If you have any photographer friends, you may have noticed their absence from regular daily life this past week.  They were probably glued to their computer screens watching the 2018 International Photographic Competition.  Otherwise known as the IPC, the International Photographic Competition is sponsored by the Professional Photographers of America. To those of us in the business, it is like the Olympics of photography competitions.

Photographers may enter up to four entries in each of two categories, Photographic Open or Master Artist. For the Photographic Open, images are judged on the 12 Elements of a Merit Image,  which include such qualities as impact, technical excellence, creativity and story telling. Images in the Master Artist category are also judged on the 12 elements, but additional weight is given to the quality of the artwork done in the production of the final image. Images are scored against a standard of excellence. An images that scores over 80 is awarded a Merit and is accepted into PPA’s General Collection.  The highest scoring images are then judged for the prestigious Loan Collection, the “Best of the Best”.

This year I entered four images in the Photographic Open competition. I was thrilled to have all four images earn Merit awards. I was even more excited and honored that one of my images was accepted into the Loan Collection, which meant that I ended the competition with a Silver Medal. While I am thrilled and humbled to have been awarded this honor,  there are many benefits of competing in the IPC for which I am even more grateful. Competing in IPC has led me to push myself and grow my skills as an artist allowing me to create better and more original work for my clients. I have also made many friends through both competition and through my membership in PPA. Competing in IPC is a valuable experience that I would highly encourage for any photographer!

Here are my entries from this year…

“Never Forget I Love You” was accepted into the 2018 IPC Loan Collection

“Scaredy Cat” was accepted into the 2018 IPC General Collection

“She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not” was accepted into the 2018 IPC General Collection

“Color the Sky” was accepted into the 2018 IPC General Collection