For aspiring photographers, photography competitions are an interesting way to get some exposure. Though winning them is „slightly” tricky. Usually it is not quite clear by which standards the images will be judged.
Haje, member of a photo competi……

Good luck!
Anders at inSuggest

Thank You,
Kat

The one with open Dr. Pepper - is a OK but does not bring too much of emotions.
Red hair on the escalator - I agree very interesting
On the rail - color tone is very questionable
The walking pair - nice but technically questionable with the parts of dark background catching up with the lady. The story of this photo is somewhat too simplistic, don’t you think?
The lovers - beautiful shot, piece of art but there is no story - there is a great model and photographer working, I would rather call it a dance - then it makes the story of great dancers showing love through their art. The real lovers don’t pose they make love they are completely in it - so this is not a story of love.
Religion - looks to me as a purely staged shot, I have no trust in it, though it is nicely done.
Feet - is really a great and lovely photo - I fully agree with you on that one.
The laughing girl shot that you so admire - to me is very mediocre. Too much glamor in it reduces the impression of catching the moment. The girl looks as if she has a lot of makeup on her. Editing is too obvious
Finally the very last shot looks to me the weakest! All it has - an interesting angle with over saturated colors, too deep of shadows, no details of the faces of the person and the dog.

I just want to repeat how appreciative and thankful am I for your writing and ideas expressed in it. The only purpose I wrote my brief opinions on the photos and actually the only purpose of this comment is to show how people with same ideas and same understanding of things in theory still disagree when it comes to concrete pieces of art. This is a problem of contests in all arts not only photography. Should Cartier-Bresson, one of my most favorite photographers, applied to a modern competition, he would probably stand a very little chance of winning. But he would have remained Cartier Bresson.

Thanks again for your article and sorry for my far from perfect English, which is obviously not my mother tongue.

Here is the link to the contest site: http://www.lowesfindinspiration.com and here is a link to see me picture of a blue shell I took in Sanibel Island Florida.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1169/1195974699_ba47f7bb52_o.jpg

Cheers,
Laurel
Gainesville, Fl