Topic: Contests and such

[Mojave]

I just did a search and only found 3 entries for this subject but how do you all feel about contests? I get emails for them all the time, all pretty legit, and was wondering if you all would be interested in my creating a simple post for the contest with a link. I know many people dont care for contests so I dont want to be posting links if they are going to be bothering people. And I also realize that most of you probably already know about the same contests I know about so I dont want to be redundant either.  

And on a completely unrelated topic, my cat is destroying my house and loves to eat film, especially my favorite images. Those are the really tasty bits. Cats.

Cheers!

[SuziLivingstone]

And on a completely unrelated topic, my cat is destroying my house and loves to eat film, especially my favorite images. Those are the really tasty bits. Cats.

Ohh, you've got a crazy cat too. Mine is a complete nutter and gets into everything and  he is the reason why I don't dare set up a mini darkroom in my bathroom. I just know the little blighter will sneak in there and eat some chemicals or something...

[Late Developer]

Many years ago (early 1980's) I had a Boxer bitch called Sooty. She was the apple of my eye and my dad, who was disabled, also doted on her.

At the time, I was working primarily with slides and had a few hundred boxes - some of which had been distilled to be what I regarded as the best work. In those days, I was particularly ruthless with anything which had sloping horizons, blur (aaaarrrrggghhhh!!) or exposure defects. I had some very nice landscapes from the Lake District / Peak Districts and around my native county of Cheshire.

Anyway, I went to be one evening without having shut the door to my "office" properly. Sooty got in and decided to open and chew about 60-70 boxes of my best slides. I had to leave the house for 24 hours because, as much as I loved her, I would have inflicted serious harm on her, had I stayed.

Pets and film do not mix.

[Mojave]

LD, I knew as I was reading that story where it was heading and was dreading it. What a disaster! My cat destroyed some negs I was hoping to submit images for to a contest and since he ruined them, I couldnt submit the images because I would have had a larger size available should the image have been selected.

[SuziLivingstone]

LD, I knew as I was reading that story where it was heading and was dreading it. What a disaster! My cat destroyed some negs I was hoping to submit images for to a contest and since he ruined them, I couldnt submit the images because I would have had a larger size available should the image have been selected.

Erin, just a thought - I bought a stunning photograph off a photographer yesterday (the original of which he took in 1970) and we got talking and it turns out he lost the original neg many, many years ago and only had one print left, he re-photographed the print and rescued it that way. It looks stunning..

[Francois]

Pets and film do not mix.

Goldfish anyone 
These shouldn't cause too much havoc 

[SuziLivingstone]

Pets and film do not mix.

Goldfish anyone 
These shouldn't cause too much havoc 

My cat would eat them 

Actually, I'm just watching him now, I took my scanner out of its box and he's leapt straight into the box and is clawing the bottom out of it. *sigh*

[Mojave]

My vampire fish just swam into the sunlight a few weeks ago so no more fish for me. I had sworn off cats after my Sammy passed a few years ago but Big Foot was homeless so now he isnt any more and I again have a cat. Both my dogs are rescues too, but they dont eat film, thankfully.

Suzi, that is a good idea for rescuing ruined negs. I can definitely print out that shot and photograph it and maybe it will be available for the contest next year. Thank you!!!

[SuziLivingstone]

Suzi, that is a good idea for rescuing ruined negs. I can definitely print out that shot and photograph it and maybe it will be available for the contest next year. Thank you!!!

It's worth a shot.. you never know. Here's the photograph I was talking about- http://froupster.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/tim-irving-carousel-1970.jpg  just so you get an idea of what can be rescued..

PS That's my cat in my new avatar trying to destroy a framed print, the little monster .. 

[Mojave]

Uh, yeah, that is totally awesome!!! I can see why you bought it. Wow! Love the colors.

So your cat eats prints too? At least he isnt a picky eater. 

[SuziLivingstone]

Uh, yeah, that is totally awesome!!! I can see why you bought it. Wow! Love the colors.

So your cat eats prints too? At least he isnt a picky eater. 

