International Photographic Competition 2017 - Results!

Whew! What a year!! This has been my most grueling year ever for Competition, as I chose to enter two cases. The first was my Photographic Open case (4 images), which I always enter. The second was the Master Artist category (4 images), which really had me stretching my artistic skills! Working on 8 different images was maddening, but I don't regret any of it! I reached new heights in my skills, as I worked and reworked every image until I was sure that they were where they needed to be.

And I am happy to report that all that worked paid off!! All 8 images received a merit, and two images in each case received a Loan, giving me a GOLD medal for each case!! This was by far my best year ever, and I could not be happier! I had a lot of help along the way, from wonderful mentors, friends, and professionals who pushed me, guided me, and inspired me every step of the way.

Also, I have officially qualified to receive my Master of Photography degree, which I will be awarded in January at Imaging USA in Nashville, TN. It has taken me a long time (5 years!) to reach this goal, and I am beyond thrilled that I have finally made it! Now I am working towards my Master Artist degree as well!

Some of you may be thinking, "What does this all mean?" Here's a little run down:

In Competition, each image is shown in front of a panel of 5 jurors. Each of these jurors has a Master of Photography degree, and many have other Imaging degrees as well. To become a juror is a very time consuming process. These people know what they are doing!!

Images are judged one by one, following 12 Elements. Images are given a score of 65-100. An image must receive a score of 80 or higher to be awarded a merit. These merits are what must be obtained in order to receive a degree. And image scoring 85 or higher is eligible to be judged for Loan Collection, which are the very Best of the Best, and receive a second merit for that image. A score of 95 or higher will automatically be entered into the Loan Collection.

An artist must have at least 13 Exhibition merits (usually gained through competition) and 12 Education merits (by attending classes, seminars, conventions, etc), in order to earn their degree. It can be a long process!

So, now that you know what you are looking at, here are my images, and my thoughts on each one! Click on the image to see it closer!

MASTER ARTIST

Black Beauty - 80. This was a simple study of a horse that I painted. I was pleasantly surprised that it received a merit!

Alone - 80. This is one of my paintings from a series I am working called Vanishing, which feature Critically Endangered wildlife. This is a Red Wolf pup. The original painting actually has a large waterfall to the left, but I cropped it out for Competition. Not sure if that helped or hurt. The detail in this one is pretty intense, but the judges felt maybe there was too much detail in the scene, and not enough in the pup. Go figure! The judges fought over it several times, deliberating whether it should receive a merit or not, and finally decided that it should merit. Whew!

Master of His Realm - 86, Loan. Another from my Vanishing series, this is a Clouded Leopard. This one went through MANY revisions, and I spent many many hours on it. The detail in the cat is exquisite. This image went Loan.

Last of Their Kind - 95, Loan. Another from the Vanishing series, these are Northern White Rhinos. These are literally the last three of their kind - Sudan, Najin, and Fatu. This species is almost gauranteed to go extinct. So much love went in to creating this piece, and it showed. This one received an automatic Loan!

PHOTOGRAPHIC OPEN

Southern Belle - 81. I worked sooo hard on this one. I will do another blog post showing some before and afters. The judges only judge on what they see, and not on where an image started in the PO category. So this one only just received a merit, even though where it started was a completely different image. Sometimes it is hard to put so much work and effort into something, only to receive a low score.

Stood Up Again - 87. I LOVE this pup! This is Charly, who is now all grown up. He was the sweetest little model! I was disappointed that this image did not Loan, but it's still a winner to me!!

Stop to Smell the Flowers - 85, Loan. I was sooo surprised that this one went Loan! This is the 3rd time I have entered one of my snails in Competition, and the 3rd time one has merited, but the first time one has Loaned. I love my snails!!

Iditarod Dream Team - 95, Loan. Sooo much fun doing this session! What is funny is that this one was a "case filler". I needed a fourth image, and I had just done this session. I decided to work it up really quick and throw it in. I spent the least amount of time on this, and yet it received one of my highest scores! Sometimes, you just get it right, lol.