Outcome of my photography salon (competition) entries – Month of August 2014

It is almost the end of the year again and I am trying to prepare the necessary documents to apply for a PSA star rating and ESPA honours award. But lets look at my outcomes re: my salons entries for the month of August 2014. July 2014 was a great highlight, so I did not expect the same type of outcome. I had an excellent month regarding the outcomes of my international salons – however, I managed to win another 5 medals in 9 salons.

 

Now for the actual details on the results of my images entered for the month of August 2014

 

Total number of salons entered:

9 (3 national salon and 6 international salons).

Overall outcome:

International: 30 acceptances from 56 photos entered = 54% acceptance rate (decreased from the 63% last month)

National: 50 acceptances from 112 photos entered = 45% acceptance rate (decreased from the 48% last month)

Medals: 5

COMs: 9

 

Now for the individual salons:

 

1. International salons

 

1. 1^st Cattaro International salon of Photography 2014 (Ireland)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos each entered in the Nature, Wildlife, Open colour, Open monochrome, Sport & Birds sections = total of 24 entries

Acceptance: 1 medal and 10 acceptances (48% acceptance rate)

 

Comments: The competition in international salon is of a very high standard especially in the sections other than Nature. Very good photos all around and it is very difficult to get acceptances. No acceptances for me in the Open and Monochrome section even though I did enter photos which have already received acceptances and even COM in our national salons. I went back to some of my older photos and entered some of them. Surprise, surprise, one of the older photos received a medal in the Birds section – Bulbul My seat. Personally it is one of my all-time favorites – just because of the degree of difficulty to capture such an image and my inexperience in photography at that stage.

 

Bulbul My seat

Mashatu game reserve, Botswana

____________________________________

 

2. 2014 International Images for Screen exhibition Royal Photographic society 2014 (UK)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos in Nature section

Acceptance: 1 medal and 1 acceptance (50% acceptance rate)

Comments: What an achievement and honour! To win the RPS Gold Medal in the Nature division in such a prestigious event. And if you think it is difficult to get an acceptance in a international salon, try and get an acceptance in an international salon hosted by a UK based photography club. Lioness and cub walking 1 is doing great even though the lioness’s body is amputated. Not everybody’s cup of tea especially those photographers looking purely from a technical point of view. However, I want to draw my reader’s to the cub trying to keep up with mother with excellent earlier morning backlight.

 

Lioness and cub walking 1

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa

_________________________________

 

3. 1^st Vision Zero International Digital Photography 2014 (India)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos in Nature section

Acceptance: 1 medals and 2acceptances (75% acceptance rate)

 

Comments: My third international medal for the month – once again it was Almost 1 that did it for me. The second international medal for this image. Do I need to say more? I know it is not the best composition but this type of action happens so quickly, it is impossible to think of composition. One can prepare for the setup but the jackal may just run the other way – no ways one can really plan a shot like this.

 

Almost 1

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa

_________________________________

 

4. 7^th Narava 2014 International Contest of Photography 2014 (Solvenia)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos each entered in the Nature, Landscape and Open colour sections = total of 12 entries

 

Acceptance: 1 COM and 6 acceptances (58% acceptance rate)

 

Comments: Star trail Richtersveld won the COM award but I’ll post the photo in the National Salon section later in this post. I was very surprise that Munnik pass sunrise 22 received an acceptance because I was not very successful with the photo in previous salons. It was also ‘n very difficult photo to develop in Photoshop and I really wanted to revisit this photo if I do have the time. I am sure I can still improve on the post-processing of this photo.

 

Munnik pass sunrise 22

Munnik pass, Eastern Cape, South Africa

_________________________________

 

5. Northern Counties Salon of IPhotography 2014 (UK)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos each entered in Nature section and Open Print sections = 8 entries

Acceptance: 4 acceptances (50% acceptance rate)

 

Comments: Once again I’ve sent 4 printed images per post to the UK to be entered in the Print section. The reason – I need at least 25 international accepted print images for the EFIAP honours. Unfortunately none of the 4 images were accepted and 2 of the images missed the acceptance with 1 point. Disappointing because there is not that many print salons every year over the world to accumulate acceptances for the EFIAP award. Just to confirm my thoughts of last month – I came to realize it is not easy to get images accepted in UK based salons. Therefore, I am quite satisfied with the COM award for The Vulture and the Jackal 2 – image posted in last month’s blog. At least Please share received the other acceptance

 

Please share

Laikipia nature reserve, Kenya

_________________________________

 

6. Riaganj International Exhibition of Photography 2014 (India)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos entered in Nature section

Acceptance: 4 acceptances (100% acceptance rate)

 

Comments: Last month I’ve achieved a 100% acceptance rate and again this month. I re-visited some of my older photos for this salon as well. And it worked – Hippo aggression 2 received an acceptance. Nine salon acceptances in a row without missing out on a salon acceptance.

 

Hippo aggression 2

Chobe River, Botswana

_________________________________

 

1. National Salons

 

1. 1^st East Rand Super Circuit 2014 (South Africa)

 

This was a 3 salon circuit

 

Photos entered: 4 photos each entered in the Nature, Sport, Altered reality, Open colour, Architecture monochrome and Open monochrome sections = 72 entries

 

Acceptance: 1 medal, 3 COMS and 22 acceptances (36.1 %)

 

Not a great results but still on par (anything above 30% is above average) and the runner medal in the Nature section for Grey headed gull with fish 2 was a bonus.

 

Grey headed gull with fish 2

Chobe River, Botswana

_________________________

 

2. 1^st Westville National Digital Salon 2014 (South Africa)

 

Photos entered: 4 photos each entered in the Birds, Landscapes, Open colour, and Photo journalism sections = 16 entries

 

Acceptance: 1 medal, 2 COMS and 8 acceptances (68.7 %)

 

Much better result for me. As mentioned earlier, Star trail Richtersveld won the runner up medal in the Landscape section. And we almost did not go out that night to take the image. So glad we convince Hougaard Malan to take some star trial images during our trip to the Richtersveld.

 

Star trail Richtersveld

Richtersveld Transfrontier park, South Africa

_________________________

 

3. 2^nd Swartland Colour Digital Salon 2014

 

Photos entered: 4 photos each entered in the Nature, Scapes, Birds, Portrait Altered reality and Open colour sections = 24 entries

 

Acceptance: 2 COMS and 11 acceptances (54.1 %)

 

Once again – I’ve re-visited some older images of mine and Lioness and cubs drinking water 2 receiving a COM award in the Nature section..

 

Lioness and cubs drinking water 2

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa

_________________________

 

 

Message to take home:

 

Yet another tip on patience – sometimes you need more than a 600mm lens to capture that WOW wildlife image. The extra requirement is patience. If you want to capture that exceptional wildlife photo, whether it’s in your backyard or on a trip in a nature reserve, just be patient. Wait for nature to come to you – do not rush out and try to capture it. Animals and birds are sensitive creatures and quickly scamper off, but if you stake out a good spot to wait for them you can be rewarded with some compelling photographic opportunities.

 

Until next month, keep on shooting