His work is stunning, my new favourite photographer. I plan to paper my living room wall with his prints 

My cat will chew and claw anything. I put everything up high especially now as the little monster has taught himself to open cupboard doors and drawers GRRRR

[Late Developer]

I know many people dont care for contests so I dont want to be posting links if they are going to be bothering people. And I also realize that most of you probably already know about the same contests I know about so I dont want to be redundant either.  

Cheers!

As far as the main topic is concerned, I haven't entered many competitions outside of the camera club to which I belong. I'd be happy to enter - but I suppose they'd have to be UK-based unless they accept scanned negatives or digital images.

On a slight tangent, and having visited the "Arena" exhibition in Salisbury yesterday, we could do worse than get an exhibition of work together from the folks here. The work I've seen in the Galleries appears every bit as good and, of course, there's at least one of our peers we have in common with "Arena".

UK "Black and White Photography" magazine is always crying out for more photos. OK, there's too much digital in there for me, so is there an opportunity to redress the balance and suggest a new section for "club of the month" or some such....??

[Mike (happyforest)]

I have never enter any competition or any public exhibitions of my images.  The closest I have come is participating on this site, collaborations etc.

I would be interested in seeing what is out there.

Mike

[LT]

I ignore any competition that I have pay for the privilege of entering.


woody likes cats.  Here he is watching one from the window.  He only wants to play (erm, maybe not):

[Francois]

woody likes cats.  Here he is watching one from the window.  He only wants to play (erm, maybe not):

I don't know if he's anything like the neighbor's dog (a terrier), we just have to say "Felix, go get the cat" for him to go into "chase mode"... last time, he went two blocks on full speed. Never got the cat but it probably lost a few lives in the chase

[Mojave]

Great name for a cute dog! My dogs dont like cats so I have to keep Big Foot separated from them. Spencer is a terrier and smallish and most likely couldnt hurt BF when he gets bigger, but Cara is a black shepherd mix and while she is old and knows better than to look sideways at cats when I am around, I have no doubt she would cause mischief when left alone.

On the contests. Yeah, most that I enter do cost money and I try to stick to entering he contests that have entry fees that arent too much. Most of the contests I've entered are all digital submissions and have no location restrictions. And what I mean by that is that you submit a digital copy of your images first, then if selected you send a print or a larger copy of your image to printed in a book. I dont know yet if the contests I've gotten a finalist or HM for have helped bring traffic to my site or not, but what I like about contests is that they force me to look at my work with a more critical eye and they help me to create images or a series of images I wouldnt have thought of on my own.

Ok, so it sounds like nobody is strictly opposed to me posting them here so I will go ahead and do that for the contests I know of that are going on right now and that I trust and that Im pretty sure dont have location restrictions.

[LT]

That's fine Erin - would be good if you could post them in the "Resources" section.

[Mojave]

Thanks Leon! I will do that.

[Mojave]

Ok, I posted the info in the resources section. Some calls are ending soon, like tomorrow.

[gary m]

Not only does my cat eat us out of house and home, he uses alot of film also!

[Mojave]

That's about the cutest thing I've ever seen!!! How nice of you to get your kitty a camera. 

[mikeg]

My dog -- a bearded collie also hates cats (and squirrels). You just have to mention the word cat and she's charging around looking for the thing. Once she chased this big old mean tom cat which didn't move. Our dog skidded to a halt and didn't know what to do, turned around and looked at us implying "why doesn't this cat run?". She crept back to us, confused.

As far as competitions are concerned, I haven't entered any and I'm not too keen on them. However, I have recently entered work into two juried exhibitions. One a contemporary art exhibition for which I was accepted and the other, a contemporary photography exhibition for which I was rejected. Both were 15 pounds entry. I'm not sure if I'll enter again.

I below to a local group of photographers called Marches Independent Photography (www.mipgroup.org.uk). The group formed as a non competitive group supporting each other in our photography. Many of us prefer to work in a project based way and have found camera clubs and their competitions not very suitable for our work. We also hold regular group exhibitions, so no entry fees and no judges. Just our work as we want it.

