Just when I thought I was getting the hang of competitions in general, along came the local societies Tom Tivey trophy for landscape and natural history photographs
This is a competition for the best natural history subjects. This sounds very specialist, but in fact coves a wide range of subjects. In fact it is easier to state which ones it does not cover than what it does, namely indor shots, domestic animals, portraits and errr, that it really.
This year I felt quite confident in my entries. Apart from some animal photos I had my infra-red photos from my converted camera that I was quite pleased with. This would be the first time I would be showing them in competition so I was interested to see the reaction, but I thought they looked great in print form.
However it was not to be. None of my entries got into the second pick.
I don't like to complain about the judging (really!) and there is no doubt that judging is is not an easy gig. This time the judge did a good job of contrasting various images and showing how they could be improved, but one thing I did notice was that their picks were very conservative. Anything that was a bit left of center did not get far, while your standard landscape shots did well.
It was not only my shots that suffered in this way. A colleague had put in a great multiple exposure shot, but it got as far as my shots.
So maybe another day, another judge things might of gone better.
But that is not why I hate landscape competitions so much.
Unlike most other competitions, landscape and wildlife ones are skewed towards those who travel to the best locations and can afford the best equipment. While in other competitions you can offset these advantages with imagination, in this case it is difficult to compete against people who travel to far flung destinations or who can buy the fastest glass and have the time to use it.
Anyway below are my entries for you to judge yourself
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