Opinion: There's more to photography competitions than just winning prizes

Trophy
(Image credit: Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash)

Photography competitions aren’t for everyone but, from camera clubs to the world stage and everything in-between, there’s no denying they are a huge part of the photography industry. I’ve helped judge a couple of minor competitions and although poring over entries is hugely inspirational, choosing winners can feel like an insurmountable task. Art – funnily enough – isn’t an exact science. 

There’s no universal rule book for judging a photograph. Different people have different ideas as to what constitutes a winning image, and those ideas might change from genre to genre or even mood. Perhaps technique should take precedence… or maybe creativity… or difficulty… Then there are ethical considerations. At what point does an image become exploitative? At what point does editing become unfair? At what point does staging become misleading? 

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Mike Harris
How To Editor

Mike is Digital Camera World's How To Editor. He has over a decade of experience, writing for some of the biggest specialist publications including Digital Camera, Digital Photographer and PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine. Prior to DCW, Mike was Deputy Editor of N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine and Production Editor at Wex Photo Video, where he sharpened his skills in both the stills and videography spheres. While he's an avid motorsport photographer, his skills extend to every genre of photography – making him one of Digital Camera World's top tutors for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters and other imaging equipment – as well as sharing his expertise on shooting everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...