2017 IPC Results - my first venture into print competition

Back in June, I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to enter print competition, which I did.  And today, I'm reporting my results!

What is print competition? 

Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the leading industry association for professional photographers, and like most industry groups, they host conferences, continuing education classes, certification opportunities, and competitions.  International Photographic Competition (IPC) happens once a year, and is the "Superbowl" of professional photography.

Each photographer can enter up to 4 images (a "case").  Each image is judged against 12 elements of a merit image:

1. impact

2. technical excellence

3. creativity

4. style

5. composition

6. presentation

7. color balance

8. center of interest

9. lighting

10. subject matter

11. technique

12. story telling

Yes, that's a lot to consider, and that's why it's challenging! 

How scoring works

Images are shown to a panel of 5 judges, whose scores are averaged together to give an overall score.  The judges have a chance to challenge, discuss, and re-score.  The highest possible score is 100.  Any image that scores 80 or more earns a merit and is accepted into the General Collection.  From that pool, the judges choose the best of the best to showcase in the prestigious Loan Collection, which is published in a book.  So the two words you want to hear are "Merit" and "Loan"!!

How I did in my first competition

Two of my images did not merit.  One image merited in the General Collection, and the last image merited and was accepted into the Loan Collection!  Interestingly, my goal this year was to earn 2 merits, which I achieved.  Next year, you can bet my goal will be 4/4!!

Now for my entries:

Image 1:  Higher Grandpa!

This first image was my "case filler".  I was struggling to pick a 4th image and ultimately chose this one of my daughter because it is special to me.  It was taken on Thanksgiving Day last year at my dad's farm, and he built this wooden swing for my girls.  Entering this image was a good lesson in understanding that sometimes the photographs that are the most meaningful to us are not always the best choice for competition.  It scored 75.

Image 2:  They Went That-a-Way

I love Nola's expression and ears in this next image.  It was taken during a charity fundraiser I organized earlier this year.  It scored 78.

Image 3:  Dapper Dachshund

Ahhhh Floyd!  If you've been hanging around the blog this year, you've seen this handsome bowtie-wearin' boy several times.  You might also remember his bowtie was actually red gingham.  I personally like the red better, but alas I changed it to blue to satisfy element #7 above.  Yes, print competition typically requires additional post-processing work.

Immediately after I clicked the shutter button on this image, I just knew it would be one of my entries this year.  It scored 81, and earned a merit in the General Collection!

Image 4:  Places to Go, People to Lick

And finally, this image of Khloe was taken towards the end of her session - she was trotting along, happy to be on an early morning adventure in downtown Houston. 

I took a chance on this one, and it paid off.  You see, the majority of images submitted to IPC are formal portraits: dramatic lighting, traditional posing, eye contact, and for dogs, typically no tongue showing.  This image broke a lot of the "rules", but I kept gravitating towards it.  So I followed my gut and chose a title that made the tongue "work". 

The judging is streamed live online, and my favorite part was hearing the judges giggle when this image came up.  This image scored an 85, earned a merit, and was selected to be published in the Loan Collection!

All in all, I learned a tremendous amount from entering print competition this year.  I am very happy with my results, and motivated to do even better next year!

So not to brag of course... but I guess you can now call me an award-winning photographer ;-)