DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Photography Isn’t a Contest: why You Should Stay Away from Photography Contests

Jan 13, 2017 by Eric Kim 7 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

I wanted to write to you about photography contests — why I generally recommend staying away from them.

First of all, if you enter your photo into a contest, you suddenly become a slave to the opinions of others.

The most important person to please in your photography is yourself. Not judges. Not random people voting on your photos.

Do you really care about what others think about your photos? If so, why?

I personally care what others think about my photos. But the caveat is that I only care about the opinions of my close friends, family, and loved ones. To me, Cindy is my ultimate editor — what she ultimately thinks about my photos matters more than the opinions of thousands.

What photo contests are good for

Of course, there are always caveats to every opinion I have.

First of all, I think contests are good in the sense that they force you to edit down your portfolio, and choose your best work. In the past, when I submitted photos for contests, I had to choose only 3-5 of my best photos. This gave me a great opportunity to really sit down, and evaluate my work, and my favorite images.

However at the same time, entering photo contests added a lot of stress and frustration to my life.

I thought that I was a great photographer, and I “deserved” to win — or at least place. But the problem was, a lot of winning a photography contest is luck.

My experiences as a photo judge

Being on the other side as a judge in photo contests, whoever wins/loses/advances is based on luck.

For example, the sad reality is that the people who I judged earlier on had more time and attention than people I judged later. If you look at thousands of entries to a photo contest, you eventually hit fatigue. At the end, you are zipping through the photos a lot quicker than photos in the beginning.

Another problem — in past street photography contests I judged, I knew a handful of the photos, and the photographers. Of course, this creates a natural bias in myself — especially if I personally know the photographer, or am familiar with the shots.

Not only that, but the personal taste of the judges is such a huge determinant whether a participant advances or not. For example, if I love vanilla ice cream over chocolate ice cream — I will be biased towards vanilla ice cream.

The same goes with photography. Vanilla ice cream is like black and white photography, whereas chocolate ice cream might be color photography. If I shoot black and white photography, I might generally be biased towards participants who submit black and white photos. The same goes with color photography.

In life, there are no winners or losers

The Spartans prevented their youth from participating in contests and games where there were clear “winners” and “losers”. Why?

Because they didn’t want their citizens to feel the sting of “losing”, or the ego-inflation of “winning”. Even when the 300 Spartans died defending the city, they said that the 300 Spartans were “slaughtered” (not ‘conquered’).

We aren’t all fighting for the same pie in life

As a personal rule, moving forward, I’m going to try my best to avoid games, contests, or activities where there are clear “winners” and “losers.” Why? Because in life, there is no “winning” or “losing.”

Life isn’t a zero-sum game, with clear winners or losers. Just because I win doesn’t mean you lose. Just because you lose, doesn’t mean I win.

In life, we can all be winners. We aren’t all fighting over the same pie. Rather, we can create more pies, and create more prosperity, happiness, and good-will in the world.

So don’t be a slave to the opinions of others. If you plan on entering photography contests (or any contests), realize the inherent biases of the judges and the system. And if not winning photo contests disappoint you, I would just say don’t play the game.

Always shoot for yourself, and first seek to please yourself.

About the Author

Eric Kim is a street photographer and photography teacher currently based in Hanoi, Vietnam.  His life’s mission is to produce as much “Open Source Photography” to make photography education accessible to all.  You can see more of his work on his website, and find him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

7 tips to follow when entering photography contests Sigma launches photo contest that encourages you to stay and create at home The dark side of modeling: what it looks like and how to stay away from it Do photojournalism contests glamorize pain and suffering?

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Eric Kim, inspiration, photographer, Photography, photography contest

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« This photographer takes photos of flowers and plants using UV-induced visible fluorescence, and the results are beautiful
Lily Robotics sued by San Francisco district attorney’s office »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy