. Besides looking at work of greats like Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell, I hadn't studied what it would take to create photos like theirs. I was still rocking the cheapest tripods I could buy, if I used one at all. This doesn't mean we all shouldn't learn and grow, plus use competent equipment. We should! I eventually learned a lot more and grew as a photographer in a meaningful direction. I am still learning to this day, and I hope I never stop. This competition didn't help me grow. It was all done after the fact. It gave me a burst of confidence that I should keep pursuing photography, even if I chose to do it purely for my personal enjoyment.

From that eventful evening, I received four trophies and another one the following year. At first, I displayed them proudly in my portrait studio. Then, eventually, in my home office. Followed by getting rid of them... except for one. Why would I get rid of them? I got to a point where I didn't like displaying a bunch of trophies. I looked at the ones I got when I was a kid for sports that just sat in a box for years only to get rid of them, except for one in that case too. Which one did I keep from the photo trophies back then? It was the Kodak award. It's a beautiful glass pyramid etched with the Kodak logo. I feel like it's a piece of history since that was just before Kodak ended up filing chapter 11 bankruptcy after being an instrumental part of photography for over 100 years. Plus, as a Pink Floyd fan, I enjoy the glass pyramid.

I entered a couple more contests over the following couple of years but then I stopped entering again until a few years later. Going into the stretch of 2014 to 2017 I entered a few more which included a couple times where my work was displayed in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. The last time this happened in 2017 was kind of neat for a couple of reasons. 1) I sold multiple prints because people saw my print in the gallery display or book (something that rarely happens from photo contests based on my experience and what I have heard), and 2) Several times I received texts from friends or family friends who happened to be going through the museum, saw my photo and sent a message out of the blue. It was an overall fun experience.

This brings us to the last couple of years, 2023 and 2024, where I received recognition from the two contests I entered, the Natural Landscape Photography Awards and Nature's Best International Photography. This was cool, but nothing that changed what or how I go about what I love doing. You can tell I have entered competitions here and there, but nothing consistent. This is for several reasons:

• For Fun - I don't take these contests that seriously. If I get some acknowledgment, that's great, but I don't over-congratulate myself if I do well or berate myself for not getting recognition. It's entirely subjective. The same set of photos going to different judging panels will yield different results.
  
  
• Timing - I don't have contests all mapped out through the year to remember when they occur so I can enter them. If I happen to see one coming up that interests me, I am around, and I have work ready. I might enter.
  
  
• Copyright - Be cautious about what contests you enter. Some are purely a rights grab to amass a database of photos for marketing their for-profit business. The photographer should always retain ownership with limited specified uses by the contest program.
  
  
• Cost - They vary a lot in price. I have seen some as much as $30 a photo and others as inexpensive as $30 for ten or more photos. I realize big contests take time and expense, but I will always question unreasonably high fees, especially if they aren't producing products such as a gallery show, books, etc.
  
  
• Growth - It doesn't help me improve or grow as a photographer. Sure, it can be nice to know something placed in the top 100 or 200 of 20,000 to 30,000 entries, but in the end, this shouldn't influence how, what, when I photograph. If it did, then it would limit our art and creativity, not something any of us should want.
  
  
• Photo Limitations - Be aware of what types of entries are allowed. Are AI-produced "photos" allowed, and if so, are they in a separate category? Does the contest require RAW file verification? These are some important questions to me on whether I will enter one or not. This is why, when I enter any contest at all, I gravitate to organizations like the Natural Landscape Photography Awards and Nature's Best Photography.

Summed up, my experience is that there can be value in entering photo contests, yet overall, there shouldn't be any expectation that it will bring fame or fortune. Whether I do or don't enter contests isn't a reflection of the quality of my work. Whether I do well or not isn't a factor determining whether I should continue pursuing photography. Lastly, photography contests have an element of luck, they are a game that is part skill, part luck. When I choose to participate in one, I choose to participate in the game. We know that with games, sometimes we win, and sometimes we don't, which is okay.

Related to this I have done limited judging, including one physical print competition I judged and wrote about in a Photo Cascadia blog post in 2017 - Thoughts From A Juror, which you might find of value on this topic.

Lastly, here are very well-written articles by a couple of friends in the business. If you are looking for more helpful insight on this topic, I suggest you read one or both of these highly informative articles.

• Entering a Photo Competition? Consider This Advice by Sarah Marino
• Should You Enter Photography Competitions? by Matt Payne