Salon competition at T.A.P.P.A.

Last night I participated in my first "Salon" as a member of the Tampa Area Professional Photographers Association.

First, let me tell you a little about the group.  T.A.P.P.A. is the largest affiliate guild in Florida of the Professional Photographers Association with over 100 members.  The P.P.A. is a great organization that publishes "Professional Photographer" magazine, provides insurance to guild members and sponsors schools and workshops around the country.  The people I have met since joining the guild have been great and it's really nice to have a network of fellow professionals who I can reach out to for support (and offer support in return)

Competition is a big deal in the PPA.  It starts with the "Salon" at our monthly meeting.  Then there's the yearly Salon for each guild chapter (that's what we did last night).  Next is regional and then national.  The ultimate goal is to receive a "merit" for your image.  A merit is awarded for a score of 80 or above in a regional competition.  Previous posts about monthly salon are here, here and here.

The idea is that the monthly salon, which is voted on by the members, is a way to see what images you have that might be worth moving up to the yearly salon (which is judged by three qualified judges.)  How you do in the yearly salon will help you decide if it's worth moving on to regional.  If you score 80 or above in the yearly salon, you receive a "Chapter Merit." 

Valentines Photo Contest

I'm always on the lookout for contests to enter.

Contest submission is tricky.  I always find myself torn between submitting what I believe is the best image and submitting what I believe has the best chance to win.  Trying to guess what the judges will be looking for is incredibly hard.  Photography is art and no two people look at it the exact same way.  Many times I have failed to place in a contest only to see the winning entry be very similar to a picture of mine that I rejected for consideration.

Yesterday I entered a contest sponsored by a company that makes photography backdrops.  These types of contests are really just promotional tools for the company that sponsors them but hey, I'll take a free backdrop any day! 

The theme of the contest is "Valentines."  Right away, I'm at a disadvantage because I can only assume that the winner will probably be a picture that was taken using a background.  I mean, they make backgrounds, they want to sell backgrounds.  Are they really going to pick a winner that doesn't use their product?

Oh well, I decided to submit a picture that I think is unique and fun.  I don't think I'll win but I do think it's a great picture!  I call it, "No U-Turn."

This picture was shot during an engagement session last year, on Kennedy Blvd in Tampa.  I used a neutral density filter to cut down the sunlight enough so that I could shoot at a slow shutter speed.  Without the filter I would not have been able to get the cars to blur.  There was a little retouching done, mainly to the grass on the island (I cloned the grass to cover some concrete).

See more engagement pictures on my website.