2021 Photographic Competitions | Reflections

This was my seventh year competing in photographic competitions. I usually think about what images I may enter throughout the year and then narrow down my favorites and try them out in Professional Photographers of South Carolina's annual print comp. Following PPA's rules, PPSC switched to a "thumbs up/thumbs down" system. Either it's a merit, or it's not - no more numbered scoring. Here are the images I entered at the state level:

Results:

Waiting for a Wave - non-merit

Moment of Contemplation - merit

Falling - non-merit

Harvest Moon Rising - merit

She's Trouble - merit

Misty Morning on the Potomac - non-merit

Calm After the Storm - non-merit

Now I thought Misty Morning on the Potomac was a shoo-in for a merit, but only one judge out of five voted for it! Based on my scores I re-edited some of these and entered them at Districts. The feedback I got was: Moment of Contemplation - the hat is too bright. Calm After the Storm - Change the title, bring up the shadows, add some clarity. Waiting for a Wave - No one understood why a surfer would be at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool - No wave would ever come! They didn't get my "fish out of water" symbolism. Harvest Moon Rising - Nothing - entered as is. She's Trouble - a judge's favorite. No edits made Misty Morning on the Potomac - darker mat, get rid of "haze" (That's the mist!), watch dodging and burning marks on the trees, less sky.

This was my final case for Districts. She's Trouble and Moment of Contemplation merited (sealed and moved on to IPC) and the other two did not merit. Having 2 sealed images at Districts meant I need to come up with 2 more for IPC. Oy! I re-edited the pink palm tree one and titled it "Lean on Me" - a suggestion by photographer friend, Paul Bryant. Then I went back in the archives and edited one from Perkins Cove in Maine and titled it "Misty Morning on the Cove".

Neither one of these received a merit, but Moment of Contemplation did make it into the IPC Showcase Book! I've never had a Showcase image. Some years selection has been based on scoring and some years it's based on judge's favorites that did not get voted for Image Excellence. I still love "Lean on Me", which I took after a family beach session on Kiawah last summer. A crazy thunderstorm rolled in and I had to pull over in a parking lot to wait it out. After the rain stopped the whole sky turned orange and then pinkish-purple. I got out at one of the Kiawah Island golf courses and took several images of palm trees reflecting in a pond. I entered it in Charleston Magazine's annual photo contest "Images of Charleston" and retitled it "Pink Sky at Night". It was a top 12 finalist - thank you to everyone that voted!

Northern Virginia Photographer  |  Sarah Goldman Photography

Arlington, VA