This is my fourth consecutive year entering the Shoot & Share photo contest – 2017 was my first year and, unfortunately, the blog for those results were housed on my old photography website which no longer exists. But you can see 2018 here and 2019 here, if you so wish.
I enter this contest every year because it’s fun (and free!). Entering is kind of stressful because it’s just “one more thing” to figure out which photos from the prior year I want to enter and taking the time to upload them all. But then the fun begins!
Voting is completely anonymous, you are shown a screen of four images within a certain category and you simply choose the image that you like the best. You have no idea who took it or what the story might be behind it. It’s very inspiring to see different styles and compositions and viewpoints!
Now that the contest is over, the results have been released to each photographer to see how their images did. I entered 50 photos (that’s the maximum number you’re allowed to enter) and out of those 50, I had 31 in the top 30% of their respective categories. Results-wise, this is the best year I’ve had in the contest!
There are 12 rounds of voting and “finalist” means your image made it into the 12th round. The results are not cumulative, meaning that if you’re recognized for having a top 20% photo and a top 10% photo, those are two separate photo even though that 10% photo was also, obviously, still in the top 20% as well.
Normally I’m able to give you some stats like how many overall photos were entered, how many votes were cast, how many countries participated, etc. but… well, this year has been kind of a crapshoot, as we all know. In all honesty, I’ll be surprised if the powers that be decide to move forward with the contest again due to current events paired with the overwhelming whinyness that prevailed in the Facebook group.
Anyway, this year I entered in the following categories:
- Lifestyle/Documentary (25,116 photos entered in category)
- Engagement/Couples (44,858 photos entered in category)
- That Just Happened (6,683 photos entered in category)
- Pets/Animals (26,677 photos entered in category)
- Travel/Landscape (27,698 photos entered in category)
- Teens/Seniors (34,378 photos entered in category)
These aren’t the greatest quality images since I used a screenshot from the contest page to get the ‘award overlay’ on them.
My photo that “did the best” was Doc getting high-centered on the gate, placing 10th out of 6,683 in the “That Just Happened” category.
Finalist Photos
Top 10%
Top 20%
Top 30%
