On Whether or Not to Enter Photo Contests
I recently submitted a few photos to various ongoing photo contests, and it’s something I’d like to do more often in the future. Sometimes I have a photo that seems like a good fit, and recently I thought: I’m just going to give it a try. Are you thinking about doing this, too? Here are my thoughts.
The first thing I had to figure out was which photo contests I could enter. Of course, I knew the most famous ones, but it turns out there are countless others. And by “countless,” I mean hundreds. So it was a matter of separating the wheat from the chaff. I wanted a competition that was somewhat reputable—internationally recognized and of a high standard. One that would actually be worthwhile if I were to enter. I ended up with a table where I listed competitions that were potential contenders. I also paid attention to the quality of the winning images and what rights you’d be giving up on your photos. In addition, some photo contests allow you to enter for free, while others charge a fee per set number of photos. That was also an important factor. I don’t mind paying a reasonable, modest fee, but it shouldn’t get out of hand, because the chance that I’ll submit a prize-winning photo isn’t all that high, of course. All in all, this search was quite educational and fun, because I noticed that looking at past prize-winning images gave me a lot of inspiration for my own photography—more than I get from Instagram, for example.
My expectations weren’t—and still aren’t—very high. After all, the selection is made by multiple judges, each with their own preferences for style and subject matter, and in the more prestigious photography contests, the competition is fierce. I find it hard to tell whether my photos can compete with those of such talented photographers; I often think they can’t, but maybe that’s just a bit of self-doubt.
Still, I wanted to take a chance, especially when I looked at a contest and saw a category—complete with a description—that immediately made me think of one of my photos from my recent trip to Iceland. First, I carefully checked which images had won prizes or been selected in the past, tried to look at my own photo objectively, and took a chance, figuring that if it didn’t work out, I wouldn’t have lost anything.
To my surprise and delight, a few months later I found a message in my inbox: my very first entry (the photo below, submitted to TPOTY) had made it to the finalists in my category. In the end, I didn’t win anything, but I was already very happy about this.
Finalist for Travel Photographer of the Year 2024
Selected as one of the finalists in the “One Shot – Escape” category. This photo was taken in August 2024 from Mount Bláhnúkur in Landmannalaugar, part of the “Fjallabak Nature Reserve” in the Icelandic highlands.