...Photography Contest Award!
Actually I've had a blog post titled and ready to write on the topic of My First Official Photography Job, but since that has not yet happened, I'll do the next best thing and tell about My First Official Photography Contest Award, which HAS happened just this week!
First, the PHOTO....
And now the STORY...
In the blog post before this one, I told you about a local women's photography group, Digital Dolls, that has been a great source of inspiration and encouragement to me as I plunge into the world of photography-as-an-income.
Now let me tell you about another photography group that has been just as much an inspiration and encouragement to me.
The founders of ViewBug call it "a unique photography community that fosters collaboration and rewards creativity." It's a global photography group where artists can share photos, enter contests and challenges, give peer awards, win awards and valuable prizes, and learn how to be better photographers.
I've been a member for several months and have thoroughly enjoyed (and been intimidated by) joining dozens of contests and challenges.
Members of the group can view the photos of other members and give "peer awards" and "likes" to any photo they deem is merit worthy. Members can also vote in the various contests and challenges.
There are 3 tiers of Photo Contests a member can join, according to what membership level the member holds. I am able to enter 2 of the 3 tiers of Photo Contests, which have thousands of entries from all over the world, and amazing prizes. For example, right now I'm looking at the first few contests listed... one prize is a photography trip to Italy valued at $6500, another prize is a Canon 5D MKIII DSLR camera, and another is a Nikon D7100 DSLR camera.
Before you get too excited on my behalf, let me break the news that it is NOT one of these Photo Contests that I won. Not YET!
What I DID win was one of the Photography Challenges! These are challenges hosted by fellow members. They are similar to the contests in that they are voted on by fellow members. There are no tiers with the Challenges - anyone can enter any Challenge.
The big difference is the prize. The award for winning a Challenge is bragging rights and reward points (which go toward certain perks).
According to the ViewBug website, each Photo Challenge has two top winners: "the Members that host the challenges select the Grand Jury Winner, and thousands of photographers choose the People's Choice by voting for their favorite shots."
And that is exactly what I won - the People's Choice Award in the Windmills Photo Challenge!
I am definitely going to use up my bragging rights!
While it would be so cool and far beyond awesome to win one of the Photo Contests, I am extremely pumped that I won a Challenge, especially that I was the popular choice above all the thousands of entries!
Okay, I'm now putting aside my bragging rights and coming back down to earth for a few minutes.
I want to tell you why exactly it is that ViewBug has been such an inspiration to me. Actually, I want to SHOW you...
I'll include the two most-viewed photos on my ViewBug photo page.
This one (left) is my all-time most-viewed photo on my ViewBug profile page. It was taken on Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstaettersee) in Switzerland...taken with my Canon compact point-and-shoot camera. I did some contrast, saturation, and exposure editing and cropping, but that's all.
This one (right) is my second all-time most-viewed photo on my ViewBug profile page. It was taken at the end of a dead-end road just outside Zion National Park in Utah in the autumn of 2008. It actually won Grand Reserve Champion at Garfield County Fair the next year. (Beat out of Grand Champion by a photo of a dead squirrel entered by a close friend!)
Take a look at these two photos, along with the other photos on my ViewBug profile page HERE....
and then take a look at the hundreds and thousands of entries under any of the ViewBug Photo Contests and Photo Challenges HERE and HERE...
and you will see why I am amazed that I won anything at all.
No comparison. Night and day. Poles apart. I-think-I'll-crawl-under-a-rock difference between my photos and the award-winning photos in these contests.
If it weren't for the peer awards, likes, and encouraging and constructive comments fellow ViewBug members give to my photos, I think I really WOULD want to crawl under a rock.
I mentioned earlier that I am intimidated by the photography I see on ViewBug. So much of it is SO impressive that I think "how will I ever be able to compete with THAT? And how can I become better at photography and editing?"
That last statement is the key - the most important reaction I could have when viewing awesome prize-worthy and merit-worthy photography... HOW can I become better at what I do? What can I do to improve my photography skills?
I think that very question is worth much more than bragging rights or even great prizes!
I hope I never lose that awe, that sense of intimidation which gives me the desire to push myself to improve and learn!
...but I'm still going to brag a little! **giggles in giddy excitement**
Until next time (when I hope to be able to announce my first paying photography job)...
get out and shoot!