Society has done a great job of putting those who succeed up on pedestals and ridiculing those who fail - without realizing that they are the same kinds of people, who for whatever reason, made a decision. So many people are so scared of the sense of failure, they will not make a decision until forced
Not only are they the same kinds of people, They Are The Same People. With just their success highlighted and many failures which did not break their resolve in the background. Behind the curtains, actually. I found this out through participating in any photo competition that I could find meaningful (not ridiculous conditions) about ten years ago. I won about 10 % of them. Later, when conditions became more and more ridiculous, I took prt in less and less. Say, 3 competitions per year which meant... 0.3 wins per year. Rounded down to Zero, usually. And now it's the 0.0 Zero as I didn't made any effort in that direction during 2020.
Always focusing some energy into something else, though. I feel I just shifted onto another plane.
I have some very smart and talented friends who want to have perfect records, though, so they are moving at 5% each one of their ideas for products being realized...per year. Or so it seems to me. Just my opinion. And I was not completely fair in that estimate. It simply makes the story more...convenient.
Do you ever get the urge to enter the competitions these days?
What kinds of conditions were getting set?
I feel that people have forgotten how to "dedicate" themselves to something, even something they love. Perhaps life has too many distractions - most of them useless in my opinion.
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What I'm looking for is professional jury judging the entries; organizers using the materials sent only as far as to promote the competition and its sequels themselves, not their entire brand anytime, anywhere, etc.; no entry fee. As of late, it has become the trend to ask the participants to fund the reward pool themselves instead of looking for sponsors. It's been like that most of the time in recent years for artists, as well. Because there are many who would pay to see their thing in an exhibition? Perhaps...
And very few if any national level photo competitions still exist. It's mostly online promotion thing where your friends'votes decide if you should get that product of the organizers or what...
I think there is a bundle of things here, but rent-seeking behavior by the organizers is one of them. I am hoping that patronage returns.
"I'm a published author, I paid for the publishing myself"
How many copies did you sell though?
It is quite pathetic - an exercise in vote begging.
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Yup, I can say I'm happily avoiding that last part for almost a decade, i.e. since first when I experienced a competition with such conditions. It has nothing to do with the subject matter.
By the way, the serious patronage that still remains in the field comes from...The Middle East. The Emirates and Turkey.
The national press photo challenge kind of disappeared which is sad for the whole local (perhaps more than local) field. Equipment manufacturing brands still issue some yearlies...I think. Can't dedicate time to that now. Or won't.