The monthly photo competition

[singlecoil]

If this forum was a democracy my vote would be for competition subjects that were

a) not vague

b) encouraged photos to be taken specifically for the competition

at the moment neither of these are the case, and each time a new subject comes up people are rifling through their back catalogues to find something that fits the overly wide parameters and posting it. Which strikes me as a shame and AIUI pretty much the opposite of what happens in photo clubs.

[GravelBen]

There used to be a monthly 'photo challenge' as well, which IIRC was pretty much as you describe. I think it faded away because hardly anybody entered.

Personally I like how the competition themes vary between specific or open to interpretation, though I don't enter too often.

Edited by GravelBen on Friday 3rd July 07:24

[singlecoil]

Has there ever been a specific theme? I must have missed that. I don't often enter because the subjects are so vague as to be virtually meaningless.

[GravelBen]

singlecoil said:

Has there ever been a specific theme? I must have missed that. I don't often enter because the subjects are so vague as to be virtually meaningless.

I guess one photographer's 'meaningless' is another's 'opportunity for creativity'

Have a read through the list of previous themes, plenty of specific ones there:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[singlecoil]

Which of those do you consider to be specific?

[Nigel_O]

singlecoil said:

Which of those do you consider to be specific?

I'd say "night street photography" is pretty specific, but I agree that most monthly subjects can be interpreted quite widely

However, restricting the competition / challenge to only photos taken in the same month will kill it. It was tried relatively recently and the entries plummeted, which kinda defeats the object.

When all is said and done, the PH photo competition is just a bit of fun and nothing more. Sure, it's nice to be recongised by a handful of one's peers, but if you want to take photo competitions seriously, PH is not the place to be doing it.

[singlecoil]

Nigel_O said:

singlecoil said:

Which of those do you consider to be specific?

I'd say "night street photography" is pretty specific, but I agree that most monthly subjects can be interpreted quite widely

However, restricting the competition / challenge to only photos taken in the same month will kill it. It was tried relatively recently and the entries plummeted, which kinda defeats the object.

When all is said and done, the PH photo competition is just a bit of fun and nothing more. Sure, it's nice to be recongised by a handful of one's peers, but if you want to take photo competitions seriously, PH is not the place to be doing it.

According to the Wiki the challenge died in 2014, and once again super vague subjects, which would not have helped.

I can assure you I would never take such a competition seriously, art is not a competitive sport.

[Vintage Racer]

Are we not missing the point, that no prizes are given and it is just a bit of fun for forum members!

I only shoot wildlife, so enter when that subject, or an interpretation comes along...........I certainly dont lose any sleep over it!



my blog; https://imageweaver.blogspot.com/

[singlecoil]

Vintage Racer said:

Are we not missing the point, that no prizes are given and it is just a bit of fun for forum members!

I don't think I am missing the point, as I don't think there is a point. At the moment the competition is an opportunity for people to go through their old pictures looking for something that fits the theme, and as the themes are very wide all sorts of pictures will fit (which is apparently exactly what most people here want).

Because of that I really don't expect anybody to change their mind about it. But that doesn't stop me from wishing that there was some interest in taking pictures especially for a competition. I know the 'Challenge' was exactly that, but the subjects were again vague to the point of meaningless and I don't think I would have participated in any of them and I'm not surprised that others didn't either.

[rst99]

I think the current monthly competition is working well. We have a decent level of interest and comment.

Your point is valid about raiding your archives to find an image to fit the theme. There is little incentive get out and try something new.

How about trying a one-off competition with a specific theme to be shot within the month to gauge interest? I am sure the mods could assist in making it sticky.

[noell35]

What is stopping you putting up a specific photo challenge and seeing what happens?
I'll even commit to entering if it helps.


Please could you call it Singlecoil's specific shot shootout.

[GravelBen]

noell35 said:

...
Please could you call it Singlecoil's specific shot shootout.

Is this a specific enough theme suggestion?

"you must take a photo of the side of a blue and white teacup with a chip on the handle, in front of a wooden door with vertical grain, with only natural lighting"

[singlecoil]

GravelBen said:

noell35 said:

...
Please could you call it Singlecoil's specific shot shootout.

Is this a specific enough theme suggestion?

"you must take a photo of the side of a blue and white teacup with a chip on the handle, in front of a wooden door with vertical grain, with only natural lighting"

I realise that you are joking, let me offer a joke subject in response

"travel"

What we've done there is to go from one extreme to the other, yours is ridiculously specific and mine is ridiculously vague. Yours however would not be practical because competitors might not have access to such a teacup and/or door.

