[Leica] PDN Photo contest

[rcmphoto at yahoo.com (R. Clayton McKee)]

On Wed Mar 9 14:38 , Chris Crawford <chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> sent:

>I agree. Charging entry fees for something like this is simple 
>>exploitation. They justify it by claming that industry buyers will 
>see the winning entries when they're published. Peter and David Turnley, 
>>who are from my hometown,
>said that they got started by walking into newspaper and photo agency
>offices with a portfolio, and people actually talked to them and wanted to
>see their work. I don't think anyone will do that anymore; now aspiring
>photographers are there to be milked for money rather than considered for
>jobs.

The Turnleys, gifted as they are, are journalists, not 
commercial/advertising shooters. That's a totally different world than PDN. 
(PDN used to do an annual pj/docu issue once a year, and its visual content 
was totally different from the other issues. Good stuff but not by any of 
the usual contributors.)

>From what people in the commercial side of the industry tell me, if you 
>want to work in New York doing high-end commercial work, fashion, 
>advertising, that sort of thing, this is a very good place to be seen and 
>it's worth entering if you've got the visual chops to play in that league.

Otherwise, it's simply bragging rights, and may or may not be worth the 
trouble.

I entered a couple of times in my young and stupid days and got enough 
commercial work from the visibility to make the entry fee several times 
over... but I didn't enjoy the lifestyle or the work, didn't want to be a 
commercial shooter, and really didn't have the visual creativity to play 
with the boys. I'm naturally a collector of reality, not a creator of visual 
styles.


R. Clayton McKee
PhotoJournalist
from somewhere just south of somewhere else...