Competition Trends

15/08/10

Trends are fascinating and photography is definitively an area where trends rein supreme, I have tried to distill down for my own competitive purpose just what are the current trends.

So here is my take on what has happened in the last couple of years, why it has happened and how it compares to the past.

Photography was up until the digital age a pursuit that required serious dedication to process, great technical skill and creative vision to be competitive at higher competition levels. There was little room for images with technical compromises, print deficiencies or cropping compromises etc. Quite simply judging was a pretty rigid affair and there was a huge gulf between the images of seasoned and skilled image makers and the average snap taken by amateurs.

Snaps were almost universally off colour, off tone and not all that sharp. In technical terms it was very obvious in the final results who actually possessed the skills and to a certain degree the funds as well.

Being the pre-digital world the internet and the plethora of on-line photo comps, galleries, forums etc simply didn’t exist, most art photographers operated pretty much independently of the world though of course they were influenced by it.

These days the internet and the photographic community are awash with images of all types, it is easy to find examples within seconds of pretty much anything you could wish for and of course this means that ones style can be significantly developed and influenced by what is seen on the net.

HDR photography, iPhoneography, and all manner of photographic styles have had quick ascendancies and artistic penetration because the internet gave them a ready forum. In the scheme of things there are really very few true innovators and a mass of imitators and beneficiaries of the innovation. Styles quickly take on a life of their own and in the digital world the pathway from initial innovation to something becoming a style may be as little as 6 months.