Photo Competitions & Publishing

 Popular Photography

It is always a great pleasure to win competitions or get your photo published be it in a magazine, website, social media campaign or just featured along with your name. I find it mind blowing  when they go viral and move like a shooting star through the internet. I like to enter photo competitions that is why I don't post-process editing and retouching on any of my photos. Most competitions ask that you don't enter manipulated photos, you need to let the camera do its job. I recently won first prize in a competition called Nature's Camouflage where I entered a photograph that was taken with my first digital camera purchase Panasonic DMC-ZS20. The photograph that came in first place was of a frog, one of my favourite subjects, immersed in duckweed and water vegetation :

Northern Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans melanota) Baie de les grenouilles, Lac Saint-François National Wildlife Area, Quebec, Canada. Ramsar site no. 361. Taken September 1, 2012.

Panasonic DMC-ZS20 ƒ/4.0 4.3 mm 1/400 100 Flash (auto, did not fire)

Not only did this photo win the other day, it is also my first published photograph, that was selected by the Ramsar The Convention on Wetlands for a social media campaign for the organization. I have been fortunate when it comes to winning and publishing my captures, and would love to know if any of you guys have had such success in promoting your photography? Please use this as a springboard showcasing your award winning photographs. I would really love to see what you guys have experienced out there with photo competitions and publishing. Some other winners in my 15 years of digital photography :

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) Legend, Alberta, Canada. Conservation Status: vulnerable (S3) in Alberta, CA (NatureServe). Taken June 14, 2018.

Nikon Coolpix A900 ƒ/6.9 151.0 mm 1/250 125 Flash (off, did not fire)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) Jack Pine Trail, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Taken November 18, 2018.

Canon EOS M100 EF-M55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM ƒ/6.3 200.0 mm 1/320 640 Flash (off, did not fire)

Ghost Tiger Beetle (Ellipsoptera lepida) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Conservation Status: imperiled (N2N3) in Canada (NatureServe). Taken August 6, 2016.

Canon PowerShot G7 X 8.8-36.8mm ƒ/6.3 8.8 mm 1/1250 125 Flash (off, did not fire)

Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, United States. Ramsar site no. 347. Taken April 20, 2016.

Nikon Coolpix S9900 ƒ/6.4 135.0 mm 1/125 220 Flash (off, did not fire)

You can see that my captures have been taken with a variety of different cameras and like I said there was no post-processing or retouches. I have also been blessed that each capture is of a different subject but you must have noticed that I have yet to feature some flora in my quests. I am hoping that someone in this community has a flora capture that meets this criteria and that they share it with us so that we may learn what a great shot is made out of. Please do flood this blog with your contributions in the comments.