Photography Competitions

The Staten Island Camera Club will run monthly member image competitions, where members compete and have their images critiqued by a professional judge.

Members are encouraged to enter images in the following categories: Digital color, Digital, Monochrome and Assigned Subject (on-line). A maximum of two (2) entries may be submitted for each of the three categories. Unless you are entering a make-up, comprising one single entry in either the Color or Mono categories. No Makes-up are permitted for Assigned Subjects. You may spread make-ups over the remainder of the competition season, ending with the April Competition (One per category per month).

Entries are critiqued and judged by invited outside judges. All Color and Mono are “open” competitions, which means any subject may be entered. One (1) competition per month is an “assigned subject”. Entries must be relevant to the assignment. There is one (1 Year End competition. Where entries from the club season can compete for Best in Show in each of the three categories. Member will be allowed to enter four (4) of the exact images (no changes) they competed with in the present September to April season.

Members shall not be permitted to compete in competitions until dues have been paid in full. For all Competitions you will need to upload your images to Photo Contest Pro. Accounts for PCP are created when a member has joined and fulfilled their dues obligation. Please follow the Instructions on how to upload your images which can be found on our Website.

Many compete just for the benefit of obtaining this learning experience and furthering their artistic maturation. Only approved members can compete. Contact us if you want to become a member.

Members can submit 2 images on-line at PCP (Contest Pro) in the Color category and 2 images in Monochrome (Black and White with or without one accent color). The basic intent is for members to receive qualified and constructive Criticism.

Requirements

• There are three categories to submit into for a monthly competition. You can enter 2 Color Digitals, 2 Mono Digitals, as usual. And now you can also enter 2 images in the Assigned Subject category in either B&W or Color, both will compete in the same contest. Judging criteria: image must somewhat fit the assigment.
• You are permitted to make up one missed Regular competition in each of the categories that you are participating in; except for the Assigned Subject Competitions, which can not be made up.
• Digital entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM on or before the Tuesday evening prior to Thursday‘s competition, using the upload procedures established by the Photo Contest Pro website.
• All print entries must be submitted and ready for Competition by 7:45 PM on the night of the Competition.
• Print Entry Sizes: Printed images will be no less than 8x 10”, but not more than 13×19”. Prints must be mounted on a board and can be single matted. Over all presentation size including the mat or backing board should not be less than 10X12”nor any larger than 18x 24”. Commerically available mats for 8×10″ sized prints are generally 11×14″ with an opening for 8×10″ prints & are availabe in local stores or on-line.
• The upper rear right hand corner of the print must contain our competition label filled in with the image’s Title, Member’s Name and the Color/Mono Category; checked in the appropriate box. The entry # on the Label (#1 or 2), must correspond to what is printed on the scorer’s sheet. Assigned Subjects are not numbered.
• All images, both Digital and Print, will follow the same scoring scheme. First Round entries that are scored a “6” or less will be dropped, any image scored a “7” makes it into the 2nd Round.
• During the 2nd Round the Judge will re-score the Photo and will either keep the “7” Score or raise it to an “8” gaining an “Honorable Mention” or a “9” which is the designation for an Best in show “Award”.
• Once a Photo receives an “Award” (9) it will be retired and may not be re-entered into any future regular Monthly Club Competition in the same or any other category. Any 9’s earned during the season can compete with other photos in the Photo of the Year competition. Photo of the year winning images also will be retired and restricted in the same manner as above.
• Any color Digital, or Print that received a 7 or 8 may not be re-entered into competition in the same season in the same category. However it may be re-entered in a succeeding season, only once, in a different category. Ex: a Color Digital image that was previously judged a 7 or 8 may be re-entered in another season as a Mono Digital or a Color Print or Mono Print, but can be done only once! All images scoring a 6 or less can be fixed or just re-entered in the same season.
• Note: All images taken at Club Outings and events or Photos taken during Professional Club sponsored workshops or Classes may be entered into any monthly or Assigned Subject Competition.

Photos that cannot be entered into Monthly Club Competitions:

• Photos generated by AI.
• Photos that have previously received a 7 or an 8 (Honorable Mention) in the same completion year in any category or contest. Images that previously got a 9 ‘Award’, or a ‘Photo of the Year’ in a Prior year.
• Prints presented behind Glass, in a Frame or containing any visible identifying markings on the Front.
• Prints framed with a double mat or a mat where the back of the print is exposed and not mounted and closed with a mat board. Unkempt, dirty or dusty Prints will not be allowed to compete.
• Prints not securely mounted or loose and those with exposed sticky tape will be disqualified.
• Prints that do not conform to the above stated maximum or minimum sizes.

Besides monthly open competitions in Color and Monochrome, we hold Assigned Subject Competitions with our monthly competitions. You can enter 2 images per Assigned Subject in Digital. You can enter your images as a color or mono, both will compete in the same contest.

It is up to the ​Judge to determine whether it meets the criteria of the theme of the Assignment. However, a maker can employ poetic license to fit the Assignment into their image. You may be safe in taking this license so long as ¾ of the image is devoted to its perceived central Assigned Subject implications.

If you are participating in our next Critique you need to be able to access Dropbox. You will use our Public Folder where you will be assigned a subfolder to hold your images. A link will be sent to you to access it.

If you attended last year’s critiques, you are good to go. You still have access to Dropbox and just need to return to your folder to upload.

If you are not uploading images to Dropbox, let Dennis Arculeo know you just want to attend the meeting on-line. He will send you the Zoom link to the meeting a day or two before the meeting.

If you are uploading images – you must start first with Dropbox. If you don’t have a Dropbox account, you need to create one. (However, you will be using our Dropbox folder not your own.)

Find your folder and click on it to open. Then you can drag and drop your images into that folder. If you do not see a folder with your name on it let me know and I will create one and send you the link to it. You should copy the link to your folder and place it on your desktop or add it to your book marks or favorites. Seriously this process is remarkably simple. If you need help reach out to me at arcud@yahoo.com

Here is how to set up a new Free Dropbox account:

• Open your Web browser and go to https://www.dropbox.com/
• Click the Sign Up button.
• Type in your first name, last name, e-mail address, and a password for your account.
• Click the I Agree to Dropbox Terms checkbox.
• Click Sign Up.
• On the Choose Your Dropbox Plan page, decide which plan you want.

Suggestion: Pick the Dropbox Basic free plan that gives you up to 2GB of storage space, plus basic file-sharing features. Once you have successfully created /or accessed/ your account you will be ready to use the folder I created for your images in Our Public folder. You can upload 4-5 images to your Dropbox folder in the Public Critique folder. Do not wait for the last minute. If you attended last month’s critique you are good to go. You still have access to Dropbox and just need to return to your folder to upload.

Use the link provided below.

Here is the access to the Public SICC Critique Page

Find your folder and click on it to open. Then you can drag and drop your images into that folder. If you do not see a folder with your name on it let me know and I will create one and send you the link to it. You should copy the link to your folder and place it on your desktop or add it to your book marks or favorites. Seriously this process is remarkably simple. If you need help reach out to me at arcud@yahoo.com