As a photographer, it must be an absolute pride in itself if we are able to win a photography competition especially in international scale. But there are so many times we will fail and lose spirit after participating in numerous competitions and we never win. Do not worry, actually your photo may be good but it can be because your taste and the juries taste are different or maybe you get the theme wrong. There are several things in a photography competition that you should know.
1. Honestly speaking, I really hate photo competition based on the number of “LIKE”
You must have seen or perhaps participate yourself in a photo competition where the winner is determined by the numbers of votes or likes the got in Facebook or any other social media platforms. Honestly, I really detest this kind of competition, firstly, because this kind of competition is very easily manipulated. For your information, there are some services online to let you get as many likes as you want on Facebook if you can pay a certain amount of money. Secondly, what is the point of a competition based on the numbers of “LIKE”?
This kind of competition can make a plain image win against the other phenomenal ones which unfortunately got fewer votes. It is less like photo competition and more like a competition on sponsoring, urging, asking and forcing others to like their images.
2. All depends on juries’ preference
A photo is an art and art is not a mathematic that when one is added to one the result is two. There is no one who actually knows what perfect image is like. Each person has his own taste, preference and opinion in appreciating an art work. In a photo competition, juries have an absolute right to decide who the rightful winners are. People who are chosen to be juries must have their own taste, so the images that come out as winners are basically ones that can satisfy them or they like. Sometimes, photos that will look bad in our perspective but if the juries think they are good and deserve to be the winners, we have to sportingly accept that.
3. Rare and historical moments
In a photo competition especially the prestigious ones like the world press photo, sometimes, we will find some images that are technically not perfect like some of them are a bit shaky and under exposure or perhaps a bit out of focus or blurry but still they win the competition. Do you know why? Because they capture rare and historical moments that cannot be redo or re-edit. Sometimes, the moment on the photo is more precious that the technique of the photography itself.
4. The image is good but the theme is wrong
If you feel that your image is actually nice and it is technically perfect, the captured moment is also unique and rare, but still you do not win the competition. Check again the theme of the photo competition that you follow. It is possible that you do not come out as winner because you got the theme wrong. For instance, if a competition has a cityscape theme and you send a photo of a waterfall, it is pretty obvious why you do not win it.
5. There must be the chosen one
From thousands of images that participate in a competition, there must be at least one to be chosen as the winner. Again, it must be the chosen one and not the best one. It means that it is very possible that from all those images there will be 10 extraordinarily great images. However, this is a competition and not all of them can come out as winners at the same time. There has to be the chosen one which will be appointed as the champion though it must be very sad to eliminate the others.
6. Winning or losing, be constantly in spirit to try again
Winning a photo competition does not make you a professional. On the other hand, losing it does not mean your photos are bad. I say it again that a photo is a work of art and every person has his own perspective on art. If you win a competition do not think you are the best, it can be a luck factor that works. And if you lose do not let yourself down. The problem is possibly not in your photo but it can be affected by the juries’ personal tastes that are not so good in appreciating a work piece. Keep your spirit high in creating and make these competitions your motivation to compete. But do not make them the standard measurements to decide whether this and that photographer is good or bad.
