I recently entered the International Photographic Competition through Professional Photographers of America and one of my photos received a Merit.
In this print competition, judges sit in a room and review thousands of images. Some get merits (basically like scoring a point) and others get their ass chewed. Then judges review again the Merited photographs and select even fewer of those for the Loan Collection.
Unfortunately my photograph was not picked for the Loan Collection, but it did receive a Merit, and it prides me to say that my Merited image represents a subject that I'm passionate about. Most photographers who enter images into a competition set up shoots specifically for the purpose of taking pictures for that competition, and edit the images based on that competition (so they can focus on the guidelines and elements required). Nothing is up to chance. I, however, don't believe in doing that. I just shoot what I shoot and if it's good enough then it's good enough. I try to let my work do the talking.
This image of Chuco Moreno was shot in 2015 at The Legacy Show which was an event put on by Tribal and Hurley to bring the streets to the beach, in celebration of California tradition. He was signing some prints at his booth and I asked if I could take his picture, so he stood up and he let me take his picture. I didn't like it though because it was just a fan picture and I wanted to take his portrait. I let him sign a few more prints and then I asked again but this time I asked if he could stand in front of his mural. He looked at me and said, "Let's make this quick, and thanks for the support," as he walked towards the mural. The mural was above some skating ramps, and when we got to it, he looked around at the skaters and yelled "stop". Everyone looked at him and stopped skating. I gave him a few directions, took a couple of shots and I said thanks.
“Thanks for the support, like, share and follow! ”