Last Post of 2017 - Mondays

One thing that I tried to do this year is participate in the twitter Monday competitions, #Wexmondays, #Sharemondays and #fsprintmondays

My success has been mixed.

In March I was fortunate to win #Sharemondays with the above image.

The prize was to judge the next week competition. This may sound more of a burden than a prize, but I was and am honored to do that. While the responsibility was heavy, I did actually enjoy sorting through the images. It also helped me define my thoughts on what is a great photograph (and at the same time the realization that its only a judges opinion) 

The same photo also scraped onto the #Wexmondays shortlist, putting me for the 1st time on the leader-board.



Here I go I thought and re-doubled my efforts to enter when I could every week. In the end, no other image got on the shortlist and  I missed the top slot by a measly 750 points. Sigh, so close :) (Many congratulations to Neil Burnell for winning, but you know I was robbed :) )

 Fsprintmondays for whatever reason decided to ignore my images...boooo!

Strange thing is, reviewing my entries to all competitions, a lot of them now appear contrived and if i had the chance again I would not enter them today. 

There are  number of reasons for this. The fact the image has to be taken the week before, means that part time photographers like me, are always under pressure to process the images taken on the Saturday and Sunday, filter them and choose the best. Often it was 11:50p.m on Monday that I had to bite the bullet and decide on which of the 5 or 6 image contenders I would to choose.  If I had a few more days to decide, no doubt the image would of been a different one, but hey, thats the rules of the game.

The bigger issue was that after my early success, I started trying to game the competition and choose images that i thought would suit the judges, rather than the ones I liked most. This is an easy trap to fall into, and if there is one thing I have learned from the experience,  it is to photograph for yourself, not others. True, the results may well be the same, but in the end at least you can say that you liked them.

So in the end, yes it was an effort and burden, but ultimately fun.

It also has kept me taking and processing photos.
It has made me look at other images and think about photographs and what distinguishes a good photo from a great photo.
It has giving me some great ideas on taking images.
It helped me discover some fantastic photographers.  
It also allowed me, for a brief instance, to share the same air as many photographers I admire and respect.


Even if this is my high point in photography, the final point is one I will cherish for years to come.