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The VCC maintains a club membership in the Canadian Association for Photographic Art (CAPA) and the Photographic Society of America (PSA). Both of those associations have competitions for member clubs as well as for individual members. In addition, many smaller clubs have annual competitions that are open to other clubs: the North Shore Photographic Society and the Lions Gate Camera Club are two examples. The Eastwood Photographic Society of Glasgow and VCC have enjoyed a special competition between just the two clubs for many years now. There are many other organizations that host competitions.
The purpose of your External Competition Committee is to provide to VCC members a venue in which members may test their skills and artistry against a community of photographers across the country and even world wide, and at the same time to bring the photography of that greater community to our members.
The photographic world is changing. Our Club has expanded its photographic interests with the creation of new Mobile, Street and Drone SIG’s. The enforced isolation of the international pandemic forced us to meet not in person but via Zoom. The Speakers and Workshop Committees were able to book outstanding photographers from all over the world to speak to our Club. The willingness of speakers to engage over the internet expanded our horizons. At the same time, the pandemic made some contests, and print shows, impossible. As just one example, the George C. Glennie International Wildlife Competition has been discontinued.
As part of our attempt to make external competition relevant and useful to VCC members, we have expanded the genres in which our Club will compete, and we encourage our members to take a more active role in their approach to external competition.
As a potential entrant to any competition, your first task is to carefully consider the category or genre. You must know and follow the rules of the competition. See the details in our web site, and better still, go to the sponsoring club site and read about the competition and view past winners. Some contests have categories for novice, intermediate and advanced, and some have just one category. Try concentrating on a limited number of genres that are of particular interest to you.
One of the tasks of the External Competition Committee is to narrow down the best-scoring photos to the allowable number of entries as set by the contest organiser. Review of entries will be done via our Visual Pursuits software. Our Club uses a 20 point scoring system. Members can view “Quick Tips for Judges” on our website: go to Resources, Downloads, Quick Tips for Judges.
Most of the CAPA competitions have two separate contests: one for clubs, like VCC, and one for individual CAPA members. The Club generally may submit 6 images from 6 different members. We allow our members to send 2 photos to the Committee, but the Committee cannot select more than one entry per member. There is no reason (other than expense) for you not to join CAPA yourself and enter photos not chosen by the Committee for Club entry in the “individual” competitions. CAPA even has an annual photo portrait challenge that is open ONLY to individuals: no club contest exists.
Your External Competition Committee is actively looking for ways to make competing in external competitions a part of your learning experience at VCC. Please forward any suggestions you might have to any member of the Committee. This is your Club. Help us make it work for you.
Eligibility
All members of the VCC regardless of competition level (Novice, Intermediate and Advanced) are eligible to submit images to be considered for selection to represent the club in each external competition, subject to the rules of the competition. (Some competitions, like the CAPA Pacific Zone competition, have residency requirements.) This includes those members that do not participate in internal competitions as well as club executives and members of the Internal and External Competitions committees. We strive to have the best images going forward to represent the club against others.
Please note: Individuals may not enter images through two different photography clubs.
To submit images to a competition, click Competitions-Submit Images to a Competition
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