Well, Focus Magazine has been nominated by the LUCIE Awards for best Photography Magazine...
Well, Focus Magazine has been nominated by the LUCIE Awards for best Photography Magazine...
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?
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.
Ed Richards
http://www.epr-art.com
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.Originally Posted by FocusMag
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
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.
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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