Black and White Spider Awards?

[Frank Petronio]

Anyone know anything about this "Black and White Spider Awards"?

http://www.thespiderawards.com/

Seems to have some big commercial photography names but I still kind of think all contests are scams... but still for $35 it is nice way to get a good picture in front of some of those judges.... you think?

There is some excellent work in the past winner's galleries.

[Gordon Moat]

I tried entering a single image last year, which probably not surprisingly did not make it into their choices. I did get a nice calendar from them. Suppose you could consider whether you want a nice calendar, or if you manage to get in whether that line on your exhibit history will mean anything.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[davidb]

I never knew about this but the work on their site is rather good.

Maybe I'll enter and bring it down a notch !

:D

[Frank Petronio]

I've seriously thought about starting a photo contest. Maybe it is hard to sell photos to real clients, but selling to photographers always seemed like the easier business.

[Gordon Moat]

Really not that funny an idea Frank. That is how the majority of contests work, especially the larger ones; money is made for those organizing the contests, which then functions more as a business. Considering that the judges maybe have 3 seconds per image (or less), it really is sort of a crap shoot. Subtle images don't stand much of a chance in most contests, though there have been exceptions. Personally I now think there are only two contests worthy of effort, though I will continue doing juried exhibits.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[SamReeves]

Could be interesting. But I'd rather use my $35 for gas and go somewhere.

[domenico Foschi]

Actually contest if cherry picked, can be a great promotional tool.
Aperture foundation is a very respectable entity that sure would put the name of the winner photographers in the map.
I will not submit to those contests where my work will only appear in their website(Aperture excluded).
I find that local contests are more effective in order to be known at least in my area.
The positive thing is that you can go to the receptions more easily and practice your networking skills and actually meet people.
Your work alone, no matter how good it is, will not go anywhere if you don't make it public in the most diverse manner.

[Mattg]

Really not that funny an idea Frank. That is how the majority of contests work, especially the larger ones; money is made for those organizing the contests, which then functions more as a business. Considering that the judges maybe have 3 seconds per image (or less), it really is sort of a crap shoot. Subtle images don't stand much of a chance in most contests, though there have been exceptions. Personally I now think there are only two contests worthy of effort, though I will continue doing juried exhibits.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

Don't be shy Gordon, which two contests do you believe are worth entering?

[John Kasaian]

Odd it isn't mentioned in the PDN website among the other photography contests when one of the judges is an editor at PDN.

[Gordon Moat]

CommArts Photo Annual, and PDN Photo Annual. Of course, if you are trying to get deeper into fashion photography, then add the Surface Magazine Avante Guardians.

I should explain that I prefer these because of the potential increase in advertising and corporate work from appearing in them. If your only interest is fine art photography, then probably disregard those.

Consider that when you do get into some contest, it is often up to you to inform others that you made it into the final cut. In other words, it is something to help your marketing. So maybe approaching contests with the idea of what will this do for me and my photography, and then some might make more sense than others.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[David Spivak-Focus Magazine]

Well, Focus Magazine has been nominated by the LUCIE Awards for best Photography Magazine...

[GSX4]

One thing I noticed about the Spider Awards is that they require a member ID to submit work. There is no mention on that site about how to become a member, to register, or anything like that. Anyone know how that process works?

[Ed Richards]

At least this contest does allow prints, if you do not mind that they are tossed.

> Subtle images don't stand much of a chance

I think a lot of this has to do with 900 pixel wide images - not much room for subtle.

[Gordon Moat]

Well, Focus Magazine has been nominated by the LUCIE Awards for best Photography Magazine...

Well good for you. Really this is not much different to me than BlackBook, WorkBook, or LeBook, which are all pay to play sourcebooks. They also are highly selective in what work they will show, though the difference is the emphasis in Focus Magazine is art photography, while the others are commercially oriented.

Communication Arts and Photo District News are oriented towards creative professionals, including professional photographers, illustrators and re-touchers. Communication Arts also allows advertising ones work in each issue, though you have to first make it into one of their Photography Annuals. Many art directors use these magazines to find new talent, or new work directions from veteran creatives.

Surface Magazine is a special case with their annual Avante Guardians issue. They are a fashion, lifestyle, and architecture oriented publication. Avante Guardians challenges photographers to come up with new directions in imaging. Since they have been running this many years, creative professionals definitely take notice and do hire people who made the cut. However, most of those who made it into their annual were showing images more oriented towards fashion photography.

Pay rates for photographers, or if you consider annual incomes, are many times higher for those involved in various advertising related specialties, than for those involved in art photography. Those who treat imaging like a business are likely to do better, so when you consider return on investment, commercial photographers are getting a much better return for what they spend on marketing; and when it comes right down to it, contests are also marketing.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Frank Petronio]

Years ago I got into the PDN thing, won some minor prize and was deluged with calls and offers from people wanting to sell me stuff, or for me to hire them as assistants, or things like that.

