The 2016 Shoot and Share Contest
This year I participated in the 2016 Shoot and Share Contest. If you haven’t heard of it, here’s the gist:
What I love most about this format is it really is “All About the Photos”. Its not about marketing, or a reputation, or the popularity contest of many awards where those with a larger reach on social media have a better chance of winning. It is literally only about the quality of the photos and how much your content relates to voters.
I didn’t enter the contest last year, but this year I pulled 50 photos from my laptop hard drive and submitted those on the last day of the entry window. I chose some of my favorite images from 2015, hit submit, and waiting for the contest voting to go live!
Over the next 5 weeks I spent countless hours voting (more than I like to admit!). My photography group was obsessed with it and we were constantly on the lookout for photos of other members. As a voter and a photographer there was very much the element of “maybe I’ll see mine in the next group”. Warning: this is a seriously addicting contest.
But it is also a seriously inspiring contest. After each round, as much as 30-40% of the photos are eliminated so by the time you get to round 10, you’re looking at the very best of the best: the top 3.5% of photographs. And let me tell you–there is some serious talent out there! Technique, emotion, lighting–so much inspiration that I know it will drive me to do better, to work harder, and to experiment more.
Much to my pleasure I had quite a few images make it pretty far! While none of mine made it to the final round, I had 7 place in the top 10%, 11 place in the top 20% and 5 place in the top 30%. That’s a total of 23 that earned an honor, just under half of my submissions.
I’ll be sharing more about the images that placed in my next post, but I’m very pleased with the results this year! And by studying my successes alongside the photos that didn’t do as well (FYI, same-sex images really weren’t well received, which was a total shocker to me!), I hope to improve on my place next year.
Stay tuned!
