A Monthly Competition?

[ABERS]

I'm up for it, I think I could manage 12 pictures a year that might be worthy of entering into a competition, which is different to the current requirement of 52 per annum which forces you to run around like a headless chicken snapping away in order to meet an unsustainable deadline and does your photography more harm than good (in my opinion).

I think it was Ansel Adams who said "Twelve significant photographs in one year is a good crop".

[DigiDiva]

The weekly one currently means you need to go out and take an image specifically for the theme. The monthly one would mean either doing that or using one already held. This option in itself, might encourage entries as its not taking up so much of your time. Another option would be for, instead of themes, just a comp for us to post our favourite image for the month before and then we vote for the one we think is the best.

[jinky]

I'm up for it, I think I could manage 12 pictures a year that might be worthy of entering into a competition, which is different to the current requirement of 52 per annum which forces you to run around like a headless chicken snapping away in order to meet an unsustainable deadline and does your photography more harm than good (in my opinion).

I think it was Ansel Adams who said "Twelve significant photographs in one year is a good crop".

Except that there is no requirement to enter 52 in the weekly comp over a year - nor would there be a requirement to enter 12 in a monthly one I am assuming. Participation is /would surely be voluntary on either level. Never ran around like a headless chicken to get a shot for a fun comp shot myself, never snapped away and never saw the deadline as unsustainable.After all the weekly comp has sustained itself longer than any other thread on this site for some time now.

The danger within this is creating two competitions with voting which I think is unsustainable on a site of this size. For whatever reason entry levels / voting for weekend comps has fallen off recently and newcomers lost to it. I think in terms of a voting competition members should think about which one they would prefer. My preference would be for a themed one whether monthly or weekly as I like the challenge to go and get a shot. Personally I wouldn`t just trawl through past work  and submit / re-edit and seek voting against a range of other shots that might be totally unconnected as I have no idea on what basis I`d be voting other than a general best in show type format. If I wanted that I`d be entering more competitions in other avenues available to me where there is greater involvement / variety of viewpoint.

[kerbside]

Chris,

The problem with not having a themed competition is that there would be nothing to compare against. With an open competition ALL the pictures could the best in their field and therefore this would lead to a vote based on what you prefer as your genre.

I think that I have also brought up the same point that Jinky has made, questioning the drop off of persons competing/voting in the competition we already have.

Thought about this a bit more today and looking at the weekly posts they have died off in recent months/weeks, the question is, is there enough interest in the competitions in general to support a monthly one as well?

IF there is to be a monthly competition then I feel it should be themed regardless of whether we can use archived pictures or not.

[DigiDiva]

Was just another thought.

[Reinardina]

It seems the monthly competition could be popular, so why not go ahead?

But, as stated before, it should be a themed one. With new images or ones that you have on file somewhere. This would seem to please everyone.

A month gives you more scope to get a new shot, but if you already have the one that fits the bill perfectly (the winning one!) you can enter that.

As always the voting will be interesting.

Why not kill off the weekly competition, change the text accordingly and rename it 'Monthly competition?'

[DigiDiva]

My idea was certainly not to replace the weekly comp. I like the weekly one, it gets me out and about withcamera when otherwise I may just not bother

[kerbside]

Again, IF the monthly goes ahead then i think that if an equal number of votes are cast for 2 pictures then the newest picture should take the win. This will still give satisfaction to those that do not want to use an archive pic over one that is taken within the month of the competition. Well i know what i mean.

[Reinardina]

Again, IF the monthly goes ahead then i think that if an equal number of votes are cast for 2 pictures then the newest picture should take the win. This will still give satisfaction to those that do not want to use an archive pic over one that is taken within the month of the competition. Well i know what i mean.

So do I Jeff, and I think it is a good idea. If there are two winners, the picture taken in the competition month is the overall winner.
If both are taken in the same month, the old rule could apply: the one that was posted first could be declared winner.

My idea was certainly not to replace the weekly comp. I like the weekly one, it gets me out and about withcamera when otherwise I may just not bother

Chris, you had a wish list of things you wanted to photograph, so you should not really need a competition to get you out.
If you need that incentive however, you can go out and shoot for the monthly competition. Even if you already have an image, there are normally plenty of other ways to shoot a particular subject. Would be en even better exercise than a weekly competition.

And your other forums probably have competitions too, so you can shoot for those.

[Jediboy]

I agree that a monthly comp should have a theme. As mentioned, I think this would make voting easier as there would be some context.
I'd like to see the weekly comp stay, if the interest is there.

If a monthly comp was to start, how long would voting be? I would suggest a few days would be enough, as it is now, but that means the there would be nothing to do for the rest of the month, until the next one starts.
That 'downtime' could be a bit boring and could potentially turn people away. On that basis, maybe the weekly comp could stay.

Any thoughts??

[spikeyjen]

Maybe you would get more interest in the weekly competition if you had a greater time frame for which to take the photo (ie taken with the past month). That way if you are stuck you could use an image taken recently and have time to work on it. I don't know how many times the theme is announced and I have taken something the week before on a club shoot and it's not eligible.

Also you need to remember that people work, we have winter here (and you will too soon). I drive to work in the dark, get home in the dark and I can't get the camera out some weekends. If you want maximum participation then you may have to make the rules a little more flexible.

I also like a monthly comp with no restrictions on numbers of images entered and a wider time frame (ie within the last year)

[Jediboy]

I think Spikeyjen makes a good point. With work and other commitments a week isn't really that long.
Despite my best intentions I sometimes struggle to get a photo that fits the theme, and sometimes I just happen to take a photo that fits the theme.
Maybe allowing some flexibility on the timeframe may help.

[DigiDiva]

So many ideas thrown into the melting pot. Lots to think about. Any other thoughts.

[kerbside]

Maybe you would get more interest in the weekly competition if you had a greater time frame for which to take the photo (ie taken with the past month). That way if you are stuck you could use an image taken recently and have time to work on it. I don't know how many times the theme is announced and I have taken something the week before on a club shoot and it's not eligible.


would the idea not make it a monthly competition then ?

[spikeyjen]

Maybe you would get more interest in the weekly competition if you had a greater time frame for which to take the photo (ie taken with the past month). That way if you are stuck you could use an image taken recently and have time to work on it. I don't know how many times the theme is announced and I have taken something the week before on a club shoot and it's not eligible.


would the idea not make it a monthly competition then ?

No, the time frame for the competition could remain the same, but the time allowance for when the shot was taken is more flexible and might encourage more people to join in. And they would still be recent photos Surely the desired outcome is that more people participate.