The 4th annual Pinkbike Photo of the Year Contest is about to get underway. The winner will join John Wellburn, Toby Cowley and Sterling Lorence in the PB Photo of the Year Hall of Fame and they could walk away with $10,000 and a Specialized Enduro 27.5 kitted with a full SRAM gruppo.
Think you have a banger? This is your chance to see how you stack up against the best mountain bike photographers in the world. Just upload your shot and you can nominate up to three photos of your own or from other photographers for entry into the competition. Last year more than 1,064 photos were submitted and 382,461 votes were cast until ultimately only one image was chosen. This year's total is sure to be even bigger. You have until October 19 to nominate your favourite shots. The photo of the year will now be part of the Pinkbike MTB awards with the winner grabbing not only the title but also the trophy.
How Does it Work?All photos taken and uploaded this year that are nominated by users are eligible. So
upload your photos now to enter. Each Pinkbike user can nominate up to 3 different photos into the contest (see how to nominate below). The judges will then spend several sleepless nights narrowing the nominated photos down to 32, after which we will open things up to the public. We will pit each photo randomly against another photo in a college basketball bracket-like showdown. At this point users will vote on the match ups and the photo with the most votes will move onto the next round. So 32 photos will narrow down to 16, then 8, 4, 2 until there is a single photo deemed the 2014 Specialized Photo of the Year Powered by SRAM. Deadline for nominations is October 19.
Rules• Everyone is eligible except for judges
• Only one photo can be selected from each photographer into the final 32
• You must be the photographer who took the photo and have it uploaded on your personal Pinkbike account to be eligible
Mentions: @SramMedia
www.flickr.com/photos/btmlinedan/5645719005
As usual the best ones win. The best ones are usually the pro's, so the pro's win. What do you want? Every competition is "no noobs", it's like complaining that you can't win Red Bull Rampage on a $150 bike from Walmart.
Btw talking about iPhone; the most expensive version of iPhone 6 Plus costs €1000 here in Europe. If you invest the same amount of money into a DSLR, you will be (theoretically) able to take the same photos as the pro's. Yes, you need a DSLR, but if you know what to look for, you don't need to spend $5000, the difference between a $5000 camera and $1000 camera is much smaller than between a $500 camera and $1000 camera.
WAKIdesigns:
1. It's the image sensor that captures the photo, not the logo, it's like comparing whether BMW or Mercedes is a better car - it depends which BMW to which Mercedes are you comparing.
2. Hasselblad is a slow camera for still photos (portraits, landscapes, architecture,...), you wouldn't be able to capture a shit if you wanted to use it for sports photography.
If there are four great photos A, B, C, D. A been the best down to D
C goes against D and C advances. A goes against B and A advances, Now while B is better than C, C has advanced and gains another chance, so A and C move on. We know photos grow and change on us over time and with each look, we can change how we see them. So If B lost against A in round one. That does not guarantee it would lose in the final round. It also means that the best of the best are not the ones we see at the end. This is amplified by the larger number of photos.
I understand at the end of the day the best photo will win, but the best photo is subjective to who votes and its subjective to change over time by the viewer. The only fair way is to have a out right vote for top 50% at each stage and go by numbers. With voters allowed to change votes at anytime.
Here are a handful of pics shot from my backup camera and lens, both of which I bought used for a total cost $1200. and the pics were taken while just out for fun rides with friends, not during photoshoots or assignments.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/11403617
www.pinkbike.com/photo/11403605
www.pinkbike.com/photo/11403604
www.pinkbike.com/photo/10530718
www.pinkbike.com/photo/10530710
www.pinkbike.com/photo/10530699
A contest shouldn't be what motivates you to take photos. A passion for riding and photography should motivate you, and if you have those things it shouldn't be a huge stretch to invest $1k in equipment to get started. This contest is for the people who are willing, motivated, and passionate. Not for the lazy people who blame others for their own shortcomings.
I'm not meaning a photography competition for people that are lazy and can't be bothered to be creative or imaginative, that would just be hypocritical. I was just suggesting a smaller competition for those with a genuine interest in photography but who don't yet have great equipment i.e. children/teenagers or people that have just started out in photography.
Moreover DSLRs are more affordable than ever before, years ago I was shooting a MotoGP race with Canon 40D which now sells for $250 on eBay. Add another $250-$350 for fast a prime lens and you have good camera for sports photography.
"The concept of best is merely an implicit allusion to the existential fallacies of humanity's ubiquitous and idiopathic capacity for narcissism."
- loamydog, circa 2000 A.D.
-loamydog
Skills : you can't buy them, you study. For a while :-)
Here is how you win:
1. Own a nice Non iPhone/Go-Pro Camera. Seems like the consensus here is that $1,200.00 fits the bill... Let me just go get all that left over money I have from my bike purchase.
2. Call all your Pro riding friends up
3. Set up all your lights, reflectors and thingamabobs
4. Throw a shit ton of dirt into a berm
5. Have said Pro rider smash into the turn exploding dirt.
This contest should not be open to photographers that have received a paycheck from Pinkbike for photography during the calendar year. Too much bias and too much lame.
Either make actual categories or scrap the contest.