Not one inquiry came from anyone remotely like a potential paying client....

So I think some of these contests are mastabatory.... entering a photo magazine contest seems like a real waste. Maybe because Communications Arts has a broader audience it is a better idea...

This particular Spider Award seems to have a lot of pretty good judges from the magazine industry, and being centered on B&W photography I'm impressed by the quality of the work, so I was only wondering if anyone here has ever heard of it before? Other than Gordon, I guess not.

[katie cooke]

It's something I've been thinking about for the last few months: which, if any, contests are worth entering. I saw the Spider Awards when looking around online, but couldn't see how it really connected to anything beyond itself.

As far as I can see there's one major one in the UK: the annual portrait prize, run by the National Portrait Gallery, and possibly (if you do travel photography) the Wanderlust Magazine competition, and (for flower or garden pictures) the Garden Photographer of the Year, run by Kew Gardens...and these all because they are a. run by serious groups and b. have audiences above and beyond other photographers.

Are there any others I should be paying attention to in the UK?

[cyrus]

Well then, perhaps its time we created our own awards!

Not so long ago, a friend in the higher echelons of the Hollywood movie business confided in me that the judges of the Golden Globes Awards - supposedly all members of the "Hollywood Foreign Press Association" - are in fact not qualified to judge anything, consisting of freeloaders and people who actually have careers in fields such as used car sales but who only occasionally moonlight as an "entertainment writer" for some obscure foreign paper - the whole thing is just a publicity stunt.

WHich is to say, if used car salesmen can judge Hollywood movies, why can't members of this board start giving out photography awards too?

So, who wants to nominate some judges? We can get this thing up and running in less than a day.

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Frank,

The reason I entered the 2006 B&W Spider Awards was because two friends of mine were in the 2005 Spider Awards. They both thought my B/W work had potential to make the cut, so I entered. I probably should have thought more about it, but at the time my workload was a bit heavy, so I ended up only sending in one image. Chances might improve sending in more, though it will cost more to enter.

So if you made it into the 2007/8 Spiders, what would you do with that new found fame? Based upon what I saw others do, they added a line to their exhibit history, and proclaimed being in the Spiders to their mailing lists. Would that be enough to make it worth entering?

Everyone should understand that there is no guarantee your phone will start ringing off the hook, nor that your images will start flying off the walls as people throw money your direction, simply by making it into some contest, annual, or juried exhibit. What is important is getting your name out there, and being consistent about doing that. People will not randomly find you. Carefully consider the target audience, and who will see your work. Getting your name and images in front of people takes effort and expense, and you will not always make the right choices for you. What works for one photographer rarely works for another. There are no formulas, no guarantees, and failure is definitely possible.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[cowanw]

I believe it was last year that a Canadian won and he got national press for a few days as a result. Even Jeff Wall had to start somewhere.
Regards
Bill

[David Higgs]

The Spiders are legitimate, I got a 2010 nomination. Its usually jurored by some high end people and supported by Magnum in previous years. Like most of the competitions its a bit of pot luck, you get to put it on your blog/website, and you might win some cash. I suspect it's partly a money making exercise for the organisers, but they aren't going to do it for free.

[Kodachrome25]

It's a money grabber, $35 per entry.....Ouch!

I would pass, too many categories and not really in the spirit of truly great black and white photography, no way to differentiate real black and white darkroom work from compu-crap.

[David Higgs]

it is too expensive now, and you are right the images are too small to judge

[dsphotog]

Hard to imagine anything fake on the internet!
I keep getting emails about winning the UK lottery too.

[rich815]

This is an old thread, but I thought it worth mentioning since some of you may be considering submitting to contests. I saw one of the current jurors was the Senior Editor of National Geographic Magazine, and I contacted her about the Spider Awards. She got back to me today and said she has never heard of them before and is certainly not jurying for it. she said they will have their legal team look into it. While there are plenty of legitimate competitions out there, this one seems bogus.

Ha! That says it all!! Good way to flush $35 away. Online vanity publishing!

[arca andy]

It's something I've been thinking about for the last few months: which, if any, contests are worth entering. I saw the Spider Awards when looking around online, but couldn't see how it really connected to anything beyond itself.

As far as I can see there's one major one in the UK: the annual portrait prize, run by the National Portrait Gallery, and possibly (if you do travel photography) the Wanderlust Magazine competition, and (for flower or garden pictures) the Garden Photographer of the Year, run by Kew Gardens...and these all because they are a. run by serious groups and b. have audiences above and beyond other photographers.

Are there any others I should be paying attention to in the UK?

Yes the Association of Photographers Awards (www.the-aop.org )you have to be member and I am but its probably one of the most important photographic competitions in the world...oooow is that a subject for another post? The most important photographic competition in the world is...?