A Strange Relationship with Photo Competitions
I promise I have lots of photos waiting in the wings to be posted. However, I’m a little swamped due to writing commitments and a boatload of changes at work. I’ve taken trips; received new equipment that is related to photography; and taken a little time to revisit some older photos. As a result, I’ve been on a bit of an organizational spree. That spree prompted me to revisit the I Shot It photography contest site. It’s a place where I usually end up appearing only once a year or so. I’m guessing it’s because I’ve only gotten one vote and two favorites on any of my photos. Without my photography at least getting favorited or voted on for the free contest, I don’t have a whole lot of motivation to participate. The thing is, it’s actually a pretty easy site to navigate. The prizes are also decent (especially with their Leica partnership), and it’s open to a variety of photography of styles. For these reasons, one would expect me to be more active. I’m not, though, and it’s made me ponder if making an effort to participate more is even worth my time.
Even though I’m a hobbyist and will probably not even reach the advanced amateur stage, I would like to think that someone liked what they saw. I’d be thrilled if I won a free competition or even got a mark of excellence in a paid competition. I’m not seeing either of those things happen anytime soon. I know people will tell me that I need to keep putting myself out there. Since I’m very much a behind the scenes sort, I hate the idea of being prolific. It makes me feel worse than a whore. At least if you’re a whore you have a remote chance of getting some form of pleasure and/or payment. When it comes to photography competitions (at least on I Shot It) I feel like Sisyphus. I know it’s useless, but I keep doing it so that I can get an idea of what people actually want to look at when it comes to photography. After all, there might be a day when I decide to do something wild and crazy with my photography work such as enter it in the State Fair Fine Arts competition. As I said, wild and crazy. Might not happen. Ever. And yet, the photos contained within might get entered in a competition someday, even if only at I Shot It.
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