Returning to a competition after a four year absence…

Four years ago, I submitted several of my Kodachrome photos to the Association of Photographers gallery show in London, as part of their “75 Years of Kodachrome” art exhibit.  Two pictures – The Railsplitter and Toll Gate Ice Cream – actually made it on to the gallery walls.  It was a major accomplishment for me, as far as I was concerned.  It now meant that my images, for the first time, were part of an international gallery showing.

That was four years ago.  That was also a category-specific show, featuring only Kodachrome shots.

And four years later, I’m trying to enter the AOP gallery show one more time.

Last week, I received an e-mail from the AOP, alerting me that there was an upcoming show, the Photography Awards and Expo 2014.

For some reason, I never joined the AOP as an official member after the Kodachrome show… so I figured that I was ineligible for this event.

That was until I discovered that one of the AOP categories was the “AOP Open Award,” which allowed anyone, whether AOP member or not, to enter the competition.

Well then.  That’s a horse of a different color.  Er… colour.

I checked the deadline.  October 10.  And this is in England, so I’m really working toward October 9 in the States.

I quickly went through my archive.  This is the opportunity for me to shine.  With the cost of entry for every picture, I figured I could afford to send, at the most, four images for consideration.  I pulled ten contenders out of my archive.

Then I looked at each one with a critical eye.  Did I think this picture was my best or most intriguing work?  Yes?  No?  If I wasn’t sure, I put the picture aside.  If I had a gut feeling about a picture… I kept it for consideration.

I thought about some of my splitfilm entries.  Yeah, let’s keep The Agfa Bridge over Ansco Lake in the short list.  And The Jumbuck deserves one more run.  That’s at least two photos to work with.

Uh-oh.  I just discovered that the rules specifically want photos taken after June 2013.  Guess what.  This means that neither Agfa-Ansco nor Jumbuck are eligible.  Nertz.

But I do have two other splitfilm entries.  And in the end, I went with these four pictures.

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I filled out the online entry form, uploaded thumbnail-sized copies of the four artworks, paid the entry fee, and received a confirmation that my pictures were entered for consideration.

I’ve done all I can at this point.  So now I wait.

And I thought to myself, “Why do I keep entering these competitions?  Why do I focus so hard on this?”

And the answer that came to me was… It’s really an opportunity to improve my craft, to improve what I do with my camera, to go from those “Hey let’s take a picture” moments to “How can I create an emotional reaction with this photo, how can I tell a story with this picture, how can I take the image in my head and turn it into a digital or film construct?”

And in doing that, I try to share my ideas.  If they’re accepted, I’m happy.  If they’re not, then I try again.

I looked back at those old five Kodachrome shots that I entered so many years ago in the AOP’s Kodachrome celebration competition.  Wow… it seems like an eternity when those photos were created, an eternity where I was working with a Kiev-19 Russian 35mm camera and a Nikkormat FTn thrift-shop shooter.

Both those cameras are gone now.  Kodachrome’s gone now.   And I’m still here.  And I’m still using what I’ve learned from those days and applying them to today.

Hopefully I’ll hear something soon regarding the AOP Best of 2014 show… and hopefully, if all goes well, maybe one of my four pictures will hang in a London gallery.

Fingers crossed.

UPDATE: On October 30, 2014, I heard from the AOP galleries.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures I submitted were accepted into the event.  None of them.

Frustrated doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now.