First off, if you are a judge for SWPPA this September/October or IPC next year.. turn back now unless you want to risk needing to recuse yourself later, since these prints may go on to those events.

I participated this last weekend in Texas Professional Photographer Association’s annual print competition… my first competition case ever… I had never taken the time to compete before, but I was berated worn down talked into doing it by a number of people – not the least of which were Mark McCall and Tracye Gibson (there were others, but they were the loudest)… and I’m glad I did.

I wasn’t going to post them all at once for fear of a future judge seeing them, but a number of people have asked to see them, so I’m sharing them with the above disclaimer.

For those not familiar with print competition.. its a grueling process (some of which told below) where a panel of judges sit and score the image on a scale of 0-100 points. Anything 80 or above is considered a “merit print” – exceptional. Its hard to get an 80, and after watching judging last Sunday, I feel like the difficulty of each point above that 80 is exponentially more difficult… to be in the 90s is extraordinary and a 100… well, I’m not Richard Sturdevant.

All you submit with the print is a title… which ends up being extremely important as it sets the mood. As the artist, you cannot say any more about it… although the judges may discuss it if they disagree with one another.

A case is up to 4 prints submitted for judging… with the goal, of course, to have all 4 prints “merit” and hang in the show afterward.

From lowest score to highest…

Title: But the Fighter Still Remains
Final Score: 80

This print had the most debate.. scoring a 79 after the first vote… and the second vote after a judge’s challenge… and a third vote after another judge’s challenge. It then came back again at the end, in what is called the “Ins and Outs” where a larger panel of judges reviews all the prints that scored 78 or 79 and votes a simple thumbs up to determine if a print should go up to 80 or stay at its present score. It was voted to stay the same… and then challenged again only to stay the same… but one of the judges really took a liking to this image and had it called back again.. the very last print of the day… and this time, the thumbs up/thumbs down went in its favor and it was bumped to an 80. I was in shock as that meant my first print case ever just went 4 for 4.

Title: Life is a Cabaret
Score: 81

I personally love this image and have bounced back and forth between this version and a color version. After sharing it with some judges last night, I think I may go with the color version for SWPPA…. and a few other minor changes as well.

Title: Fruit and Fiber
Score: 83

This image was conceived originally as a get well card for my wife’s business, Knitting Fairy, but several people (including Mark McCall) saw it in my portfolio and raved over it… so it was submitted at Fort Worth PPA a few months ago where the membership loved it and two of the judges (there are three at that level), but Dwayne Lee had some issues that he explained to me. I made changes based on those suggestions and not only did this one score an 83, but it also took home a trophy for Best Commercial/Industrial Image of the show.

Title: Morning Glide
Score: 95

And to think that this image almost didn’t get submitted… it only did because out of the dozen or so fellow photographers I polled to help me narrow down the 4 images for my case – every one of them chose this image. The 95 was amazing and I was in shock… then when I came down to look at all the prints the next morning, it also had a “Judge’s Choice” ribbon on it from Don Rogers (meaning of all the images at the show, this one was his favorite). It also brought home two trophies – one for Best Animal and one for Best First Time Entry.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of my labs… Lisa Ewing at Miller’s Professional Imaging for solving a problem with Morning Glide… and Edythe Blackwell from BWC for coming to my rescue on But the Fighter Still Remains and Life is a Cabaret at the last minute.

I’m sure I forgot to thank people that were instrumental and inspirational… but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate you… I’m just now sitting down after driving home from Kerrville… after a morning that started with me being rear ended less than a mile from the hotel… don’t worry, everything’s fine… her car had to be towed, but mine was drivable and made it back in one piece no problem… and no one was hurt, which was the important part.

Thanks again to everyone who had input and otherwise helped with this.