Win or Lose, Should I Care?
It’s contest time and yet again I’m scrambling to get my photos
uploaded to the various year-end competitions. I’ve still got time
before the deadlines, but knowing myself, I’ll put off to the last
minute the last steps in the process.
I have a love-hate relationship with the year-end contests. On the one
hand, I love seeing all the cool work once the judging is over. On the
other hand, I hate seeing all the cool work once the judging is over.
I look at the winners and think to myself, “Damn, wish I could shoot
like that.”
A designer named Bruce Mau had this really good list called “An
Incomplete Manifesto for Growth”
(http://www.brucemaudesign.com/manifesto.html) that I read while in
grad school. I should print it up and put it on my computer at work.
Anyway, one of the things he says is do not enter awards competitions
because they are not good for you. There is a part of me that totally
relates to what he is saying and understands why it is not a good
idea. But there is a cynical side of me that sees how the
photojournalism business works and how people who win big contests get
jobs at big papers.
Not that I want a job at a big paper, but it seems like contest
winners get opportunities that otherwise might not have been there.
And for good reason. They busted their ass and created something
amazing. My question is, why is it so hard to be happy with what I do
and not worry about winning a contest?
Now, I can’t complain too much because I’ve won a couple of awards,
and I’m sure there are plenty of other photojournalists far better
than me who have won nothing. It still messes with my mind though.
So for all ya’ll who have yet to hop on the train, here are the links
for the big contests.
POYi - 64th Pictures of the Year International
http://www.poy.org/
NPPA BOP - National Press Photographers Association’s Best of
Photojournalism 2007
http://bop.nppa.org/2007/
2007 World Press Photo Contest
http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/