Question: Print Competitions? Are they worth it?

[imported_JeromeL]

I've received emails over the year from PPA and other photography organizations about a print competition they are having, or one they sponsor. More recently the PPA International Print Competition opened and it sparked some interest. I thought this may be an opportunity to try something new and stretch myself a bit. Has anyone here participated in a competition before (any level, local, national, international)?

Also are any of you members of a particular photography organization (PPA, CPA, SPS, ETC)? Would you recommend membership to student like myself? Why are member? What benefits do you get from it?


Jerome

[Abel]

im not a member as of yet but i hear many good things on the ppa side in regards to insurance for photographers. last night i attended a seminar and the photog mentioned being sued 3 times in their 5 year history and ppa extinguished all of the suites for free... thats part of the coverage they provide their members. its like having a lawyer on retained that youre not even paying for. sounds good in my book.

the photog also mentioned print competitions and gave a pretty good little rundown on them. he said something to the effect that when you submit you feel youre submitting the best of the best in regards to your own work.. he said having other experieinced photogs judge it and score will give you some great insigt as to what makes a great photograph in other photographers eyes and not just you and your clients eyes. he said he learned a lot from speaking to the judges in order to determine what areas he needed improvement on and spent time focusing on those attributes prior to submitting again....

in the end it all sounded pretty cool... i may have to try it some day.

[RochinPhotography]

I to have been researching the PPA and may join soon. Still not sure if I will use them for insurance as TCP is top notch as well. May even switch the business insurance over to the company that I do the home/auto through for a bigger discount

[imported_JeromeL]

Abel,

Very cool. I've heard a lot of good things about the insurance, but that experience is an amazing feat. I'm glad to hear that the PPA does so well in serving its members. The print competitions seem like a good way for me to measure up to other photographers at the professional level, and thus have been considering it.

Rochin,

I'm not so worried about insurance at the moment, as all of my gear is covered under the organization I work for. Who is TCP?

[RochinPhotography]

http://www.tcpinsurance.com/