Were I to offer an actual and practical subject it might be something like

"a picture of a bottle and a bucket"

These are something that everybody would have access to, but would favour photographers like me who have tended to specialise in still life and who have practice at constructing a scene and then photographing it whereas most here capture artistic scenes that already exist.

So if I was setting a subject I would probably steer away from still life. I'll think about it and maybe have a go at restarting the monthly photo challenge if I can come up with something that would suit everybody.

[GravelBen]

Yes, my suggestion was tongue in cheek!

I think being too specific and not being specific enough have different risks - if a theme is too specific there is a risk that most of the entries are basically the same, and that other people won't bother entering if it doesn't interest them. If its not specific enough then people may enter photos that seem completely unrelated to others interpretation of the theme.

By all means go for it with resurrecting the monthly challenge, hopefully it gets enough interest to reach a critical mass of entries.

Just don't be like me and accidentally recycle a theme from two months earlier... (in my defense the wiki hadn't been updated in a while!)

[C n C]

singlecoil said:

Vintage Racer said:

Are we not missing the point, that no prizes are given and it is just a bit of fun for forum members!

I don't think I am missing the point, as I don't think there is a point. At the moment the competition is an opportunity for people to go through their old pictures looking for something that fits the theme, and as the themes are very wide all sorts of pictures will fit (which is apparently exactly what most people here want).

Because of that I really don't expect anybody to change their mind about it. But that doesn't stop me from wishing that there was some interest in taking pictures especially for a competition. I know the 'Challenge' was exactly that, but the subjects were again vague to the point of meaningless and I don't think I would have participated in any of them and I'm not surprised that others didn't either.

I kind of agree that the monthly competition does seem quite often to be a case of people trawling through their archives, although there is nothing stopping you from going out to shoot something specific for it, which is what I usually try to do.

My general approach is to look up the competition subject at the start of the month, and I then end up keeping it in mind throughout the month so I quite often find myself seeing scenes that fit and grabbing a photo. I'll also occasionally go out specifically with the aim of getting a photo for the competition (which is fun - had a great day out specifically looking for the photojournalism one).

If I don't get a decent photo I will have a look at previous photos I've taken which fit the theme, partly as I think that the more entries there are, the more interesting the competition is. So for me, it's new photo, and if not, old photo, as either are better than no photo.

I know that many of the themes are quite vague, but I think that the more specific the theme is, the less entries there will be. In fact in general terms, the more restrictions, the less entries. This was the case with the challenge - as it was restricted to photos taken in that month, it dies a death due to the small number of people who went out and shot something in the month for it.


To show that I do actually take some photos in the same month the following were all shot specifically for the competition.

Symmetry (January 2018)

Symmetry1 by conradsphotos, on Flickr


Decay (Feb 2018)

decay1 by conradsphotos, on Flickr



End of Summer (September 2018)

apple_01 by conradsphotos, on Flickr



Photojournalism/Editorial (April 2019)

3O2A7314 by conradsphotos, on Flickr



Bokeh (Aug 2019)

3O2A9681 by conradsphotos, on Flickr



Pattern (October 2019)

3O2A1245 by conradsphotos, on Flickr

[RobDickinson]

singlecoil in entitled pointless whining ? Shock.

[DailyHack]

Well...your gonna love my topic for July then

I personally like the "openness" of the photo competition, it is open to interpretation by all who wants to enter, I am also cool with people who want to rifle through their back catalog, doesn't mean they are going to win it or have a good photo to show, sometimes looking over past images you have created brings a different meaning when viewed again.

Be good if we all can get out and take a specific image for the thread, but that just wont happen for many, but many do and try their best to see what they can create, which is great and gets people out.

Only a bit of fun in the end, isn't it.

[singlecoil]

DailyHack said:

Well...your gonna love my topic for July then

I personally like the "openness" of the photo competition, it is open to interpretation by all who wants to enter, I am also cool with people who want to rifle through their back catalog, doesn't mean they are going to win it or have a good photo to show, sometimes looking over past images you have created brings a different meaning when viewed again.

Be good if we all can get out and take a specific image for the thread, but that just wont happen for many, but many do and try their best to see what they can create, which is great and gets people out.

Only a bit of fun in the end, isn't it.

It's ok, I'm used to being in the minority .

If it won't sound as if I'm whining, I note that you say about getting out to take pictures, most of mine are taken indoors, fortunately I have a camera that can do that