All the advice when you do well in a competition is to share your success on social media. It’s good for your ‘brand’ and free advertising for the competition, but it’s something I really struggle with. I have no problems sharing my good news with close friends and family, but to trumpet my success in public feels like I’m boasting and having been brought up to be humble I find promoting myself to be a fairly tortuous experience.

Having said all that, the people who follow me online do so because they share my passion for photography and want me to succeed, so I know you’ll all be as excited as I am that three of my images have today received Honourable Mentions in this year’s International Photography Awards. 😮 and double 😮.

According to their website “the International Photography Awards conducts an annual photography competition for professional, non-professional, and student photographers on a global level, creating one of the most ambitious and comprehensive competitions in the photography world today. The IPA recognizes photography’s leading talents who are creating, shaping and defining the world of photography.” This year’s competition attracted nearly 14,000 entries from 120 countries, so to have received any kind of recognition in such a leading competition has fairly much blown my mind!

There are various categories and photographers can enter as either amateurs or professionals. I usually enter competitions as an amateur, because the definition of a professional is someone who earns at least half their income from photography and I sadly don’t fit the bill. But for the IPA the rules are slightly different and anyone who has been widely exhibited is classed as a professional, so I thought I’d err on the side of caution and enter as a pro which makes the awards that much more special as I competed against people who make a living from their art.

Both my Lockdown and Child Bride images were awarded in the Fine Art: Digitally Enhanced category, while my Gravity image was awarded in the Fine Art: Still Life category (most people think it’s a composite, but I promise it is a record shot). If you click on each picture it will take you to the image on the IPA website.

As my regular followers know, 2021 has been one of the worst years of my life and my confidence is at an all time low, so these awards could not have come at a better time and have given me a much needed boost. All the winning photographers are invited to a zoom presentation ceremony based in New York and my images will appear in a coffee table book (I’ll provide a link when it’s available).

I’m off to celebrate with a brew and a Twix 😁.