Let’s get this out of the way: I’ve never won a photo contest in my life. I haven’t entered that many either, but most of the ones I have entered were not free. I’ll be the first to admit that I guess I’m kind of bitter about it. It’s not that I think I should have won. The eventual winners’ photos were great! They deserved it. It’s just that I felt kind of cheated. I spent money, and I got nothing in return. So, I feel bitter and sad about my (small) loss. And in a way, this post is meant to vent these feelings. But dwelling on these negative thoughts and unpacking them led me to frame photo contests in way that puts all of this to rest for me—they are gambling.
Think about it: you pay some money, you enter your photos, and some time later you get an answer whether you won or not. Compare this to the lottery: you pay some money, select some numbers, and some time later you find out if you won or not. See the similarity? There is also the similarity that you can only choose so many numbers, and likewise for a contest you can only choose so many of your own photos. What if you chose poorly? Perhaps these particular judges would have loved some other shot of yours, but you did not select that one because you really have no way of knowing what they might like, just as you have no way of knowing what numbers will be drawn in the lottery.
What’s missing from most of these photo contests? It’s feedback. It would be nice if you received some feedback that explained why your photo was not selected, was deemed not good enough. At least then there would be some value for the entry fee. I know that this is a lot of work for the organizers and judges, since some contests likely get thousands upon thousands of entries. But I feel like if they’re charging, there should be some service that we receive. Otherwise, what are we paying for? And this is why it’s much like gambling or a lottery. When you spend money at a casino and don’t win anything at all, that's to be expected. You paid for a chance to win, and nothing else. In fact, you can argue that you do get something else in a casino. At least in a casino the act of playing the games is fun in itself. Simply put, there no value in contests for creative development.
This line of reasoning led me to believe that photo contests, at least the paid ones, are a total and complete waste of money, just as much as a casino or a lottery is waste. If you like gambling, well, then photo contests are probably great for you too (though your chances are probably even worse).
I know, I know, I sound super bitter. But somehow, I kept getting tempted by a combination of the contests themselves and my own over-confidence in my chance to win. I felt like perhaps this is a normal part of being a photographer: entering contests to get your work out there and possibly getting rewarded for it in some way—either with prizes or exposure. But I realize now, it’s nothing more than gambling, a pointless distraction from the real work: getting out there, exploring my world, the city, and creating. And above all seeking to improve through feedback, through curiosity, and through rigor.