In a way the group is much like this website (although it does accept digital!). Accommodating and encouraging everyone, whatever their style is.

I can recommend either setting up your own local group or joining an independent photography group. I know there are groups in London and in the south east of the UK.

Cheers

Mike

[gothamtomato]

I just did a search and only found 3 entries for this subject but how do you all feel about contests? I get emails for them all the time, all pretty legit, and was wondering if you all would be interested in my creating a simple post for the contest with a link. I know many people dont care for contests so I dont want to be posting links if they are going to be bothering people. And I also realize that most of you probably already know about the same contests I know about so I dont want to be redundant either.  

I'd love to hear about new contests. I enter contests though, only if they are from legitimate groups, and I'm careful to check the fine print because some contests are actually rights grabs for the organizers.

But I'd love to see more info about them. (Maybe I'll even enter pictures of my mom's cat, Oscar Mayer.)

[gothamtomato]

Not only does my cat eat us out of house and home, he uses alot of film also!

What would be embarrassing is if the cat's work gets more acceptances.


BTW, years ago, there was a great little book of cat photos called 'Ernie: A Photographer's Memoir'. A photographer named Tony Mendoza from down in Soho, who was selling pictures on the street for $20 bucks each found a publisher, and if I recall, he did very well with it.


Update: After posting this I went to look for my copy of the book. I hadn't looked at it in (probably) years. It cracked me up again. I checked on Amazon & it looks like it was rereleased in 2001. Here's the link. You can see a few of the images (but as good as the pictures is the narration from both the photographer and the cat that accompanies the pictures):

http://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Photographers-Memoir-Tony-Mendoza/dp/0811829634/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284298394&sr=1-1

[Mojave]

Thanks Gotham!! That book looks awesome! I just might have to get a copy.

[Diane Peterson]

My cat  "Baby Floyd" (cause my other cat "Floyd" got eaten by my neighbors horrible dog!) helps me scan negatives..by biting the ends that hang out of the scanner..( I guess he thinks he knows more what should be scanned and what doesn't deserve to be in the scanner)..then he tries to bite my fingernails while I am typing..he is a big help! on another note...Suzi I love that carousel print you have and I  those you have done yourself are wonderful!..(on your site)..beautiful work there!

[Heather]

I bought that Ernie cat book for my mom. She loved it

As far as contests, I entered... 3 this year... two I didn't get into and one got cancelled due to circumstances beyond the organisers control and my money from that is going to be refunded allegedly. So... I'm sort of, not really "for" contests. I think it's weirdly easier in smaller towns than in some place large like London where there's a higher density of people.

I might try to submit to Black & White Photography magazine again for the readers's work section. I've gotten a bit better since I last submitted a few years ago and that only costs postage and return postage. I just don't read the magazine much anymore and I'm far away from the nearest large magazine seller too, so I don't get a chance to pick it up to look at it much anymore. Maybe I should try submitting to Amateur Photographer instead

[Mojave]

Diane, that is terrible news about your cat! Im sorry to hear that. I have two cats attacked by dogs but both survived. I have never lost one to a dog attack. Im glad you have a new cat to byte your film and lay on your scanner and keep you company. 

Hey Heather, thats a bummer about the contests and I hope you get your money back. I dont enter local contests, just the big to do electronic ones, like the IPA or the Centers calls, and there are others. In the years to come I hope to be able to enter Critical Mass but thats a ways off for me I think. But I dont trust local contests. I think they're rigged. In fact, I know that the fair contest we had out here was rigged. The local photo group contributes most of the work and supplies for hanging the images at the fair but everybody in the AV is allowed to submit images. When I went to the fair to see who won, I wasnt at all surprised to see that the winners wall was made up almost entirely of club people. So yeah, just the biggies for me. I will posting those biggies to the resource section when I get them. Many of them just ended but there are some places like The Center for Fine Art Photography and The Gala Awards that run contests all the time.