Most people that know me know my favorite way to end a competition is in a tie. Nobody loses, nobody gets cranky, and all the nearby breakable objects remain intact.
Print competition, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter.
I entered for the first time last year. By the time I dropped off my prints (mere minutes before the deadline), I had bitten off every fingernail, twisted my hair into knots, and driven all my photographer friends batty with unending questions. It’s a wonder of physiology that I didn’t barf all over the poor volunteer who took the print case from my shaking hands.
And because I’m a true glutton for punishment, I agreed to announce the scores during the live judging event. If I felt like yacking before, I was really in trouble now.
I have never been so close to having a full-on panic attack as I was when my first print came before the judges. They immediately popped up from their chairs to put their noses within inches of my “Heavy Metal Love” print. I began preparing my fragile psyche for the disappointment and emotional scarring that was sure to follow.
Usually during print competition, each print is only before the judges for a brief moment. They enter their score, the average is calculated electronically, and the final score announced. But for some prints the judges actually take time to discuss it, and be still my seconds-from-exploding-heart, they discussed mine – at length – the color, the expression, the lines, the composition.
They loved it, and my fragile psyche remained intact.
It was the second highest scoring print of the entire event. It won the Fuji Masterpiece Award, the Haga Wedding Award, and it helped me win the Wedding Photographer of the Year Award. I was as giddy as a schoolgirl on Christmas morning.
Apparently, I don’t like ties as much as I thought.
When selecting the potential competition prints for this year, I was lucky enough to receive guidance from four rock star metro photographers: David Grupa, David Johnson, David Jones, and Kirsten Holscher. Now I just have to get it down to four.
What do you think?
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