Submitting or Skipping Photography Awards

Submitting or Skipping Photography Awards === ​[00:00:00] So here's the thing, my friends. I understand the value of photography awards. In fact, for 10 years, I was working for a company that had our own photography, two of them, actually, photography awards, and So I get it, I get the accolades that come with it, I get the recognition that comes with it, I get the marketing power, the brand authority [00:01:00] you get when you win an award and you get that badge and you're able to use that award or that trophy in your marketing materials and your advertisements and Put it on the shelves and when your clients come to your studio,~ they,~ they get to see this award and they look at it and say, whoa, the photographer that I want to work with won an award and maybe I'm hiring the right person but my friends,~ I,~ I don't want to submit to photography awards. Personally, I don't give a crap. Personally, ~I ~I don't feel like going through all the effort that it takes to submit to a photography award, the money that it takes to submit to a photography award, and to me, while the value is there, I am not certain it's valuable enough to make an impact on a business to make it worth the effort. But again, that is coming into this Conversation knowing the benefits, knowing that by submitting and going to the awards and participating, there's networking opportunities, there's brand [00:02:00] recognition, there's authority building, there's ~all~ so many benefits, which, by the way, I'm going to have an article ~on my, ~on my website about this to go along with this episode. I'm also going to include my interview with Jerry Ghionis who runs the Icon Awards. Like I said, I have nothing against it. I support it. ~So just go to scottwyden. com slash blog, or just go to photobreakdown. com and check the show notes and I'll have it linked. Whatever, ~Just know ~that, ~that, as much as I know that there's artistic growth, that there's so many benefits, potentially even financial,~ maybe,~ maybe,~ um,~ even though I know that there's a lot of benefits that could come from submitting awards, and I have a lot of friends that do submit awards and win awards, so I have nothing against it, it's just my personal, my gut always tells me, if my heart's not in it, Why am I gonna do it? And I just don't give a crap about submitting to awards! ~I ~I know my own value ~Uh, ~and I know that, my clients [00:03:00] see my value. So for me, personally I don't feel like I need the recognition and the accolades that come from an award, but I have nothing against it. ~Uh, ~the company I work for~ right now~ even sponsors one of the largest awards in the photo industry because we know the value and we want to support the community, It's my own opinion for myself, my personal feeling on it for my own photography. I don't need to prove anything to myself, to my clients. It is what it is. But of course, I do support my friends when they win. I celebrate their successes. I celebrate the people who run the awards because I know how much it takes to make it happen. So go to photobreakdown.com, then click over to the article, read the article, comment on the article with your thoughts on photography awards. Thanks for listening.