Keep in mind that those of us who shoot/get payed by PB do it as independent contractors and only for specific events. I only shoot World Cups for Pinkbike, so by your logic the images I shoot the other 40+ weeks a year for other clients shouldn't be allowed?
as for your checklist.... #1 is pretty spot of but #'s 2-5 are pretty BS ;-)
I see your point but still the problem is that it's one contest marketed to the masses that only pros can actually be competitive in. Hence the need for categories. It's like saying "Hey Ryan, you're invited to ride at Joyride and there is only 1 prize and you're competing against the top 20pros in the world and you'll have no chance at winning and your run won't even be on TV because it wasn't nominated to so"
Here is another sports analogy. It's like saying that there is a 3 on 3 hoops contest for everyone in Portland Oregon to win some new snow tires from Les Schwab then Portland Trailblazers starters show up. How is that competitive?
I'll stick to categories or scrap the contest.
Nothing against your opinions or others that differ from mine it's just that they differ and I'd hope people can be a bit more open minded about the way others view this contest.
Where you are wrong is in your thinking that the majority of people share your opinion. Amd those that do it really is just silly.
Let's keep it simple for you. It's a photo of the year contest. That's all it is. ANYONE can enter and the best photos will rise to the top. That's it, that's all.
I'm still not following how it's not all inclusive? Anyone can enter.
That's not to say there will be some stiff competition at the top end but that's to be expected. The point is to showcase the best work on this site, how is that so hard to understand and how is it so unfair to you.
Honestly. What do you want PB to do for you?
I completely understand it is a photo of the year contest and as I stated above and i'm not saying PB should change that or that they should diminish the fact that the best photo should be selected. I simply recommended that the contest should be expanded and include a few more aspects so it is more inclusive and others are more involved. It'd be more fun for the community to know that the photo you nominated could yield something cool for you come out of it should it get to the top. How is excluding people and making it only about the photographers the only way to administer the confest? It doesn't matter though because you're entitled to your opinion as am I entitled to mine. You're not wrong and I'm not wrong.
I apologize if my opinions/suggestions offended you because they aren't meant to. I just hope that you realize that my opinion is valid just like everyone else who has commented one way or the other on this topic. It is all a matter of perspective.
"This contest should not be open to photographers that have received a paycheck from Pinkbike for photography during the calendar year. Too much bias and too much lame."
Right... That is just nonsense. And you went so far as to mock the process a successful photographer would have to go through to win which was super lame as well.
Then this
"I simply recommended that the contest should be expanded and include a few more aspects so it is more inclusive and others are more involved"
Were you not just trying to limit participation in your first comment? You keep missing the plain and simple fact that contest is open to ANYONE, and then as it progresses the entire community gets to vote for their favorite. In past years there have been 100K votes cast per round so I'd say community involvement is pretty high.
And finally this
"How is excluding people and making it only about the photographers the only way to administer the confest?"
ummmmmm..... It's a photo contest dude. It's only ever going to be about the photographers. Anyone gets to enter though and everyone gets to be involved during voting.
loose the sense of entitlement and your idea that PB needs to expand anything here to give prizes and free stuff to people just for participating and voting.
It's a contest, not a lottery or a raffle where everyone gets a fair share.
I'm all for well formed and informed opinions to be shared, but the ridiculous ones like yours not so much... Especially when they start off by mocking someone else's way of earning a living.
I cannot nominate any old fotos that I uploaded before 2014...
If there was any argument for an amateur contest, it has nothing to do with equipment but rather the advantage a pro has in sheer volume of opportunities to shoot photos of excellent riders in interesting locations. Along with an artistic eye and technical skill, being in the right place at the right time is a huge factor that often separates the skilled am photos from the pro photos. But that's nothing a truly skilled am with any self respect would complain about.
Love your work, by the way.
www.facebook.com/pages/Lance-Coury-FMX/367613812475?sk=photos_stream#!/367613812475/photos/pb.367613812475.-2207520000.1413289843./10151952091567476/?type=3&theater
or
www.facebook.com/pages/Lance-Coury-FMX/367613812475?sk=photos_stream#!/367613812475/photos/pb.367613812475.-2207520000.1413289866./10151903142907476/?type=3&theater
Why so much hate towards some internet random comments?... you must be dying inside to throw out so much hate and sarcasm via de internet
I also don't see any reason why should someone try to get more people interested in photography, if you need a financial motivation to take photos, then it's not a genuine interest, you should take photos because you enjoy it, not because of some competition. There are already too many people who think that if they walk into a supermarket and buy the cheapest plastic entry level DSLR with a kit lens they will automatically become photographers.
media.her.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ron-swanson-happy-fist.gif
If you want to get noticed, first achieve something that's worth people's attention. If a photo isn't worth it, it isn't worth it, nobody cares whether you're a teenager, orphan, blind, mentally disabled, have cancer, live in Somalia, your parents commited suicide, or whatever, nobody gives a shit.
There's no teenagers category in World Press Photo, there's no teenagers Pulitzer Prize so I don't understand why should we have teenagers Pinkbike Photo Of The Year. It takes years of training and experience before you can compete with others and win something, nothing bad happens if you don't enter a photography competition before you even start calling yourself a photographer. Take it easy, be patient, learn and in 5 years you may win it.
Step two: get a cheque for $10,000 CAD
Step three: wait until your economy fails and your dollar is worth 100% more than yours
Step four: Deposit canadian cheque, get $20,000 US