Let Contests Work For You
Tis the season for annual photo contests. I usually enter the NPPA Pictures of the Year competition and just like baseball teams going to spring training, I feel like I have a chance. Okay, not really, but since the judging hasn’t begun yet I have as much of a chance as anyone. Winning would be like finding money laying on the street. I never really expect it but if it happens it is most excellent. You can view my twenty shot entry in the NPPA Pictures of the Year contest below.
The point of entering contests, for me at least, is not really winning, or more likely, losing. It is all about competing. For several years I quit entering contests. It was a rough time in my career and I felt like I was not getting better. Most of the time I felt like I was getting worse. That was the time of the multi-year slump I talked about in some earlier posts. When I started to come around, I decided to start entering contests again because the competition sharpens me. I never shoot for contests. That is like trying to hit a home run. If you are trying to do something that simply means you are pushing yourself in a very negative way and you will usually deepen the funk you are in because it frustrates you more. I rejoined the NPPA and started to enter the monthly clip contests. Just the act of competing against other photographers sharpened my focus.
I was not trying to win clip contests. I was trying to compete. Some photos in my NPPA entry are pretty decent. Maybe one might actually place in the competition. Who knows? The point is that I am using the competition to keep me sharp. I found that competing really helped me focus and make the most out of whatever situation I found myself in. Sometimes, and this is just flat out wrong but it is still true, you fall into a complacent trap and your work just goes flat. You really don’t care. That makes your work flat or just plain bad. The only way to break out is to do something different. Maybe you have read it here before but a good working definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
The point is that contest can actually help you get better. They can help you stay focused. They can help you push the envelope. Maybe we should all be self-motivated 24-7-365 minus the two week vacation but I confess that I need a little help from time to time. Win or lose, let contests help you get better too.
I would think that one thing about contests is that it ‘forces’ you to take another look at your work.
As a freelance photographer, I’m used to doing a little here and a little there, and sometimes I get busy and it can be a while before I do something that reminds me that I’ve taken a lot of photos lately, often without having time to look at them for weeks or months afterwards.
I’m not sure I’m ready to enter contests yet, but the idea does give me the ‘excuse’ to look back now and again.
Thanks for taking the time to share with us.
AWESome!