Photography competitions

Have you been told your photos could win you prizes? Here are a few things to consider before you enter them.

Now that digital photography has led to the camera becoming an essential part of kit for many of us, I wonder how many of you reading this have entered a wildlife photography competition in recent years? After all, your friends and social media followers keep telling you that your photographs are marvellous, and you really should enter this image, or that image, into this or that competition, as they are sure you will do well. How many more of you have been disappointed when you don’t even make the initial shortlist with that amazing shot everyone has told you is a ‘winning image’? The realisation that the judges don’t appreciate your work as much as your friends can be crushing, leaving you feeling deflated, that you have wasted your money, and you resolve to never enter another competition.

I can more than relate to the above, and a few years ago I would take competition rejection as a personal affront to my prowess as a photographer. I can remember studying shortlisted images and comparing my discarded entries with those that the judges had picked, not understanding why my work wasn’t considered as good. I sought confirmation of my opinion from those I knew would not disagree – after all, the judges obviously can’t know what they are talking about. I quickly realised that I needed to change my attitude. Competition photography is not for the faint-hearted and, if you can’t take rejection, then best not to enter in the first place.

So, you have decided to take the plunge and try a few competitions. The first thing to accept is that

you are very unlikely to win; success is hard earned and rarely comes easily. If you treat your competition entry fee as an investment from which you expect a monetary return, then you are going to be disappointed the vast majority of the time. If you think of entering a competition as part of the enjoyment and development of your photography, win or not, then you have removed a huge mental block. Entry fees are generally not a huge amount of money, less than a round of drinks in the pub. After all, none of us kicks and screams at the price of a tank of fuel expended for a chance to see that rare bird, even if we dip out on actually seeing it – it’s being involved that counts. Competition photography is like that rare bird – you will dip out more than you score, but you can do things to help your chances.

Competitions can be such a useful and positive tool for the development of your photography if you adopt the correct mindset and simply enjoy being involved. And winning takes practice. None of the top sports stars won all of their early competitions; they participated, learned, and improved their game over time. And to improve, they had to compete with better players; and so it is with photography.

ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT: The images of both the Black-tailed Godwit and Blue Tit are very pleasing photographs and technically very accomplished, but they will never catch the eye of competition judges as there isn’t anything different about them to make them stand out.