The competition, it's all subjective...

Hi, and welcome to my second blog.

In this one I'm going to talk competitions.

First off I do see competitions in photography as a very strange thing. We all have our opinions and likes.

All of our experiences in life will alter our perceptions and opinions.

On my travels through social media around the time of competition announcements you will see the expected and justified congratulatory posts, sadly a rather large amount proclaiming the result to be an odious affront to all of humanity. And also a few doleful I should pack my camera away type messages.

So what then if you are not successful in a competition, if you aren't a household name (and this holds true for most things in life) it means you should put your camera down and just give up on it all?

Not so, art is a beautiful and varied thing, so assuming your photography isn't for commercial purposes in which case you have to fulfil the wants and wishes of the client just be sure you are creating things you like and that make you smile. That's surely the most fulfilling way of enjoying your art.

So my point about photography competitions would be this, don't put in things you think the judges would like, put in what you like. Of course the rules of the competition are laid out and to be followed, but the content is yours. Chances are the judges aren't looking for the next Ansel but maybe the next you.

It's all subjective.

So anyway most of my collection sits on a hard drive collecting dust and a select few are kept on my phone for my own amusement, I'm mot really great at sharing images because they really are created purely because I enjoy the process of making them. But I decided to enter a competition, not for any real reason, just to say to myself that I'm doing something with my images.

I placed entries in the take a view competition 2015 and 2016.vI was Shortlisted for 2015 and received a commended for this year.

So if you are interested, Serenity (pictured below) is in the Landscape photographer of the year collection 10 book and will be on display as part of the exhibition at London's Waterloo station (running from 21st Nov to Feb 2017).

It's all subjective to ones likes and in all honesty I'm not really looking for anything but to enjoy my own images but I guess regardless it is nice to be appreciated.

G