Topic: Photo contests (Read 6055 times)

mcfoto · « **on:** June 02, 2010, 02:46:38 pm »

I have been noticing this for a few years now. Don't get me wrong we enter contests & I think they can be used for promotion. But now there are too many & it can devalue the currency. I remember when PDN came out with the photo annual about 10 years ago. Now PDN must have about 8-10 contests. Besides PDN there are other contests B&W, Panorama, Color...the lists goes on. Still my favorite is Communication Arts Photography Annual & in Australia I like the Canon APPA & Head On. I guess the bottom line is money & at $25.00 to $80.00 an entry a lot of income can be made. With some contests if you get in, then you have to download & print the certificate.
Cheers Denis

feppe · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2010, 02:50:16 pm »

Quote from: mcfoto

I have been noticing this for a few years now. Don't get me wrong we enter contests & I think they can be used for promotion. But now there are too many & it can devalue the currency. I remember when PDN came out with the photo annual about 10 years ago. Now PDN must have about 8-10 contests. Besides PDN there are other contests B&W, Panorama, Color...the lists goes on. Still my favorite is Communication Arts Photography Annual & in Australia I like the Canon APPA & Head On. I guess the bottom line is money & at $25.00 to $80.00 an entry a lot of income can be made. With some contests if you get in, then you have to download & print the certificate.
Cheers Denis

Then there are the "contests" which are nothing more than thinly veiled rights grabs. They are occasionally featured on forums here, but I'm sure the legalese on many of the contests is accepted... uncontested.

Rob C · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2010, 05:27:06 pm »

For some reason I think of the old adage: never give away free what you might be able to sell.

Rob C

ziocan · « **Reply #3 on:** June 03, 2010, 04:17:11 am »

Potential clients rarely get involved or look at contests.

Other professional photographers may look and for sure most of the amateurs highly regard the contest winners.

None of those will develop my carrier, while I will give up my rights on my work.

mcfoto · « **Reply #4 on:** June 03, 2010, 10:04:27 am »

I am aware of the rights grab contests. The photo contests I am referring to are not a rights grab. Yes clients do look at certain award annuals. Communications Arts comes out every August and is highly regarded in the industry. But in the past 10 years there has been a huge growth in photo contests.
Denis

Slobodan Blagojevic · « **Reply #5 on:** June 03, 2010, 02:26:12 pm »

Quote from: mcfoto

...in the past 10 years there has been a huge growth in photo contests.
Denis

Which only seems logical, given the exponential growth of photographs (and photographers), due to digital.

PeterAit · « **Reply #6 on:** June 03, 2010, 04:48:56 pm »

Quote from: mcfoto

I have been noticing this for a few years now. Don't get me wrong we enter contests & I think they can be used for promotion. But now there are too many & it can devalue the currency. I remember when PDN came out with the photo annual about 10 years ago. Now PDN must have about 8-10 contests. Besides PDN there are other contests B&W, Panorama, Color...the lists goes on. Still my favorite is Communication Arts Photography Annual & in Australia I like the Canon APPA & Head On. I guess the bottom line is money & at $25.00 to $80.00 an entry a lot of income can be made. With some contests if you get in, then you have to download & print the certificate.
Cheers Denis

You are right on target, the bottom line is money. These contests can make a lot of dough for the sponsors.

I recall a contest I entered a while back. There was no entry fee - "winners" would have their photo published in a book. When I was notified that I was a winner, I quickly ordered the book at a rather steep price. The book came - 500 pages of photos, most printed at business card size and most of them completely ordinary. So there's the scam, proclaim almost everyone a winner so they can't resist ordering the overpriced book. Laugh all the way to bank.

Rob C · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2010, 04:56:22 am »

Peter, that's the philosophy that has been killing the pro side of photography for as long as I can remember - the drive to be published at any cost.

There is even a similar thread running through small-town professional work too: take a low price just to stop the other guy acros the street getting the work. On the am side it's about ego and in the case of the pro it's about fear.

Did any of us expect this when we got hooked?

Rob C

Author Topic: Photo contests (Read 6055 times)