How Do I Get Started With Photography Image Competition?
Getting started with photography image competition is actually pretty simple: find a competition you want to enter, read the rules, choose an image, enter it and pay attention to what you learn from the experience.
You do not need to understand everything about image competition before you start. You don't need to have the 12 Elements memorized. You don't need four perfect images. And you definitely don't need to wait until you think you're “good enough.”
You just need to start somewhere.
Where Should You Enter Your First Image Competition?
There's no required starting point in the PPA image competition world.
Some photographers jump straight into PPA's Merit Image Review, usually called MIR. You do need to be a PPA member to enter MIR.
Others start with a local or state affiliate competition because they want to dip their toes in, get some feedback and see how the whole thing works. Many local and state competitions allow photographers who aren't members of their association to enter, although that varies from one organization to another. Check the rules for the specific competition you're considering.
Some photographers do both.
Any of those options can work.
If earning your PPA Master of Photography degree is one of your goals, MIR is important because that's where you earn the exhibition merits required for that degree.
Your state association may also have its own degree or fellowship program connected to image competition. Those programs vary by state, including how merits or credits are earned and whether membership is required, so you'll want to check the requirements for your particular association.
Local and state competitions can also give you an opportunity to watch judging, hear critiques, learn how images are evaluated and become more familiar with the whole competition process.
The important thing isn't finding the “right” place to start.
It's understanding what each opportunity offers, checking its requirements and choosing what makes sense for you.
Start With One Image
One of the things that keeps photographers from entering image competition is the belief that they need an entire collection of amazing competition images before they can start.
You don't.
If you're a PPA member entering MIR, you can currently enter as few as one image.
One.
You don't need four masterpieces, a photographic degree and nerves of steel before you're allowed through the door.
Choose an image you think has potential and start there.
And here's something important: your favorite client image isn't automatically your best competition image.
Your client may absolutely love the photograph of her horse with his ears slightly sideways because that's the expression he makes every time she scratches his neck.
She sees her horse.
A judging panel has no idea that he always does that.
They're evaluating what's actually in front of them.
Learning to separate what an image means to you or your client from what is actually happening within the image is one of the things image competition can teach you.
Start Learning the 12 Elements
Within the PPA competition system, images are evaluated using the 12 Elements of a Merit Image.
You do not need to memorize all 12 before entering your first image.
But you should start learning them.
The Elements give you a vocabulary for looking at your work differently. Instead of simply thinking, I like this image, you start asking why it works.
Where does your eye go first?
Is the lighting helping tell the story?
Does the composition strengthen the image?
Are there technical problems distracting from everything else?
Does the image have impact?
Once you start looking at your photographs this way, it's very difficult to stop. Fair warning.
And that's one of the reasons I believe image competition can make you a stronger photographer even if you never care about collecting a single trophy.
Please Read the Rules
Yes, I'm giving this one its own section.
Every competition has rules. Read them. Then read them again.
File requirements, categories, deadlines, naming conventions, eligibility requirements and what kinds of image manipulation are allowed can vary from one competition to another.
Don't assume the rules for your state competition are the same as MIR. Don't assume the rules you remember from last year are still the rules this year.
If you're entering MIR, always check PPA's current Merit Image Review rules before preparing your entry.
And please don't spend hours preparing an image only to discover after the deadline that you entered it incorrectly because you didn't read page two.
Nobody needs that kind of excitement in their life.
Pay Attention to the Feedback
Entering the image is only part of the process.
A huge part of the value comes from what you do afterward.
Watch judging when you have the opportunity. Listen to what is said about your image and other people's images. Order a critique when one is available and it makes sense for you. Ask questions. Look at images that do well and start identifying why they work.
And when an image doesn't receive the result you hoped for, don't immediately decide that the judges are wrong, you're terrible at photography and you're selling all your camera equipment on Facebook Marketplace tomorrow.
Look at what you can learn from it.
Image competition is subjective. Different panels can respond differently to the same image. But that doesn't mean there isn't valuable information in the feedback.
Listen to it. Think about it. Then decide what you want to do with it.
If you'd like another set of trained eyes on your images before or after competition, I also offer private image critiques designed to help you understand what's working, what could be strengthened and why.
Your First Goal Doesn't Have to Be a Merit
If you're entering MIR because you're working toward your Master of Photography degree, then yes, exhibition merits matter.
But when you're brand new to image competition, I'd encourage you to give yourself another goal, too: Learn something.
Learn something about lighting.
Learn something about composition.
Learn why an image you thought would do well didn't.
Learn why another image surprised you.
Learn what you didn't notice until someone else pointed it out.
The merit, ribbon or award is a result.
The education is what you get to take back to every image you create afterward.
The Bottom Line
You don't have to wait until you understand everything about photography image competition before you enter.
Pick a place to start. Read the rules. Choose an image. Learn a little about the 12 Elements. Enter.
Then pay attention. You might earn a merit or an award. You might not.
Either way, if you walk away seeing your photography a little differently than you did before, you got something valuable out of the experience.
And then? Enter another one.
