Visions is not a competition-heavy club but we do run internal and external competitions as we believe this is a great way to see what others are doing and to learn from it.
Internal competitions
Rules for internal competitions
External Competitions
Grampian Eye Regional Competition
This runs in April every year and includes 12-14 clubs from the Grampian Region. It is a good local battle which we enjoy taking part in. We normally do well but have never won.
Scottish Federation National Digital Competition
This regional competition is open to SPF member clubs throughout Scotland. Usually it would involve having a bank of 40 photos and attending the competition on the day to submit photos to the different rounds. It has been much simpler while it has been run over Zoom. For this competition we need 15 photos divided into two rounds. It runs towards the end of the year. We only entered for the first time in 2020.
Rhondda Club Battle
This is a club competition we were invited to enter for the first time in November 2020. It is run by a Welsh club but is now including several overseas clubs. Although each club can only enter 4 photos it is interesting to watch the judging and see what everyone is doing.photographically. Every year the bottom four clubs are replaced by new clubs so our goal is to stay in the competition!
Selection of Photos for External competitions
There are many ways that clubs select photos to submit to external competitions. They can be chosen by member voting, by the President and/or committee or by a dedicated selection panel.
At Visions we try to be as inclusive as possible while still selecting the photos that will give us the best chance of doing well.
Some clubs do not always choose the best photos so that they can include more members in the competition. However the weaker photos that are chosen then risk getting poor scores in the competition which can be very demoralising for the photographer.
We often ask for member’s input by voting on all the photos in order to shortlist. This shortlist is then looked at very carefully by a selection panel in order to choose the best photos. The panel is mostly made up from committee members and other experienced club photographers but we also include other interested club members as it is very good experience for them,
In the Grampian Eye competition this process is reversed. The panel will shortlist, ensuring that any photos that are not technically good are removed. (Poor focus, poor exposure, poor quality etc). The final 12 photos will be chosen by the members. We hope this will ensure members feel motivated to enter and/or watch the competition.
Suggested Edits
For external competitions, when discussing the photos, it is sometimes the case that the panel, or the club members, will have editing suggestions that might improve the photograph – these could include cropping, changing the light levels or sometimes removal of a small distraction.
If you do not want to receive any comments and you want your photo to be judged as is then please add the words Final Edit into the Entry Reference box under the Entry Title box.
Important: Even if you receive comments, the final edit of your photograph is your decision. You can try out the suggestions but if you do not think they improve the photo then you should ignore them.
Visions Photography Club 